Only in Chicago Would Street Gangs Be So Bold
Imagine for a moment you are the owner of a small business. And imagine further that despite the currently gloomy economic conditions, your business is prospering to the extent that you are looking to hire someone for an entry-level position, one requiring little in the way of skill or experience. You advertise your opening in the usual places and await the results.
Soon a young man, we’ll call him Applicant A, appears at your doorstep. He has obviously made some effort to impress, wearing a coat and tie and giving you cause to believe he adheres to a passably tolerable regimen of personal hygiene. His résumé, though not extensive, indicates some degree of initiative: he has graduated from high school and junior college with passing but not sterling grades, during which education he supported himself by working as a busboy, a cook, and a waiter. For references he presents a list of former teachers and supervisors at his previous jobs. During the course of your interview with him, you form the opinion that he is eager, honest, and intelligent, the kind of young man who, though not highly educated, will be an asset to your business and a pleasant coworker for your other employees.
And then along comes Applicant B, who arrives thirty minutes late for his interview. The initial impression he makes is one of stark contrast to Applicant A. Where Applicant A has chosen an approximation of business attire, Applicant B is more casually dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans, the waistband of which rests somewhere well below his waist to expose a vast expanse of his plaid boxer shorts. He also wears athletic shoes with the laces untied and a baseball cap whose bill points off in some direction other than the front.
He discloses that he is a high school dropout, and when you inquire about the skills he might bring to the job, he recites a litany of talents which, though impressive in their own way, seem ill suited for the position you seek to fill: he can outrun any cop in his neighborhood, can start almost any car with only a screwdriver, and is an expert shot with a 9-millimeter Glock, so expert in fact that he can — and has — hit a moving target from a moving car. For references he offers his probation officer and a friend he knows only by the sobriquet “Pookie.”
Now, to whom do you offer the job?
Be honest now — you chose Applicant A, didn’t you? Shame, shame, shame on you. Now Applicant B, having suffered discrimination at your hands, has no choice but to go out and continue in a life of crime. When he shoots and kills someone in the course of a robbery it will not be his fault but yours for having denied him an escape from his descent into perdition.
This was the theme of a bizarre press conference held this month in Chicago, where a collection of so-called gang leaders addressed reporters and aired their grievances on a number of subjects including the police and economic conditions that, they claim, offer poor young men no choice but to commit robberies, burglaries, and various other crimes, and to shoot each other with a staggering degree of regularity.
The press conference was a response to a meeting Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis held with gang members on August 28, during which Weis and prosecutors are alleged to have threatened to prosecute gang crimes under federal RICO statutes if Chicago’s street violence is not curtailed. The gang members claim they were tricked into attending the meeting, having been summoned under the pretense of a routine parole hearing.
I was under the impression that all those who fit the description of “Applicant B” would get jobs as officers in Precedent 0bama’s proposed internal security corps.
They wont have to wait that long to get their remuneration. Generally, thugs like that have a great future working as rent-a-picketers and rent-a-mobs for various Soros-funded astroturf organizers. They work as enforcers for unions. They make sure people vote the way theyre told to, or else.
And not only in Chicago.
From Chicago:
Shame, shame, shame on you. Now Applicant B, having suffered discrimination at your hands, has no choice but to go out and continue in a life of crime. When he shoots and kills someone in the course of a robbery it will not be his fault but yours for having denied him an escape from his descent into perdition.
to New York:
Imam Rauf says that if he doesn’t get his Mosque there’s gonna be violence.
It is then no use crying and asking, “what did we do to bring this on?”
It was what was not done to prevent the US from becoming the favourite haunt of the shakedown artist.
If the police were given “shoot on sight” orders to deal with these thugs, and Chicago got away from the anti @nd Amendment way of doing business, things would soon improve. NO criminal deserves any rights!!
“NO criminal deserves any rights.”
Okeedokee then. Looks like that fascination with Saudi Arabia is setting in. No freedom of religion. No right to assembly. No freedom of speech. You’ve chosen the bottom half of the double standard. Good work.
Now if we can just get those American hikers out of Iran.
Yo Betty,
With all due respect, I agree we should do everything we can to get these hikers out of Iran. Still if you are going to go mountain climbing you better know you might not get to go home. If you are going to walk into the southside of Chicago at midnight and expect me to fell sorry for you when you are mugged or killed, don’t count on me feeling too sorry for your enlightened ignorance or outright stupidity.
