Chicagoist: Logan Square Shooter is "Not a Punk"

guest

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 05:05:59 -0600

For years, my son and I lived a few blocks from Funston. Single parenting (divorce) and all that was difficult, but, like the majority of families in Logan Square, we worked hard to make it work. The gang bangers have been around Logan Square since I first moved out there (to 2418 N. Central Park) more than 30 years ago. They were around every place I lived in Logan Square during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. (At Fullerton and Central Park; Altgeld and Sawyer; and Fullerton and Sawyer). The qeustion is why law enforcement -- from the very top (see below) has allowed the gangs to sustain such deep roots. The question is not why this new generation is replicating the murderous lives of its predecessaros. The gangsters involved in last week's murder weren't even born when the signs on Fullerton read "RIP Lawson" (I masy have the name wrong;l it's been 30 years -- in the alley behind the old Symons YMCA, commemorating the the founder of the Popes) and "White Power -- Gaylords" (in the early 1970s on the wall near Fullerton and Hamlin, before the Gaylords realized they had to make nice with the Black Stones at Stateville). Many corners around Chicago have memorials like my son and I looked at yesterday in the campus park north of Funston School. That pile of teddy bears and flowers should make anyone cry. But... Gang murders have a long history in and around Logan Square and Humboldt Park. Does anyone remember the police officer who was murdered more than a decade ago at Fullerton and Central Park by gang bangers? Name (I''ve forgotten, and I hate that). Or the two kids who were murdered along Fullerton the night the Bulls had their "Three Peat"? Or the Latin Kings who were false flagged with promises of To The Moon pleasures and then shot in the head on the west side of Humboldt Park a decade ago? Or the eighth grade girl, again more than ten years ago, who died in her mother's arms on Kimball (just north of North Ave.) after being used as a shield by her gang banger "boyfriend" (age 18)? I believe that she was scheduled to graduate from Stowe Elementary School a few weeks after she said, "It hurts, Mama" and died. And, of course, Jose Padilla, the "dirty bomb" suspect, came out of Darwin Elementary School. So the question for me is not why some drug gangs punk kills an innocent girl in 2007. It's why punks have been shooting people around Logan Square for the past three or four decadees and why nobody has stopped the gangs within which the punks learn to kill and get the weapons that make it easy. The question is why Chicago has allowed these drug gangs to continue and proliferate for the past three decades (or longer). Those gang "borders" between People and Folks (Kedzie on the east, Central Park on the west) have been there for more than two decades. Hasn't a guy named Richard M. Daley been the top law enforcement official in Chicago (first as state's attorney, now as mayor) for all those years? Who's been responsible for enforcing the law anyway?

guest

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:35:17 -0600

I'm really glad to see many people are concerned about this issue. The CAPS organization is sponsoring "Positive Loitering" on August 6 at 7PM. We are asking any concerned community member to meet at Funston Park on Central and Armitage at 7 PM to walk through the neighborhood and make our presence and stand against community violence known. The more people who attend the better. I will also be notifying news crews in the area. Please come and show your support! Thanks, Corrine

The Curmudgeon

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:04:02 -0600

Why would a gang member need a job? Aren't they in a gang to make money and NOT work? Kids like that don't want the bad jobs available to them. They don't want school, they don't want the prospect of college and a better life for themselves one day. They want to be rappers and wear gold watches and drive Donks and be show-offs.

guest

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:06:56 -0600

I think Chicago and all large cities should have year-round school. Obviously these kids can't handle themselves without direct supervision. Possibly more discipline is needed. I'm guessing they don't get much parenting at home. As for not being able to find a job, shut up. That's the oldest excuse for being unemployed. I have no sympathy for lazy people or people who gladly accept the role of the victim.

guest

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:59:10 -0600

It is very doubtful this murder will get the kind of serious time you think it deserves. I've been a jury member on 1st degree murder trial involving an intentional gang killing where one gang surrounded "competitor" in a gangway and just killed him to get him out of the neighborhood. The serious time was 35 years, but the guy gets out in 17 and that is before his sentence is reduced for good time. Then, he also gets to be paroled to finish part of his sentance "in the community".

guest

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:12:37 -0600

I feel sorry for everyone involved but always do a double-take when people immediately start talking about where/how the criminal was brought up. I always think--what about the dead person? We'll never even know what kind of problems the victim might have had because he/she can't even speak for themselves anymore. Meanwhile the perpatrator can talk on and on about their bad childhood. There are untold numbers of people who come from bad childhoods who don't end up committing these types of crimes.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:08:26 -0600

if this precious child was able to attend an afterschool program, this unfortunate incident would never have happened. it's daley's fault. and the cta's

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:42:46 -0600

If it wasn't for all those gentrified flowers taking up space in the boxes, she could have hidden in one. Damn you, Daley!

