It just doesn’t stop. These shootings happen every day, but no one seems to care. You’re not going to hear the same politicians who politicize every tragic mass shooting talk about the dozens of people who are shot every week in Chicago. You’re just not. Why? Because the violence and death in Chicago aren’t politically convenient enough for politicians who are merely attempting to get their voice in a sound bite on CNN or wherever else.
Another weekend, dozens more victims.
I’m sad to report that seven people were murdered in the Chicagoland area over the weekend, with another 46 people wounded. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, an astounding “17 people were shot in three separate incidents in Lawndale over a span of two hours” on Sunday.
Two hours! Seventeen people shot.
It got so bad that Chicago’s Mount Sinai Hospital had to stop accepting new patients in the trauma center on Sunday because they were overwhelmed following the barrage of shootings in the reported short amount of time.
Even CNN reported on Mount Sinai being “at capacity.”
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson held a press conference to comment on both the shootings in Chicago and the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas.
You have to stop yourself and ask what will it take before we get a handle on what's going on. Not only in Chicago, but across the country.
From police departments to the court systems to prosecutors to legislators, we have to come together and figure out more common-sense solutions to these problems because clearly too many of our citizens are being shot and killed.
It’s all well and good to admit that there’s a severe problem. But when you’re one of the few people who can at least attempt to come up with solutions and the situation doesn’t seem to ever really get better, it might be time to try something new.
Here’s an example of this past weekend’s violence:
Calvin Seay, 23, was outside his home about 1:30 p.m. in the 7300 block of South Stewart Street when someone in a gray vehicle pulled up and shot at him, police and the medical examiner’s office said.
Seay was hit in the head and chest and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he was pronounced dead less than half an hour later, authorities said.
This weekend’s shootings in the Windy City brings the total number of people shot, on weekend only, to 497 victims since the beginning of Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, 62 of the 497 victims died from their wounds.
Once I see a member of Congress — any member of Congress — address the Chicago body count in one of their hyper-partisan speeches, maybe I’ll give them credit for talking about gun violence. Until then, I’ll take a politician’s comments with a grain of salt.