Here's a news report that's so full of sickening irony, one doesn't quite know where to start. Bold, underlined text is my emphasis.
3 anti-violence workers charged with felony gun violations — while on bail for felony gun violations
At least three men who are supposedly working to end gun violence in Chicago were charged with illegally carrying guns this week while they were already on bond for other felony gun cases. One of the men’s pending cases includes allegations that he shot at two people.
When Sendalio Williams, 25, appeared before Judge John Lyke on Saturday afternoon, it was the second time in four months that he stood in front of the same judge on a new gun charge ... Williams also appeared before Lyke on May 3. In that case, cops watching a CPD surveillance camera feed allegedly saw him fire a gun and jump into a black SUV ... Prosecutors said he admitted to police that he fired the gun in the direction of two other men ... On Saturday ... his defense attorney told Lyke he studied criminal justice at Westwood College and “works with CeaseFire to educate kids about gun violence.”
. . .
Also appearing before Lyke on Saturday was 41-year-old William Jenkins, who has worked for two years “canvassing neighborhoods and high crime areas to cut down on shootings,” according to his public defender.
Police allegedly found a loaded handgun with an extended ammunition magazine sticking out of a backpack between the front seats of his car during a traffic stop on Friday. Jenkins, who received a 20-year sentence for attempted murder in 1999, has a pending unlawful use of a weapon by a felon case, prosecutors said.
. . .
Last Sunday, Darnell Hite appeared for a bond hearing in front of Judge Charles Beach.
When police pulled Hite over for a traffic stop near the Magnificent Mile around noon last Saturday, he reached into his fanny pack to get his license. That’s when police allegedly saw the butt of a handgun sticking out of the bag. According to court records, Hite already has an unlawful use of a weapon case pending from June 2020.
His defense attorney told Beach that he’s married, “works outreach to stop violence,” and is an active church member.
There's more at the link.
Speaking as a retired pastor, allow me to assure you: if any of these three "innocent little baa lambs" had been in my congregation, and had tried to use their alleged "faith" and church attendance as features of their criminal defense, I'd be the first to appear in court and quote to the judge a few selections from Scripture about their attitude and behavior. I might emphasize Matthew 23:27-28. It seems to me to be a pretty accurate assessment of their behavior.
Both as a pastor and as a prison chaplain, I never ceased to be cynically amused at the number of "anti-violence" and "community development" groups, outreaches and workers who were themselves hardened criminals, and whose behavior over time demonstrated conclusively that their only interest in "reaching out" to their communities was to gather groups of like-minded people to work together to commit more crimes. In effect, they were hunting for future gang members to influence and lead - and, in their mostly inner-city environments, they usually found fertile ground for their lies and deceptions. Talk about hunting over bait!
As for a "justice" system that ignores reality by letting such offenders out on bail, only to reoffend again and again . . . the less said about that, the better. I will point out that such a "justice" system is almost bound to result in people taking the law, and justice, into their own hands. I've seen that in action, too. If people know that the criminal they've just caught red-handed will be given a slap on the wrist by activist prosecutors and/or judges, and be back on the street within hours or days, they're more likely to say "The hell with that!" and not bother to call the police to arrest the perpetrator. Instead, they'll ensure, the hard way, that the criminal doesn't get a second (or third, or fourth, or umpteenth) chance. Alternatively, they'll turn to vigilante justice rather than organized criminal prosecutions to deal with crime. Vigilantes tend to be a lot less concerned with the balance of evidence and cold, dispassionate analysis, and a lot more into hot-blooded judgments and swift, summary punishment. All over the world, in all sorts of circumstances, we've seen that play out.
As for the three "innocent little baa lambs" in Chicago . . . one trusts something appropriate will happen to them, one way or another. I'm sure the people of Chicago would agree, even if the local justice system wouldn't.
Peter
And, once again, we have an example of the same people who demand more restrictive gun laws not actually enforcing the ones already on the books.
ReplyDeleteKind of makes you think that it's not about reducing gun violence, doesn't it?
As a retired pasror, I hope you'll keep me in your prayers. I'm anxious these days.
ReplyDeleteThat quote from Matthew would work for the court and the city as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's the Chicago way of reducing gun violence. Shoot the opposing gang members first. And never mind the bystanders. They should have been somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteSARC/
John in Indy
What we really need is a "three strikes and you're dead" law.
ReplyDeleteI miss the Second City Cop blog, they would have had an incredible post on this.
ReplyDeleteThey still post occasionally at Chicago Contrarian .
I found out about the Second City City blog from here I believe, reading the blog was eye opening.
Progressiveness seems to have turned into a cult where the members reinforce each other’s behavior. And the Saintliness of minorities is a core belief, with another core belief that the White, Christian Patriarchy, and all the laws, cultural norms, and laws it created, has oppressed them. This is a sprinkling of Marxism using race instead of class. And everything would be better if there was an elite class that would make us into a perfect socialist utopia, without the evils of capitalism.
And to get there, which is historically fated, every means necessary is acceptable. And when things don’t happen, such as Trump being elected, something wrong and evil happened. A poll
I read commented around 62% of Democrats thought the 2016 election was stolen.
There is a culture war going on, and this replacing of the police with community organizations is part of it. CRT indoctrination is another part of it.
Thanks Peter for this post, it helps for my trying to grasp what is going on.
Hey jackass is the source for Chicago Shootings.
When you make criminal justice all about ethnic percentages or chromosonal percentages, and not about, you know, people who actually commit crime no matter what they are, then you've effectively destroyed the criminal justice system.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the reason so many blacks are in jail and prison is that blacks disproportionally commit crimes.
Yes, numerically and percentage-wise, if everyone was equal, we'd see far more white people in jail and in prison. We'd see far more Amish in the system, too. And Mormons.
But the sad truth is, like the answer to Richard Pryor's eternal question of "why are there so many black people in prison in Arizona when there aren't that many black people in Arizona?" is that blacks commit crimes than any other demographic. And unlike in most other demographic groups, crime is celebrated as a way of life.
@Ray in So Cal ..
ReplyDeleteIn addition to HeyJackass ... check out
cwbchicago.com ... they've got the read deal from the street level.
Also pretty good is the 19th Ward Chicago Blog ...