There are places in every city and every corner of the world where if you go then you better go in with your eyes open to some seriously bad outcomes. I hope they come back soon, but personally I don’t have that much sympathy for fools who hike into a war zone and expect a good outcome.
They are not my heros and I hope we don’t treat them as such, as they are indeed fools.
Thanks
Betty knows nothing: When a criminal commits a violent crime, as all gang members do, he has already forfeited his rights as a law abiding citizen. . . I made no mention of religious freedom, or freedom of speech-your weak strawman attempt is pitiful indeed. Soros didn’t get his money’s worth on that one. Are you actually as blind as you seem to be, or is just the money?
I hereby accuse you of an unspecified crime! Congratulations, you now have no rights whatsoever…or are you merely a hypocrite?
Innocent until proven guilty protects more than just criminals.
“No criminal deserves any rights”
The problem with that is defining a criminal. Does someone lose all rights upon conviction in court? Problem: Many of the gang members haven’t been convicted. Second problem: What’s the minimum crime to forfeit rights? Murder? What if it was self-defense? What about jaywalking? There’s a great reason to strip someone of rights. And what about wrongful convictions? The court system abounds with those.
Ok, so you get rid of everyone ever convicted of a crime. Hmm, there’s an awful lot of un-convicted criminals left. I know, we can strip away the rights of everyone who is accused of a crime! That’d REALLY streamline the court system…no right to a trial after being accused, just up against the wall and a firing squad! Problem: people get falsely accused even more often than they get falsely convicted!
Are you volunteering to give up all your rights, just because I might accuse you of wrongdoing?
I’ll give you a hint: Criminals don’t have rights because they’re criminals, they have them because they are human.
No, they have them here because they are United states citizens, not because they are human.
Oh, please stop. Nobody is denying criminals their rights. In the courtroom, what is referred to as their “rights” is actually the rights the rest of us enjoy, plus an enormous procedural advantage over everyone else — society, their victims, the police and all citizens they threaten.
Want to talk about rights actually being denied? More than once, I’ve heard from crime victims who are frustrated because a DA tells them they must not publicly express even the slightest negativity towards an offender who killed their loved ones, lest their attitude be “used by the defense” in some way in an appeal. Why don’t you take a moment to fuss over the fact that actually innocent people are being warned not to practice their rights of free expression . . . because our criminal justice system is so perversely biased towards offenders?
The eternal grandstanding about poor oppressed criminals is simply an extension of the whine of the idiot gang members in Chicago, a whine that admittedly works there like nowhere else, with 66 million going into the pockets of “community advocates” who are claiming to be protecting children going to and from school. Elsewhere, this is called “parenting” or “giving back to the community,” and it doesn’t come with a paycheck from the taxpayers. And that is just one program among many. So it isn’t surprising that a handful of aging gangbangers held a press conference to demand their share of the graft.
Let me get this clear, now, are you writing about the Chicago street gangs on the streets of Chicago, or the Chicago street gang running the White House?
It will all be good when Rahm becomes Mayor and he puts the Rahmtards to work
“And when we get it, maybe we’ll stop shooting each other.” Minister Allen
There you have it. I think the solution is NOT to give them any money.
Also I think it is laudable for them to shoot each other…no cop involvement and therefore no hysteria and Sharptons/Jacksons on scene to demand their reparations.
Man, I wish Pookie was “an expert shot with a 9-millimeter Glock.”
In reality, the only thing Pookie and his boys can hit are a Birthday Party. And they do it every weekend.
I’ve always felt the CPD (or the LAPD, insert your town here) should pull some ‘bangers aside and teach them how to actually aim and fire their weapons. I’m sick of reading about these fools “spraying and praying,” shooting with their eyes closed. They will fill a rival’s car with rounds, only to hit the nine month old in a safety seat or some Abuela saying her Rosary three blocks away.
That is just stupid. If we had competent gansters, major cities might be safer.
That does seem to be Darwinism put to use in real life.
Amen.
I encounter these fine young men and women on a regular basis. It is horrifically sad to see so many wasted lives. But then when your primary goals in life whether white or black and I see both are 1)get on SSI $770 per month 2) get food stamps and sell some of them to procure ‘other’ things 3) aquire as many baby mama’s or baby daddy’s as you can 4) lie as a way of life 4) act out the thug 5) game the system at every opportunity 6) laugh at those who work or who study hard 7) hate authority of any kind especially the police
etc., etc., etc.,
These are some of the poor who game the system. Most of the working poor I admire, but most of the working poor have friends that they support who are simple thugs and the thugs use them on a regular basis to maintain their street life.
