This is an opinion column.
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
(In the ghetto)
And his mama cries
‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It is another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
(In the ghetto)
People, don’t you understand
The child needs a helping hand
Or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me
Are we too blind to see?
Do we simply turn our heads
And look the other way
No one can’t say y’all don’t care. Certainly, some folk in and around Birmingham believe the city’s plague of gun violence is their problem, not mine.
Some look the other way.
That’s easy to do in our fractured region. Easy to wear heartless blinders when most homicides don’t touch you. When they happen in places nowhere near you. When they are confined to a few areas, areas you’ve likely never been.
Of last year’s 123 homicides—a 6.25% slide from 2022—66 percent (81) bodies fell in the West and North precincts, according to my colleague Carol Robinson’s tally. Easy but not acceptable. Looking the other way. Not acceptable.
When a life is lost senselessly and violently, grief should pierce us all, our veins should simmer with anger.
Thankfully, many of you do care—as suggested by responses to my column last Sunday, where I shared solutions to gun violence proposed by various citizens, not elected officials.
Gun violence that still rears unabated in 2024: 103 as of this writing.
Those solutions were offered after I asked this question: If you were Birmingham’s king or queen for a day with the power to make almost anything happen by royal decree what would you do to stop gun violence?
Ideas (some of which are already being implemented) generally fell into six categories: police/law enforcement, youth/parenting, jobs/economic development, guns, infrastructure/neighborhoods, and faith.
I asked if there were more ideas; a new wave emerged.
Caveat: Many viewed the question as an opportunity to vent and blame. Not interested, thank you.
Here are a few of the new proposals, even a few Draconian ones (along with my thoughts):
- Stop the sale and service of alcohol at midnight. (Naïve, and way too late.)
- Require anyone over 21 to take a gun safety course, then require them to open carry a firearm (Uhhh…), then sentence anyone committing a crime with a gun to a mandatory life sentence. (Next, oh king, fix prison overcrowding.)
- Bring Leader in Me to elementary schools. According to its website, the program provides “a model and process that addresses common challenges that are unique to students during these formative years.” Said reader: “I participated in this program as a teacher. The school documented low behavior and increased test scores. The program was removed when teachers who didn’t want to work so hard lobbied the [school] board to remove the principal and program. These lazy teachers were successful [lowering] test scores and [increasing poor] behavior.” (Ouch) “It is an expensive program,” the queen continued, but less expensive than funerals and incarceration.” (Truth.)
