Apocalypse Now?
TBG and I were listening to the talking heads on CNN this afternoon, putting away laundry and making snarky replies to the voices when we stopped in our tracks, looked up at the screen... then each other... stunned. 80% of the victims of violent crime in Chicago refuse to cooperate with the police. Amidst an epidemic of deaths and mayhem, only 20% of the victims are helping the police to solve the crime. As the CPD interviewee ruefully reminded us, it's hard to turn the tide when the victims are hostile witnesses. Hearing that, I had to stop and wonder, were they hostile or were they afraid? Were they prepared to settle the score themselves, or were they frightened that further damage would be done should they choose to help? Did they feel so uncertain, so insecure, that laying low was their only option? What is it like, being unable to trust the police? Politics aside, I'm making a connection between the people in those neighborhoods caught up in gang violence a...