The Highland Park shooting incident was too much and might be a tipping point to changing the laws on gun control. It was outrageous and touched the heart of America as we witnessed a massacre at a parade and families wiped out for merely celebrating a traditional holiday. We see excessive violence happening daily at parades, churches, synagogues, theaters, restaurants, grocery stores, concerts, festivals, schools, and subways. It is heartbreaking when innocent people, especially children, have their lives taken for doing no more than living their lives in a normal productive way.
Shamefully, we must examine our lives and prepare for any unforeseen violence that might strike. Be it a carjacking, in a classroom, at a church, or at a concert, it is best to be on alert and ready than not. America’s violence is at an epidemic proportion. The massacre shooters are young angry white men filled with hatred. They are racist, sexist, and anti-semitic. We need to stop blaming mental illness. These people are sociopaths and psychopaths who often show signs of violence that teachers and parents ignore.
The Washington Post reports that “News companies are facing an agonizing challenge in a year that has already seen, by one count, more than 320 mass shootings across the United States: deciding which atrocities warrant on-the-ground coverage and which don’t.” In the same weekend in Chicago proper there were at lease 62 people shot and 10 killed from the violence holiday weekend. Not all made the news. https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/07/09/us-media-mass-shootings/
Highland Park is a town where institutional systems prepared for such a tragedy. The hospital system worked with outstanding efficiency to take care of the injured. Doctors were on hand at the hospital before the head doctor made the call. The police, FBI, and State Patrol worked amazingly well to catch the shooter in 8 hours. The local and state law enforcement were superbly coordinated. They came together at every level with precision. The emergency efforts from Highland Park’s best practices need to be shared with the city of Chicago and urban centers. Highland Park is one of the richest communities in the country and one of the smartest. Citizens did not blame the mayor or governor for the shooting. Very different than what happens in urban cities, where the mayor and governor are the fall guys, no matter the crime.
The 22-year-old shooter Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo, is from Highland Park. His father once ran for mayor. He ran a popular deli just across the street from the rooftop where the shooter planted himself.
Crimo gave signals that he was mentally deranged. Reportedly, he once said he was going to kill his entire family with knives and even threatened suicide by using a machete. His social media account had a following of one million. It indicates he was mentally ill. But no one paid attention, even after police had been called to his home several times for questionable dangerous behavior. He even looked, suspect. We cannot continue to ignore the obvious. Police hands are tied, because he looks crazy, acts crazy but hasn’t done anything yet, therefore they cannot arrest him for anything.
What a difference a community makes in the media coverage and police capture. White young men are massacre killers. Young Black men are killing each other in street crimes from shootings, robbery, and carjackings. What is the common factor? It’s the games the kids play. It’s the violent music they listen to. It is the disrespect for life, they share. The question is what happened to them in the socializing process. The murders in the South and West sides of Chicago go unsolved for years and it is questionable whether the FBI enters the case. What a difference a community makes in crime coverage.
The case of Uvalde Texas at Robb Elementary School is the deadliest shooting in Texas history. Everything went wrong with law enforcement. They waited too long, looking for keys to open doors. They did not protect the children, the school, or the teachers from harm. What were they waiting for? The order was not given. It seems the officers were afraid of the shooter. He had more gun power than the protectors. Everything went wrong.
The World is Violent!
The world is violent at all levels. Japan had a single gun murder in 2021 compared to America’s 45,034. And with a sporadic incident, we just saw the assassination of a popular politician former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot down in broad daylight in Nara, Japan as delivered a political speech. The shooter was a 40-year-old man, Japanese, proficient in homemade guns. Japan has the world’s strictest gun control laws. So is gun control the real answer, we must ask as America seeks stricter laws?
BBC News reports that the people of Sri Lankan had a resurrection. Protesters stormed the president’s home in Colombo and set the prime minister’s house on fire. Protestors have said they will continue to occupy the Sri Lankan presidential and prime ministerial residences until both leaders officially resign.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would step down on 13 July, according to an announcement by the parliament’s speaker. But the president has not been seen or made a public statement himself. Military sources have told the BBC that he is currently on a Navy vessel in Sri Lankan waters.
The sources say that his brother, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, is on a naval base in the country. Thousands descended on Colombo demanding his resignation after months of protests.
The president has been blamed for the country’s economic mismanagement, which has caused shortages of food, fuel, and medicine for months. Women are saying they can’t feed their babies.
Some of these crimes are copycat crimes, and we ask the ultimate question of why and how did it happen? What is the honest answer? How do we manage the grief? The truth is these crimes are life-changing situations. People will never return to normal being killed at a parade. Parents will never be the same, knowing that all they did was send their child to school. Highland Park has changed forever, and so have the Garfield Park, Englewood, and Lincoln Park communities.
No matter where you are, the world is dangerous. There is no safe neighborhood or community. We think it can’t happen to me, to my folk, my neighborhood, but it can, at any time. The fools lurk, and we ignore reality even when they indicate they might strike. Yet, we are preparing for the worse and pray for the best. America needs to take a deep dive, a nonpolitical look at what we do as we socialize and how our youth are affected. Right now, we are living in a danger zone, everywhere. And honestly, we don’t know what to do.
But certainly, we need to do something bold because our children have become killers.