I’m not real interested in redistributing your or my wealth in this direction except as we can for the working poor, but methinks that Mr. Obama doesn’t agree and undoubtedly believes what the gang leaders have to say about the matter.
Thanks
They could care less about the Police. Maybe it’s the LICE(Parasite) part they don’t like .
If you read any kind of political theory, you know that government is a bargain whereby the legitmate use of force in a polity is transferred to a group. In civil society, that group is government. Just read a little Thomas Hobbes.
Thus, gangs, organized crime and other force wielding groups are an alternative government. But they do not have the consent of the governed. They use force to achieve their ends by virtue of fear and co-optation of those in their sphere of influence.
So, its not surprising that bold brigands who have for generations operated covert government ‘want their share’. They cannot expand their spere beyond some small arena however lest they bring down the power (threats and real force by a legitimate wielder of force with the consent of the goverened). There are exceptions (Somalia, Afghanistan, Palestine other failed states) of course. Gangs and organized crime see legitmate government behaving just as they do and vie for the power governments were granted.
Chicago’s gangs, gangs in other neighborhoods and regions have been taught (by virtue of long periods of tolerance) that they can usurp the state in their domains. That a few of them now believe they can operate in the open speaks and demand to participate in legitimate government is simple ego and grandiosity run amok. If they perceive that they can use force great enough to destablize the social contract, chaos follows shortly.
Robert Fuller
Hopewell, NJ
Ok what a flaccid nation we have become.
Fear not. Phranc, we always have your turgid convictions to rely ob, But if your raging patriotism lasts more than four hours, call a doctor.
Thank you for that personal retort instead of actually addressing my point.
The troll sounds like an ex-con who learned all its big words out of the dictionary while locked up in stir, has never actually used them in the real world, and has no idea how they’re pronounced and, indeed, very little idea of what their definition is.
“We know there are billions of dollars in graft coursing through this city, Allen is saying. We only want our fair share of it. And when we get it, maybe we’ll stop shooting each other. And if we don’t stop shooting each other, it won’t mean that the program has failed but rather that even more funding is required. Lather, rinse, repeat.”
A really good article. Thanks for the insights. You could really say the same exact thing about most of the Democratic Progressive policies in our country.
The very good news about that fact is that now that Barack Hussein Obama and his DEMOCRATIC Congress have finally woken up the majority of conservative citizens in this country, they can see it is possible to save our financial well being by correcting the flow of the graft money from the taxpayers.
THINK ABOUT IT.
HOW MUCH OF THE MONEY WE SEND TO “HELP” THE PROBLEMS OF THE POOR REALLY GET TO THE POOR OR HELP? Stop it all and let the problems self correct. Bingo, we have our country back and we are no longer heading to bankruptcy.
If the only problem with the gangs was that they were shooting each other, the solution would be to supply them with plenty of ammunition.
Imam Rauf is Applicant B, demanding his conquest mosque be built or things won’t be pleasant.
Obviously these gang members are exceedingly astute and socially aware, having managed to come up with another excuse over and above those listed in this song from West Side Story, circa 1960. May we assume said Chicago gang members are not Puero Rican?
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke
You gotta understand
It’s just our bringin’ upke
That gets us out of hand
Our mothers all are junkies
Our fathers all are drunks
Golly Moses, naturally we’re punks
JETS
Gee, Officer Krupke
We’re very upset
We never had the love
That every child oughta get
We ain’t no delinquents
We’re misunderstood
Deep down inside us there is good
RIFF
There is good!
JETS
There is good, there is good
There is untapped good
Like inside, the worst of us is good
TIGER, IMITATING KRUPKE
That’s a touching good story
RIFF
Lemme tell it to the world!
TIGER, IMITATING KRUPKE
Just tell it to the judge
RIFF
Dear kindly Judge, your Honor
My parents treat me rough
With all their marijuana
They won’t give me a puff
They didn’t wanna have me
But somehow I was had
Leapin’ lizards, that’s why I’m so bad
SNOWBOY IMITATING JUDGE
Right! Officer Krupke
You’re really a square
This boy don’t need a judge
He needs an analyst’s care
It’s just his neurosis
That oughta be curbed
He’s psychologically disturbed
RIFF
I’m disturbed
JETS
We’re disturbed, we’re disturbed
We’re the most disturbed
Like we’re psychologically disturbed
SNOWBOY IMITATING JUDGE
Hear ye, hear ye. In the opinion of this court, this child is depraved on account he ain’t had a normal home.
