Involved neighbors can beat street gangs
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Involved neighbors can beat street gangs
By Ray Hanania
Southwest News-Herald Newspaper, Thursday, April 17, 2014
This past weekend was a tragic one for the City of Chicago. During a 36 hour period starting on Friday, 36 people were shot. Four of them died from their wounds.
Clearly, a major cause of the violence is the presence of street gangs. What can Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel do to combat the street gang violence?
There have been a lot of ideas thrown about. But during my 35 years of covering suburban communities as a journalist and most recently as a media consultant working for several suburban villages, I know that it takes more than just a strong police department to prevent violence. Chicago shows that it doesn’t matter how many police you have, it takes something else. It takes active community involvement.
How do you get the community involved? You won’t get people to stand up to the street gangs by urging them to confront street gangs. Confronting the street gangs is too dangerous.
But there is a way to get homeowners involved to make a difference, and several communities are doing it. Neighborhood festivals and neighborhood events bring the good people together in a show of force that is intimidating to the street gang members.
Just look at communities where I have or continue to work like in, the town of Cicero, the villages of Bridgeview, Lyons and Orland Park. All of these communities have strong summer schedules filled with festivals and public events.
Chicago used to do that under former Mayor Jane M. Byrne. She initiated a Neighborhood’s Department that organized local festivals to get the neighborhood residents to come together as a group. It brought neighbors out of their homes to meet and communicate and feel the power of numbers.
Too often homeowners living in high crime areas are afraid to come out of their homes. They surrender the streets to the street gang members. They don’t get to know their neighbors and have no effective means of making a statement against the street gangs.
Mayor Emanuel should turn to suburban communities like Cicero, Bridgeview and Lyons where residents come out of their homes during the spring, the summer and the fall to celebrate as unified and strong communities. That sense of “community” that festivals create motivates people to get involved, because they feel like they are not alone. They are with other neighbors who care.
A major factor contributing to the success of the street gangs is the intimidation they create. Residents are afraid and don’t come out of their homes. They have no reason to go outside. They get used to surrendering the streets and neighborhoods to the gangs, spending all their time indoors.
Community festivals, family-oriented celebrations, and public activities have a powerful and positive impact on communities plagued by street gangs. They empower people, reminding them that they are in charge.
The street gangs prey on the fears of the neighborhood. They thrive in neighborhoods where public voices are muted.
Local government festivals can help overcome that. It’s not the solution to street gangs but it is a very important part of the solution that also leads to other things.
For example, instead of cowering in fear in their homes with the drapes drawn, residents start to monitor what happens. And they call police on the street gang members. They provide information on the street gang members. And that community involvement makes it easier for the police to fight back.
Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and columnist. Reach him at www.UrbanStrategiesGroup.com.
Blogger, Columnist at Illinois News Network Online
Ray Hanania is senior blogger for the Illinois News Network online news site. He is an award winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist who covered the beat from 1976 through 1992 (From Mayor Daley to Mayor Daley).
In 1976, he was hired by the Chicago community newspaper The Southtown Economist (Daily Southtown) and in 1985 was hired by the Chicago Sun-Times and covered Chicago City Hall for both. In 1993, he launched the “The Villager” Newspapers which covered 12 Southwest Chicagoland suburban regions. He hosted a live weekend Radio Show on WLS AM radio from 1980 through 1991, and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM and shows on WSBC AM in Chicago and WNZK AM in Detroit.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
Hanania’s writings have been published in newspapers around the world. He currently is syndicated through Creators Syndicate and his column is feature every Sunday in the Saudi Gazette in Saudi Arabia. He has written for the Jerusalem Post, YNetNews.com, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Star, the News of the World, the Daily Yomimuri in Tokyo, Chicago Magazine, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, and Aramco Magazine. His Chicagoland political columns are published in the Southwest News-Herald and Des Plaines Valley News on several Chicagoland blogs including the OrlandParker.com and SuburbanChicagoland.com.
