The incongruity of the issue is striking.
On an early August evening, communities across our region, including Mundelein and Vernon Hills, celebrated the annual “National Night Out” event. With police departments interacting, communicating and engaging in playful behavior with community members, it was a welcome and heart-warming exhibition of how important it is to foster positive relationships between the police and the public they are commissioned to serve and protect.
On the other side are the troubling images that just won’t quit, like the recent Chicago police body camera video that shows officers shooting multiple rounds at a stolen car driven by a young black man, who was arrested while wounded and later died.
I remember watching the news as the family’s attorney strongly stated that the sentence for stealing a car is most certainly not the death penalty. Who could disagree with that?
But it’s in those troublesome shades of gray where we seem to be hitting the wall as we try to respect police and also respect individual rights, even the rights of those who have broken the law. Admittedly, it would appear safe to say that in many suburban towns, including our own here in the greater Libertyville, Mundelein and Vernon Hills area, there is a good rapport between our law enforcement and citizens.
In contrast, the relationship is much more troubled and volatile in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago and certain suburbs. Race and ethnicity is without doubt a contributing factor in both those equations.
Is it simply a conflict of white versus black? Police versus angry citizens who rally shouts of brutality and prejudice? A city problem versus a suburban one?
There is probably a little truth to all of those influencing factors, but even with that limited answer to the problem, we still can’t get to where we need to be on this issue. Because in all likelihood, the agent for change lies much deeper and is tied to economic opportunity, the quality of schools, and programs that encourage and inspire success and hopefulness rather than a foreboding outlook that hints at a short life.
I’m so tired of watching the news at night and seeing another mother in tears because her child has been shot, victim of a stray bullet or bad shot. I’m as emotional watching video of police officers shooting round after round at a speeding car driving away from them as I am watching the murdered police officers’ funerals in Dallas.
I love the comfort and safety of my suburban neighborhood, but I mourn for all those mothers and families who simply want the same. Days and weeks and months go by and things just keep getting worse.
We all need to put our thinking caps on, people… even those of us who aren’t in the midst of the trouble.
Pat Lenhoff is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.
