To say that this city has turned to an urban war zone is a cliche. To say that this mid-western town represents the worst series of tragedies due to gun violence in the history of this country would be and understatement. Chicago, Illinois has in fact, become the embodiment of a community quickly imploding, which seems to be all well and good with the general public as long as they remain "urban incidences". Desensitization is an extremely dangerous thing because it can make the most vile occurrence seem routine, or even mundane if it is repeated.
But when a 6 month old baby is murdered there is no amount of head shaking, intellectual discussion, reasoning or analytical thinking that will relegate this into just another case of death in a violent city.
6 month old Jonyla Watkins and her father, Jonathan Watkins age 29, were shot in broad daylight on Chicago's south side while he was changing her in a parked mini van early Monday afternoon. Not exactly the brightest idea, if you are gang affiliated and live in Chi-Town. But I digress. Strangely enough this was not little Jonyla's first experience with gun violence. Her 20 year old mother was shot in the knee when she was 8 months pregnant with her, in another gang related shooting.
Jonathan Watkins is in critical condition, and Police are not sure if he will cooperate with the investigation. Watkins has an extensive criminal record which includes more than 30 arrests, and his apparent ties to gang culture make him less likely to testify. If he refuses to cooperate, he should be arrested, and prosecuted in my opinion. According to preliminary reports the shooting was spurred by a Facebook beef. The gunman opened fire on Watkins and the baby hitting the infant 5 times, and hitting him twice. The gunman was then seen running across a vacant lot and escaping in a waiting blue van. At the time of this writing, no witnesses have come forward because in most urban areas such as Chicago snitching is frowned upon and comparable to treason, or being a traitor to your community. Even if it means that a 6 month old baby dies in a hale of bullets, to so ignorant, and asinine, it is a rule that must be strictly followed. So people within the gangs don't snitch because they don't want to violate the code, and people who are not in the gangs don't want to speak up because they're afraid of what the gangs might do to them for violating the code. Each and every person who knows something about the death of this child and doesn't come forward has her blood on their hands, and more babies will be murdered, as a result. More innocent children will perish at the hands of their peers. This is not speculation, or imagination. The current climate dictates that this is a fact.
So the question is, what should be done? Obviously President Obama doesn't know because he hasn't done anything. A ban on assault weapons and stricter gun laws mean nothing to criminals who don't purchase their firearms legally. The Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, has been eerily quiet in the face of all of this. It's almost as if he is The Mayor in name only. Is there an actual Police Department in Chicago?! There has to be, right?
So......., more lip service, more dialogue, or diatribes, and more statistics? No! It doesn't work.
Extreme circumstances call for extreme actions. Martial Law is a possible solution.
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis. It is usually imposed on a temporary basis when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively and when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread. The disobedience of the law has never been more widespread than it is in Chicago. Perhaps the sight of tanks rolling down the streets of Chicago's South side will be a wake up call for those who perpetuate gun violence, and those who condone it with their silence. Once babies start dying from multiple gunshot wounds, the time for talking is over. Of course this will never happen. The ACLU, The NAACP, and the rest of the alphabet would no doubt, protest, and argue about civil rights violations, and the violation of civil liberties and how something like this would disproportionately affect the poor, and minorities in the community. Which is their right, and I would be right on board......if they actually had a clue as to how to stop the blood shed using nothing more than speech and empty rhetoric.
PR
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