RIFF
Hey, I’m depraved on account I’m deprived!
SNOWBOY IMITATING JUDGE
So take him to a headshrinker. You!
ACTION
Who me?
RIFF
My daddy beats my mommy
My mommy clobbers me
My grandpa is a commie
My grandma pushes tea
My sisters wears a moustache
My brother wears a dress
Goodness gracious, that’s why I’m a mess
ACTION IMITATING HEADSHRINKER
Yes, Officer Krupke
He shouldn’t be here
This boy don’t need a couch
He needs a usefully career
Society’s played him a terrible trick
And sociologically he’s sick
RIFF
I am sick!
JETS
We are sick, we are sick
We are sick sick sick
Like we’re sociologically sick
ACTION IMITATING HEADSHRINKER
In my opinion, this child does not need to have his head shrunk at all. Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease.
RIFF
Hey, I got a social disease!
ACTION IMITATING HEADSHRINKER
So take him to a social worker
RIFF
Dear kindly social worker
They tell me get a job
Like be a soda jerker
Which means I’d be a slob
It’s not I’m antisocial
I’m only anti-work
Glory Osky, that’s why I’m a jerk
A-RAB
Eek, Officer Krupke
You’ve done it again
This boy don’t need a job
He needs a year in the pen
It ain’t just a question of misunderstood
Deep down inside he’s no good
RIFF
I’m no good
JETS
We’re no good, we’re no good
We’re no earthly good
Like the best of us is no damn good
The trouble is he’s lazy
The trouble is he drinks
The trouble is he’s crazy
The trouble is he stinks
The trouble is he’s growing
The trouble is he’s grown
Krupke, we’ve got troubles of our own
Officer Krupke
We’re down on our knees
RIFF
‘Cause no one wants a fella
With a social disease
JETS
Dear Officer Krupke
What are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke
Krup you!
Thanks for the memories. What a great show, and what a great time to be alive in America. As they say, live imitates art, and it is proven again by this bit of dialogue.
Hey Jack, a lot of the east coast gangs do have a formal command structure, unlike our local Los Angeles gangs. It has always fascinated me how gangs in New York and Chicago are so different than our local gangs. The exception is the hispanic gangs, MS, 18, and even Florencia are everywhere, and they operate like they do here.
The Chicago street gangs are notorious for their tight organizational structures (based in part on approximations of the structure of the Chicago mafia, or “Outfit”) and political connections. There art three main Chicago street gangs, or nations:
1.) The Black Gangster Disciples (a.k.a. the “Folk Nation”) — the Disciples, or “Folks” are an enormously strong, politically-connected black gang who were founded by the legendary Larry Hoover
http://www.who2.com/ask/larryhoover.html
http://www.ipsn.org/hoover.html
2.) The Vice Lords (a.k.a., the “People”) — a politically-connected (although less so than their rivals, the Disciples) black gang from the West Side.
3.) The Latin Kings — originally a Puerto Rican gang from the Northwest side of Chicago, but now a nation-wide pan-Latino gang. The Latin Kings are the most prominent Latino gang in America. They’re particularly strong in New York, but their organizational structure is based in Chicago.
Each of the three nations has under its umbrella scores of small, local, neighborhood gangs in Chicago (each with its own structure, but ultimately taking orders from their parent gang), and a number of satellite affiliates in smaller cities throughout the Midwest (Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, etc.). The Gangster Disciples are said to be affiliated with Los Angeles’ Crips, but although each of the big three Chicago street gangs wields massive power, only the Latin Kings have a coast-to-coast presence.
Nationally, Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and 18th Street far outnumber the Latin Kings, who really do not have any foothold on the west coast. We run across one or two on occasion, but they are transplants and there are no real Latin King cliques in Los Angeles. Also, there is no Chicago gang with ties to the Crips in Los Angeles because there is no Crip gang in Los Angeles. There are a collection of various neighborhood gangs that consider themselves Crips. Some of the bloodiest conflicts between black gangs are between Crips. Eight Trey and Rolling 60′s are both crip sets, and there are well over 100 homicides between these two gangs over the years.
it is crucial that we have another president in the white house. until that happens, we will be in chaos. this is because our president is nothing but a charlatan, with no credibility and an obsession with supporting gangsterism whether it is the despicable muslims or these knuckle dragging thugs.
My first reaction to this article was, ‘is President Obama holding another press conference with is buddies?’ After all, aren’t these folks members of his admin? I suppose that was mean of me. Huh?
