Show of force is immediate solution to city violence

Chicago crime: it is known and talked about everywhere— locally, nationally, and internationally. Myriad positions have been proffered in a so- far futile attempt to understand what is happening. It is painful and embarrassing to observe even well- intentioned but inadequate leaders tripping all over themselves, giving their naïve, inaccurate, and irresponsible ideas about how they understand the causes of our city’s increasing violent crime.

The two primary causes of our violent crime are the following: 1) the collapse of the intact family as we have known it ( meaning two effective, on- duty parents in the home), and 2) the move away from a committed connection to a respected, organized belief system or religion. Without an involvement with both of those influences, which teach people how things are to be done, the resulting behavior of many people will resemble that of untrained pit bulls off a leash.

Education and jobs are not the primary issues, as important as they are. People are trained from birth, and if their relatively minor errors and infractions are not identified, interrupted, and corrected early, they understandably grow older, not having learned what “no” or “boundaries” mean. After 5, 10, or 15 years of such non-shaping, what can be expected but fist fights and shootings?

The sad news is that the leaders of the most dysfunctional communities have not spoken out about the significant absence of fathers in those settings. They have become frenetic and determined to scapegoat others for the failings described above. Are we likely to see an increased return of fathers to such settings any time in the near future? Not likely. There’s no blame or judgment here, simply observation and description. Furthermore, none of this has anything to do with race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, politics, etc. For the moment, the crucial issue is to contain the violence and to reduce its chance of spreading.

If the goal is the immediate interruption of the egregious behavior we are witnessing, then the following is the only solution in a civilized world: When dealing with “terrorists” of any kind there must be a show of force that is superior and external to that of the wrongdoers. It is just that simple. After the horrendous behavior is halted, leaders can then do the “committee work” to examine the best ways to reconnect people to families, belief systems, and the traditional settings that have always provided for structure, observance of boundaries, impulse control, and civility.

We have no time to waste.