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Chicagoist usually feels pretty safe on the CTA, and while we usually prefer riding the 'L' (everyone happy now?) to the bus, when it comes to late night riding, we kind of dig the bus because we have this idea that we are safer because there's a real life human being right there in our midst, which would obviously deter someone from doing something crazy or violent directly to our person. It's also why we ride in the very first car on the el (we couldn't do it forever!), because we are right next to the motorperson's car if something should go awry.
Our notions were horribly disabused by yesterday's tragedy on the South Side, when four high school students were injured and one was left dead after a gunman boarded a bus at 103rd and Halsted streets. He opened fire on passengers as the bus traveled east on 103rd Street.
The bus driver pulled over at 103rd Street and Lowe Avenue and the gunman fled on foot. But five teens were shot and one of them, 16-year-old Blair Holt, later died from his wound. Another victim's father,16-year-old Tiara Reed, said Holt might have died protecting her.
Extra security and police patrols were in place today at Percy L. Julian High School, at 10330 S. Elizabeth St., and at Corliss High School, at 821 E. 103rd St., because there is a possibilty that the shooting may have been gang-related and at least four of the teen victims were students at Julian. Police are still searching for the gunman, but he has not been found.
"Cta Bus" by Mike Boehmer
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...and while we usually prefer riding the 'L'...
It's also why we ride in the very first car on the el...
No contest here--'L' is the clear winner. I see el, and I'm half-expecting a Spanish word to follow...
I'm a bit ashamed, to be quite honest. People are dying on our buses and trains and I complain about the CTA running late all the time.
It's sad, when you think about it. I bet there aren't many Chicagoist readers who dare to take the #8 bus past Greektown, let alone take it all the way down and THEN transfer to the #8A.
Mike, that was a rather insensitive thing for you to say. And while I'm usually the first person to make some crack about, well, pretty much anything, this story didn't warrant it.
Mike, that was a rather insensitive thing for you to say.
GIMME A BREAK!! What the hell was so insensitive about it? Did you fail to notice the author's own cracks about the two, oft-debated spellings? Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can clearly see that I was not commenting on the content of the story...
Of course you weren't commenting on the content of the story, but you could - and should - have at least thrown in a some statement of condolence. I hoped the first comment would have actually formed with some brainpower behind it.
As always, I bet my money on the wrong horse.
I actually have a modicum of intelligence (perhaps even two) which is why I didn't immediately jump all over it with a witty remark. Now let's drop it and let this story be read in the proper context. There's no need to continue bickering on the comment board.
mikey's remark wasn't insensitive and 2016's 'i'm ashamed because i complain about crappy CTA service while people are dying on the buses' comment made no sense and was irrational. and it is ridiculous to see people go back and forth arguing over whether something said about the L was insensitive.
How about this? Not many people are going to really care about this because 1) it happened on the south side, the far south side, and 2) the victims, and presumably the shooter, were black. Seriously. Think about it. If that bus had been a No. 22 or 36 or heaven forbid, a 151, the front pages of the local papers would be about nothing but it, newscasts a day or two later would still be leading with it and the CTA, the CTA, mind you, would have at least said something about it, unlike their non-action/non-commenting yesterday.
Now then, what are people going to do to change that perception. Anything? Will Rev. Jackson or Rev. Meeks or any alderfolk or preachers or any parents or good kids or anyone get so pissed off that they hold marches that demonstrate they are sick and tired of the acceptance of violence in their communities? Will anyone who knows the gunman - and you know there are people who know who he is - have the guts to turn him in? Will anyone with any power do something about gangs? How many times this summer will we hear about innocent kids and parents shot and killed by gang crossfire? Will anything really change? And is there anyone who really gives a damn enough to do something about it?
I wonder whether this would've made bigger headlines if the kid shot up his high school, instead of waiting until ten minutes after school. Probably not, though, since indeed, everyone involved was black, and America only cares about school shootings when they involve white people. Trib today: "Schools Chief Arne Duncan said Holt is the 20th student to die this school year from gun violence" -- but no mass shootings and no white kids, so, well, who cares?
However, it's at least mildly reassuring that the gunman was identified from CTA surveillance camera footage. I thought all those little camera boxes were fakes.
James very cogent remarks, and payton too
I'm still shaking my head.
I mean the shooter was only 16 himself! What would Harriet Tubman think?
All these disposable Black and Brown lives!
And yes indeed because they are Black and Brown folks on the other side of town largely don’t care, but then again, it’s kinda expected.
You hit the nail on the head James with Meeks, Jackson and the rest of the Black politicians, but let’s go deeper.
The victim (the one who died) was from a solidly middle class Black family. My question is where the response from this class of folk in is mass /as a community?
Seems like somebody as a collective spends far too much time, “church going” and in material consumption mode, and not nearly enough time in contemplative action about community over chaos. Perhaps church should be cancelled until a certain community gets reacquainted with the works of the late great E. Franklin Frazier
Yea I know, Spook is crazy
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that gang violence is going to hit a little closer to home this summer. Several factors (most notably some unprecedented truces which are no longer in effect) have held conflict to unnaturally low levels in recent years, and things are probably going to spike this summer.
Combine this with systematic gentrification incursions (I am trying not to use red flag terminology here) in several areas of the city and you have a recipe for some upper middle class citizens getting caught in crossfire (at least exposed to gun play and/or its aftermath).
Even if none of them are actually injured, the experience of being involved in the immediate periphery of gang warfare will forever change their ideas about what kind of society we live in (I speak from experience).
Whether this epiphany will cause some of them to become involved in helping their new neighborhoods deal with the violence or just cause a new "white flight" remains to be seen, but I feel that there's going to be a reality check for several urban pioneers in the next few months (especially if we get a large heat wave).