Gov J. B. Pritzker with Brandon Johnson behind him

People deserve to be safe in the cities where they live. It is one of the primary responsibilities of government to ensure that citizens are safe. This is the United States of America. You don’t expect in the U. S. to be afraid to walk down your street at night or, in these times, even during the day. No, you expect to be able to walk to your friend’s house, or to the ice cream shop, or to school, and make it back home without any fear that you might be mugged, beat up or, God forbid, killed by some maniac who demands the meager possessions you have in your pocket, on your wrist, on your back, and the couple of bucks in your wallet.

So many neighborhoods in our inner cities are, for all intents and purposes, war zones. And it’s been that way for decades. So, why is crime such a headline issue now? Because the war zones are getting larger. The crime and violence that, in years past, was limited to certain neighborhoods has boiled over to the more tony parts of town. There is also the apparent brazeness of criminals. Broad daylight and populated areas no longer seem to provide the safety they once did. There is also the apparent randomness of crime, especially violent crime, striking people with no connection whatsover with the perpetrator.

I say “apparent” because those who follow crime statistics will tell you that crime has declined in recent years. Since the years of and immediately following the pandemic, crime has been dropping, including violent crime. Or, again, that’s what the experts say. President Trump, on the other hand, will tell you that Chicago is the most violent city in the world. And crime reporting on the television and in the newspapers supports that perception. But Chicago doesn’t even make it on the list of the twenty most dangerous cities in the U. S., never mind the world. Neither does Washiington, D. C., for that matter. If President Trump wants to send National Guard troops to help quell dangerous crime, he might start with Memphis and St. Louis rather than D. C. and Chicago.

But perception is everything. And the perception is that crime is soaring. There is also the fact that the public has been gaslit and, frankly, flat out lied to, so often by the government and others in positions of power that the public has little reason to believe what anyone tells them anymore. I mean, it’s all over the news how the crime statistics have been manipulated by those who have a stake in making crime look like it’s declining. “Don’t believe your lying eyes!” has almost been adopted by the government as a major element of federal policy, along with their media minions. The government does something, or fails do something, or causes something, or fails to cause something, and the next thing you know is you have the government officials and politicians telling the people “Don’t believe your lying eyes!” And their media hacks tow the line by repeating the line.

(Honestly, I do not recall another time in American history when so many of the media outlets served essentially as an arm of one party or the other. I mean, there were certainly newspapers that were identified as being “a Republican paper” or “a Democratic paper,” but that was because of the leanings of their owners, not because of any actual allegience to one party or the other. Today, it seems, that we have news outlets that are literally arms of the political party with which they align, that take orders from party leaders as to what they want reported and what they don’t want reported. It’s very difficult to find a truly balanced news outlets. I suppose it has always been such, but it’s the degree to which these outlets align themselves that I’m complaining about. Sigh.)

So, the experts, or the politicians, or the media report to the people that crime has declined. And maybe it has. But mothers won’t allow their children to walk the streets, even in daylight. Every day we hear about more killings, more robberies, more carjackings, more muggings. People have a right to be safe. Not only to be safe, but to feel safe. And there’s the rub. Our politicians tells us, well … except for Trump, who tells us that all horror prevails outside your front door. But, our politicians tell us that crime is down and cities are safer. But people don’t feel safe because they don’t believe the people who tell them they are safe. And they don’t believe the people who tell them they are safe because they see the killings, the robberies, the carjackings, and the muggings. Remember when Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, D. C. said that, except for the murders, Washington was a great city? It seem to me we’re back to those halcion days! Mayor Johnson and Gov Pritzker tell us that Chicago’s a great town, a wonderful city, a city so safe that people can buy ice cream on the Riverwalk. But then we hear about the eight killed and fifty-eight injured over the Labor Day weekend, and we wonder what Mayor Johnson and Gov Pritzker are talking about. The South Side of Chicago is bigger than Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D. C. Experts will tell you that homocides in the South Side are down from the years of and immediately after the pandemic. The families of the sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, fathers, husbands, mothers, wives, and even the babies killed on the South Side don’t care that the numbers are down. They only care that their loved ones are now a number in Chicago crime statistics.

It seems that crime is out of control in Chicago. That’s the perception, anyway. And perception is everything. Maybe it’s the truth. Trump wants to send in the National Guard to help quell the violence. Johnson and Pritzker say not so fast. Wait … what? Everyone knows that crime in Chicago is crazy bad especially on the South Side. Is it the worst in the world? Well, no, of course not. But, yeah, crime is crazy bad there. And it seems like the Chicago PD could use a hand, being 1300 officers short of full strength. Trump offers help in handling the crime. And Johnson and Pritzker say no? And the Democrats figure this is a winning strategy? Saying no to an offer of help from the federal government to fight crime? What are you, pro crime? You’d rather your citizens get gunned down in the streets than take a hand from Donald Trump? And that’s how y’all are gonna win ’26 and ’28?

What else is there to say? It all seems out of sorts to me. Here I am writing about Chicago, while living in my medium-sized city and not too worried about crime, while knowing I could be the next victim at any moment. So, I should worry, right? No, I should not worry. What did worry ever get anyone? I should take precautions. That’s all I can do, and leave the rest in the good Lord’s hands. Of course, I say that knowing that no one was killed on my street last night, or this afternoon, for that matter. I say that knowing that my mayor isn’t in a tussle with the president over sending troops into my neighborhood to maybe prevent someone being shot on my street last night, or this afternoon. I say that while living in a city where the police force is not 1300 officers down, but where 1300 officers probably represents our entire police force. (I just looked it up, and 1300 is three times the number of officers in my city!).

This is the first rule: The people deserve to be safe. If you can’t manage that, you have no business holding public office.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.