Chicago has a reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. It’s a shame because I actually love the city. It’s politics suck, but the city itself is one of my favorite places in the country.
Oddly, so is the Painted Desert in Arizona. Go figure.
Anyway, because of Chicago’s reputation, there’s always a lot of debate surrounding violent crime in the Windy City. We’ve had discussions about it for years upon years at this point.
So it’s safe to say that people know it’s a thing.
Yet an event seeks to make absolutely sure people know about it, apparently.
Organized by Highland Park resident Pam Faulkner with help from U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, and U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D. California, Rock the Ride is a bike ride or walk in North Shore communities to send a message about gun violence.
…
“We want to bring the community together to look for reasons and ways to oppose gun violence,” Faulkner said. “This is about gun violence prevention.”When cyclists and riders finished their journey at the second-annual Rock the Ride, there was chalk to write the name of a victim of gun violence. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun)
Routes for both the 25- and 12-mile rides through Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood and Lake Forest had a rest stop by Highland Park’s City Hall, where there is a memorial for the victims of the shooting.
When Thompson and two people accompanying him on the ride got to the rest stop, they immediately asked for the location of the memorial. They went to pay their respects to the victims.
Now, it does seem to raise some money, at least some of which went to support the victims of the Highland Park shooting, but most of this is just…nothing.
There are the names of victims in chalk? Well, that’s a lasting tribute, isn’t it?
Look, I’m not saying people can’t do stuff like this. It’s a free nation, more or less, and this definitely falls within their freedom of speech.
I’m just going to use mine to point out how little some of this accomplishes. It’s performative activism in so many ways. Raising money is enough. It’s actually something that has some substance. The rest of this is to just make people feel like they’re doing more than they are.
Chicago has some severe cultural problems. What’s more, we’ve got people like these folks who apparently didn’t give a damn about any of it until there was a mass shooting that burst their bubble. As awful as Highland Park was, though, there’s a lot worse happening on the streets of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods every day, and none of the gun control meant to stop it has accomplished squat.
I just hope that the money raised is going to at least help the victims of violence or to groups trying to short-circuit the processes that turn people violent, rather than to anti-gun groups that pretend to be anti-violence. At least then this ride might actually accomplish something for the Chicago area for a change.
