What Can Be Done about the South Side: Spin-Off/Jesse Jackson (Chicago: crime, employment)

[Atlanta_BD]

Jesse Jackson has proposed that the National Guard be sent in to patrol the areas of Chicago that are overrun with gangs, violence and drugs.

What is everyone's thoughts about this?

[chirack]

Dumb idea. They are not a police force and would ultimatly cause tension. There is a thin line between fighting crime and harassing citizens. I suspect they would not be the best to keep that in mind.

Anyway the whole dang city has a problem with gangs and drugs and the north side is not much less violent than the south.

[PokerPlayer1]

Jobs, stable employment and legitimate hope (not just politicians and their hollow bluster about "change") is the only thing that can fix those communities. Until then, you have people shooting whatever angle they can to get by and all the violence and bull**** that's associated with it.

Bring in the jobs and make it so there are two available jobs for ever man rather than fifty available men for every one job and things change awfully fast.
We need to change the economy and make sure that a fair share is given to all communities. The intensity of blight that we're experiencing now is largely attributable to post-industrialism. Obviously, blacks get the shortest end of the stick.

The inequalities of a "service economy" will eventually come to pretty much confirm everything Marx ever said about the Capitalist cycle. Much of what he's said has already come to pass.

[ajolotl]

good lord, I actually totally agree with this post, though perhaps the last line is a bit exaggerated.

The National Guard would be good to keep order during some transient phenomena -- if there was a natural disaster, looting and chaos, but an eventual path back to normalcy. For a chronically dysfunctional place I don't see what role it would serve -- it treats the symptom and not main cause of the problem.

Originally Posted by PokerPlayer1

Jobs, stable employment and legitimate hope (not just politicians and their hollow bluster about "change") is the only thing that can fix those communities. Until then, you have people shooting whatever angle they can to get by and all the violence and bull**** that's associated with it.

Bring in the jobs and make it so there are two available jobs for ever man rather than fifty available men for every one job and things change awfully fast.
We need to change the economy and make sure that a fair share is given to all communities. The intensity of blight that we're experiencing now is largely attributable to post-industrialism. Obviously, blacks get the shortest end of the stick.

The inequalities of a "service economy" will eventually come to pretty much confirm everything Marx ever said about the Capitalist cycle. Much of what he's said has already come to pass.

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

good lord, I actually totally agree with this post, though perhaps the last line is a bit exaggerated.

Yeah, I'm with you on that. Economic opportunity would in time fix a hell of a lot.

I can identify with your astonishment.