In an earlier post I flagged the issue of disarmament and racial politics in Chicago. I highlighted the fact that Windy City gangbanger gunfire was largely restricted to the city’s less affluent (read: black) neighborhoods. TTAG reader ST asserted that “there’s a little bit of violent crime in *every* part of Chicago. The thugs who shoot each other on the south side don’t care enough about the northern enclaves to start trouble, but there’s plenty of crooks to keep things equally lively everywhere.” Reading Gun violence impacts Pill Hill: ‘We don’t have that kind of stuff’ [via chicagotribune.com] it certainly seems so . . .

Chicago police are still searching for the gunmen in a pair of shooting incidents in a South Side neighborhood that hadn’t seen much of that kind of violence until Sunday.

A Sunday night shooting, in which an 11-year-old girl was among the four victims, and a Sunday morning shooting that left a south suburban man dead in his car in a school parking lot left people in the Pill Hill neighborhood worried. Chicago police data shows the small neighborhood has one of the lowest crime rates on the South Side and has had only two homicides dating back to 2008, according to Tribune homicide numbers . . .

Chicago’s Pill Hill neighborhood is “above average” in terms of affluence. But it’s still a largely African-American community. And that means it doesn’t get the stealthy priority one policing of, say, Chicago’s Gold Coast. In other words, Pill Hill’s a soft target.

Residents who live on the block say it has long been a quiet neighborhood. While some said they continue to see it that way, others said they have seen an uptick in what they believe is gang activity in the past month.

Anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes was passing out flyers on the block Monday morning. He and a man who lives on the block but did not want to be named both said people they believe to be gang members have been riding into the area on bikes and breaking into homes and garages as well as firing shots in the neighborhood in recent weeks.

A woman on the block who also did want to give her name, heard about nine shots Sunday night. The longtime resident said she is concerned about the changes she has seen in recent weeks and plans to attend a Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy meeting to find out what she can do.

“I don’t want to let these thugs run us out,” she said.

The anonymous woman quoted above didn’t say “The police shouldn’t let these thugs runs us out.” She said “I.” And how might she and like-minded citizens stand up to the drug thugs? Demand better policing or tool-up and take back the streets?

Oh wait. Residents in the Land of Lincoln remain the only citizens of these United States who are completely prohibited from exercising the “bear” part of their Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. That’ll have to change first.

I wonder if it will be too late for Pill Hill.

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19 COMMENTS

  1. it spreads like a cancer. just like in mexico. no insult to the police but they’re limited in numbers and can’t be everywhere at once. citizens have to take responsibility for their own safety. time for the folks of ill. to demand shall issue and castle laws. if not just look to mexico for a picture of your future.

  2. This Crime Wave is written into the DNC’s Platform, it is a cancer and the only way to cure it is cut it out at the source; the WH

  3. They need to move (back?) south if they want to restore their rights as citizens.

    The ironing is delicious!

    • Texicans: Riley is right on I just read the artical…… another things that needs to happen to slow down the drug cartels…. security the borders…. oh forgot Obama does not want the borders secured…. sorry my fault… got to be politically correct in this ….. right…… oh what a bunch of BS….. lock them up…. most of the ones on the streets in Chicago working for drug cartel are illegal alains…… oh darn forgot….. can not detain or arrest…. must let them go…. like in Texas when an officer was assaulted by and illegal alian he was released by order of the federal government…. oh darn forgot sorry guys…. I just dont know what to say now….. I guess we just have to live in fear….. thank you ICE…. thank you President Obama….. sorry guys……. that is just the way it is……… you know those executive orders in making laws….. darn did not know that is how our system really worked til Obama showed Congress and the Senate the way it is really suppose to work……… oh darn

  7. wonder what mayor jackass is going to say tonight at the DC I can hear it now” ever since i have been mayor crime has all but been eliminated” typical lying democrate

  8. I moved out of state from the Gold Coast neighborhood not too long ago. It’s starting to spread into that area as well. The shootings-not quite yet, but violent street crime that is more common in other neighborhoods is becoming more common in that area, as well as in the areas around the Magnificent Mile (North Michigan Ave.), Streeterville (Northwestern Hospital) and River North (restaurant district). These are all areas that draw people from out of town, whether for shopping, bars, restaurants, or medical issues. Once those people start to get scared, the city’s got a real problem on its hands.

    • I attribute your ignorance to your young age. It’s called Pill Hill because at one time it was a neighborhood full of MDs and DDSs. To be fully above aboard on this as a Rogers Park native on the far northside I aksed a co-worker who hails from the southside about the origins of the name.

  11. While the core inner city neighborhoods might be too far gone for an armed citizenry to do anything more than survive allowing people in places like Pill Hill to exercise their right to self defense would probably be enough to keep the gangs out. Like all criminals they look for easy targets. If Pill Hill isn’t so easy they will move elsewhere. If they have nowhere else besides their own areas to safely commit crimes then at least the rest of city will be liveable. The Cancer analogy is a good one. If the gangs are left unchecked the rest Chicago will die from crime and disorder.

    This is what anarchy looks like.

  12. hhmm well let’s see.
    Confine people to a geographical area, sorry they are mostly the same ethnic background, check. Now keep them from defending themselves, check. Now let the enemy take over, gangs, check. Now rally them together saying you can fix it!
    I hate to use the despicable rhetoric of one of the GOP delegates, but who is using Nazi tactics now?
    At some point someone will defend themselves, then wind up going to jail for doing so. That will stir the pot I am sure.

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