Page 2 - aruba-today-20220601

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 1 June 2022
After Uvalde, holiday weekend sees shootings nationwide

violence was kept at or below lev-
els from previous years. Chicago’s
Memorial Day weekend death toll
was three times last year’s.
It’s long been a rule of thumb in
northern cities that hot weather
means more violence. Tempera-
tures in Detroit and Chicago were
in the 80s — unseasonably warm
— during the three-day weekend,
bringing more people outside and
increasing the chances of clashes,
often between rival gangs. Alcohol
at holiday parties can fuel personal
beefs, some of which first fester on-
line.
“The seasons may not have much
of an impact on shootings in Los
Angeles, where the weather is al-
ways good,” said Rodney Phillips,
a violence prevention worker and
former gang member in Chicago.
But in his city, Memorial Day week-
end typically marks “the start of the
killing season,” he said.
Residents like Yvonne Fields, of
Detroit, say they are especially
cautious when Memorial Day rolls
around. She, her children and
grandchildren spent time closer to
home this weekend.
“The holidays are not like they used
to be,” Fields said. “The gangs have
taken over. They do drive-by shoot-
ings. Everyone is living in fear.”
Police in big cities often say most
homicides have some tie-in to
gangs, though others point to
poverty and the desperation that
comes with it as underlying causes.
An organizational shift over the
past three decades, from top-
Yvonne Fields, left, and her daughter, Tanya Fields, both of Detroit, say their family plans to spend time closer to home during down gangs led by identifiable
the warm-weather holidays, on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Detroit, due to shootings and random violence occurring in
Detroit and other cities. leaders who could assert control
Associated Press to more fragmented, loosely struc-
tured groups, has also contributed
to the violence.
Continued from Front and nine died. In the wake of the laws, like Indiana and Mississippi. “These gang factions are getting
Uvalde shooting, by an 18-year-old Chicago officials also note that younger and younger, bolder and
There were at least two incidents in who legally purchased an AR-style the city records fewer murders per more impulsive,” Phillips said. “It’s
Chicago between late Friday and rifle, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and capita than many other smaller alarming. It’s often children shoot-
Monday that qualified as mass other Republican opponents of U.S. cities. ing children these days.
shootings, including one near a tougher gun laws quickly pointed Police chiefs there and in other Malik Shabazz, who helps lead
closed elementary school on the at Chicago as an example of how cities cancelled days off to boost neighborhood safety and anti-
West Side in which the wounded such measures don’t work, say- the numbers of officers over the crime patrols in Detroit, said the
included a 16-year-old girl. ing, “more people are shot every holiday, hoping it would act as a Detroit New Black Panther Nation/
Single-fatality shootings also weekend (there) than there are in deterrent. Independent conflict New Marcus Garvey Movement he
rocked families and communities. schools in Texas.” mediators also hit the streets, using founded looks for spikes in crime
In Arkansas a 7-year-old girl was High rates of gun violence in Chi- social media to identify simmering during the holidays when people
killed Saturday in a busy area near cago have made a series of Dem- conflicts with the potential to ex- gather in groups and have more
the Little Rock Zoo, in what police ocratic governments there, in- plode into real-world violence. free time away from work.
described as “an isolated event in- cluding that of current Mayor Lori In Detroit, Police Chief James “What I see is both the perps and
volving acquaintances.” Lightfoot, vulnerable to criticism White promised to strictly enforce a the victims of (shootings and vio-
And on Chicago’s South Side, the — sometimes from within their own curfew aimed at youths and teens lent crime) are becoming young-
body of a young man slain at an party. after three people were wounded er and younger, and the crime
outdoor birthday party lay on the But the assertions by Abbott and during a shooting earlier this month is becoming more heinous,” said
sidewalk early Sunday, covered others are misleading and oversim- in Greektown, a popular down- Shabazz, 59. “
by a white sheet. His mother stood plify the situation in the country’s town restaurant and entertain- And people bring their guns and
nearby, crying. third-largest city. ment district. people have beef, ‘now I can
Overall, Chicago recorded 32 Many guns used in the killing of Chi- Such strategies may have worked shoot you and I can stab you over
gunfire incidents over the week- cagoans were initially bought in in individual cases, but statistics an issue of respect, not talk it out or
end in which 47 people were shot other states with less stringent gun from several cities didn’t indicate ignore it and walk it off.’”q