The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Rooting around for the root causes of violence

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Oh, joy. There’s another call for finding the “root causes” of urban violence.

This one comes from Democrats from both chambers of the Illinois Legislature during a joint committee hearing on focusing “on efforts to reduce violence and help those affected by it.”

Ruled out, of course, are safer streets. State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago), chair of the Senate Special Committee on Public Safety. explained, sort of:

The “tough on crime” policies that have existed for decades simply do not work and prove that the only way for us to truly win real safety and justice in our communities is to expand violence prevention funding. It must be rooted in relationship building, trauma processing, and most importantly, healing, along with communities that have quality goods and services. This is the only way for us to root out systemic injustices and to make our state whole. Rural and suburban areas, and cities desperately need us to reimagine community in the 21st century.

Um, what also hasn’t worked is the agenda that the Democrats who have controlled the city of Chicago since the 1930s. Obviously, the Republicans are to blame for not coughing up every last cent to fund the assorted “programs” that spring full blown out of college sociology classes.

To use favorite progressive lingo, why is ending the violence a “binary” choice? Seems to me that polls show that the people who are victims of the violence aren’t in favor of defunding the police. The police–not social workers–are the only force standing between the gangs and the people who just want to live their lives.