Hanania is the President/CEO of Urban Strategies Group media and public affairs consulting which has clients in Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Washington D.C.
His personal website is www.TheMediaOasis.com. Email him at:
[email protected].
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Involved neighbors can beat street gangs
Involved neighbors can beat street gangs
By Ray Hanania
Southwest News-Herald Newspaper, Thursday, April 17, 2014
Clearly, a major cause of the violence is the presence of street gangs. What can Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel do to combat the street gang violence?
There have been a lot of ideas thrown about. But during my 35 years of covering suburban communities as a journalist and most recently as a media consultant working for several suburban villages, I know that it takes more than just a strong police department to prevent violence. Chicago shows that it doesn’t matter how many police you have, it takes something else. It takes active community involvement.
How do you get the community involved? You won’t get people to stand up to the street gangs by urging them to confront street gangs. Confronting the street gangs is too dangerous.
But there is a way to get homeowners involved to make a difference, and several communities are doing it. Neighborhood festivals and neighborhood events bring the good people together in a show of force that is intimidating to the street gang members.
Just look at communities where I have or continue to work like in, the town of Cicero, the villages of Bridgeview, Lyons and Orland Park. All of these communities have strong summer schedules filled with festivals and public events.
Chicago used to do that under former Mayor Jane M. Byrne. She initiated a Neighborhood’s Department that organized local festivals to get the neighborhood residents to come together as a group. It brought neighbors out of their homes to meet and communicate and feel the power of numbers.
Too often homeowners living in high crime areas are afraid to come out of their homes. They surrender the streets to the street gang members. They don’t get to know their neighbors and have no effective means of making a statement against the street gangs.
Mayor Emanuel should turn to suburban communities like Cicero, Bridgeview and Lyons where residents come out of their homes during the spring, the summer and the fall to celebrate as unified and strong communities. That sense of “community” that festivals create motivates people to get involved, because they feel like they are not alone. They are with other neighbors who care.
A major factor contributing to the success of the street gangs is the intimidation they create. Residents are afraid and don’t come out of their homes. They have no reason to go outside. They get used to surrendering the streets and neighborhoods to the gangs, spending all their time indoors.
Community festivals, family-oriented celebrations, and public activities have a powerful and positive impact on communities plagued by street gangs. They empower people, reminding them that they are in charge.
The street gangs prey on the fears of the neighborhood. They thrive in neighborhoods where public voices are muted.
Local government festivals can help overcome that. It’s not the solution to street gangs but it is a very important part of the solution that also leads to other things.
For example, instead of cowering in fear in their homes with the drapes drawn, residents start to monitor what happens. And they call police on the street gang members. They provide information on the street gang members. And that community involvement makes it easier for the police to fight back.
Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and columnist. Reach him at www.UrbanStrategiesGroup.com.
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Ray Hanania
In 1976, he was hired by the Chicago community newspaper The Southtown Economist (Daily Southtown) and in 1985 was hired by the Chicago Sun-Times and covered Chicago City Hall for both. In 1993, he launched the “The Villager” Newspapers which covered 12 Southwest Chicagoland suburban regions. He hosted a live weekend Radio Show on WLS AM radio from 1980 through 1991, and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM and shows on WSBC AM in Chicago and WNZK AM in Detroit.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
Hanania’s writings have been published in newspapers around the world. He currently is syndicated through Creators Syndicate and his column is feature every Sunday in the Saudi Gazette in Saudi Arabia. He has written for the Jerusalem Post, YNetNews.com, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Star, the News of the World, the Daily Yomimuri in Tokyo, Chicago Magazine, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, and Aramco Magazine. His Chicagoland political columns are published in the Southwest News-Herald and Des Plaines Valley News on several Chicagoland blogs including the OrlandParker.com and SuburbanChicagoland.com.
Hanania is the President/CEO of Urban Strategies Group media and public affairs consulting which has clients in Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Washington D.C.
His personal website is www.TheMediaOasis.com. Email him at: [email protected].
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
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