I say, look at the past prosecutions. How many gun crimes were plea negotiated down w/ no charges for the gun or lesser charges? If we have gun laws & then plea bargain them away, is it any wonder we have people out there using guns for crimes? Law abiding citizens are not committing the crimes, criminals are.
It is interesting that just like our expensive & unproductive education system, those running other liberal programs have the same, send us even more money because throwing more money at the problem will make it go away. Except that does not happen so you will have to send EVEN MORE money & on a regular basis so we can keep working to fix what actual law enforcement would.
Crime rates in much of America (pre recession), are down. Especially where people can keep a gun at home. Major cities crimes rates may not be down. I say, create a gwat, create a criminal. This is why the urban concentration idea for sustainability of the planet, has problems. The prisons are fuller than ever with criminals. We are told we are racist because many in prison are minorities. I say, many who committed crimes are minorities & are now enjoying the fruits of their criminal labors!
I question whether many of these feel good programs are worth any of the money we have already spent on them.
I know, it’s not Chicago. It’s Kentucky, heart of the Tea Bag nation. Rand Paul country.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1311300/Husband-enraged-wife-cooked-eggs-kills-others.html
Thank god for the godly.
My my. I wonder if Kentucky is aware that according to Obama supporters, it is the heart of homosexual sexual practices in America. I wonder if *Betty* knows what teabagging is, since s/he/it throws the term around so loosely. Probably, in that s/he/it is obviously quite a worldly troll.
Teabagging is not homosexual unless its done by homosexuals.
Now Betty, what do you have against Tea Partiers?
Just because we are sick and tired of paying for the “great unwashed, uneducated (by their own choice) and thieving politicians pet projects,” why does that make you angry? Are you one of the recipients of the largess? No work for all pay. What a way to go through life.
I read some years ago about a method that “worked” or worked any way up to the time that I read about it. Most of these gangsters have criminal records of some kind. The police in that city (name forgotten) kept close watch on these thugs and every time they did the smallest thing, the smallest, they were busted for parole violation and sent back to wherever they were sent to in the beginning. And in Chicago you might recall owning a pistol (registered or unregistered, in or out of the house) is illegal.
The reason these guys stay on the streets is that the social culture in which they swim is a sewer. They are smart enough not to get caught holding a gun — so prosecution depends upon witness testimony. Of which there is zero. Everyone is against the cops, no one will testify. So normally there is simply insufficient evidence to prosecute. These guys get arrested 10, 15, 20 times before they do something stupid enough to get busted where there is sufficient evidence to prosecute.
The cops are burned out and disheartened because they know they are wasting their time.
You are particially correct. Even if we (police) see them with gun, the judge lets them out on a low bond and they just hit the streets and continue in their animalistic pursuits. Then, when they do come to court, the charges are lowered and the judge will give them “time served.”
Most of them are locked up ten to twenty times before they end up in prison.
It’s the court system that’s the joke here.
Well, that sure gives some insight into the precedent’s background, training and experience. No wonder the country is being sold town the tubes by an incompetent hack with an attitude.
precedent or president?
I’ve been watching a lot of “The First 48″ on the A&E channel. The thing that leaps out is the total and abject poverty of everyone concerned, as well as the incredible illiteracy and literal criminal stupidity. A sub-culture revolving around prostitution, drugs and robbing each other has evolved and is on-going. But geez, Louise — these great and powerful drug dealers are tooling around on BICYCLES, for god’s sake. Like, they can’t afford a real car with four wheels …?!
But they all seem to be able to afford a gun.
Ha ha on me. Thought this was going to be about the SEIU!
“Community organizing” at its finest.
Nothing has changed since Wolfe wrote “Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers” forty years ago: http://nymag.com/news/features/46170/
Chicago is insane – last time I was there for a major medical conference at a center right on Lake Michigan. One beautiful day many dozens of M.D.s and scientists, both Americans and foreigners, were taking a break outside on the hill overlooking Lake Michigan…
then some thug walks past on the bike path with 3 foot long snoop-dog pig tails, as many fake gold chains as Mr. T., and amazingly wearing an air-brushed tee shirt with a huge picture of his own face on the front.
many of the good folks there were not accustomed to such outlandishness and were caught staring at him as he passed
He speeds up (guess he was embarrassed i.d.k.) turns to everyone as he rushes away and yells at the top of his lungs “I HATE WHITE PEOPLE!”
There were some very ethical, giving, smart, and somewhat influential folks there on that hill who won’t forget what kind of citizens Chicago produces.