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:07:39 -0600

I'm all for relaxing the immigration process for law abiding folk who want to come here but this dude, c'mon. If I'd have done a third of what this guy's probably done I'd be in prison. Throw his ass on the slow boat to Kenya. It's crap like this that gives right wing xenophobes ammunition in the immigration debate.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:47:28 -0600

Oh I know, those boxes and flowers are really choking neighborhoods. And look at all the crime they cause!

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:23:23 -0600

Here's some gentrification vis-a-vis flowers planted: THE GODDAMN BOXES ALONG WESTERN BETWEEN 83RD AND 87TH AND WESTERN, THE BOXES ALONG 79TH STREET ON AND OFF BETWEEN WESTERN AND CICERO... So tell me Einstein who's never been out of his little gentrified neighborhood, are the areas of Scottsdale and Wrightwood (the SS one you buuuufffffooooon) white gentrified neighborhoods, or are they minority enclaves? Just curious.

SAMiller

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:00:54 -0600

breaking racist immigration laws White people who over stay their visas are have broken the law the same as a black person who does. The only way one could could our immigration laws racist, is by pointing out that people from India, Africa, China, etc all have wait in line while we allow unlimited Mexican immigration.

SAMiller

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:58:17 -0600

Chicago, among other places, does not have a "gun problem" but rather a "culture problem." Serrano is not a "victim" of anything. Kindof amazing that an illegal could get arrested 25 times and no one thinks to involve the INS. Oh it isn't that no one thought to call the INS( now Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE). Police in Chicago are forbidden from telling the Feds that they have arrested an illegal alien. Chicago, and most of there large cities, are so-called "sanctuary cities."

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:58:22 -0600

I refuse to link Murithi's alleged illegal activities with his breaking racist immigration laws.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:53:18 -0600

The county raises property taxes, not the city.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:29:58 -0600

The city absolutely does fund gentrification. Have you not seen the streets dotted with trees and flowers (not that it's a bad thing) but it would be totally inane to suggest that the city plays no part in it. Also the city raise propertty taxes which in turn raises rent and they give condo builders permits as well as building discounts. Gentrification is not necessarily a negative but to do it wth no concern for orginial residents is both thoughtless and dangerous.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:48:19 -0600

How is it that someone gets back on the street after 28 arrests? Did the arrests not lead to guilty convictions? I can only hope these new charges put him in jail for life or result in his deportation. This is exactly what the INS should be worrying about, not busting honest, hardworking folks. And I have to address comment number five. The assertion that the city needs to be spending money on after school programs rather than gentrification is ludicrous. The city doesn't fund gentrification in Logan Square; that's paid for by private contractors and approved by an alderman. The city might be complicit with this gentrification, but your suggestion has no bearing on this situation or reality.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:31:38 -0600

"Totally ignoring that if more money was placed into afterschool programs instead of gentrification of the city maybe Serrano could have been helped or the victim would have been somewhere indoors" Must be gentrification's fault.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:52:45 -0600

Rosa is seriously deluded if she thinks this isn't a bad kid. If he was inherently good, he wouldn't be pulling triggers. The city has NOTHING to do with kids going bad. ITs the PARENTS. Its not Mayor Daley's fault, its not the police's fault, its not even rap's fault. Its the parents. I was born and raised in this city and my parents were hardasses who kept me in line. Too many parents just aren't doing their jobs.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:51:07 -0600

#8 - Daley's a thug. He wants to keep Serrano in a different class.

Scott the Jerseyist

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:20:25 -0600

Daley really should have called Serrano a thug. Why give punks a bad name?

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:17:55 -0600

Kindof amazing that an illegal could get arrested 25 times and no one thinks to involve the INS. Just goes to show you how crazy and politicized the whole immigration thing has become. I assume that the 'we're supposed to feel sorry for him that he can't get a job' line was supposed to be sarcastic, and unrelated to the immigration thing. But it's not. Loose labor markets and low pay for the low end workers has real effects. Gang crime is one of them. So are dead kids. Don't be so flippant about a real phenomenon that's really happening.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:17:03 -0600

He is a punk, Daley just screwed up by not calling him a punk ass bitch. He is not a bad kid, they are right about that. He is an adult criminal who committed murder, and needs to be locked in a box the rest of his life. I love community "leaders" who blame the fact he didn't have a job. Go fucking get one if that is what you need! There are plenty available that may not be glamorous, but you'll get some money. Plenty of people grow up in less than ideal situations. The vast majority of them end up as productive members of society. These people want the Mayor to personally fill out a job application for everyone. Take some responsibility for your own life!

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:14:45 -0600

It would seem that while Rosa is not clearly stating what she means, she does have a point in some respects. Of course Serrano's final choice to pull the trigger is no one's decision but his. But the gang leader has been arrested 28 times in the last four years. Daley is attempting to come off as tough of gangs but why was this man not deported, or at least put into a jail where his communication would have been cutoff from the youth? It would seem if someone had noticed that this gang leader was a repeat offender (28 times is really really extreme for that to have slipped by our police) then perhaps this particular killing could have been avoided. Because of course that is the only thing that Daley is framing this conversation about gangs around, the innocent killing of an honors student. Totally ignoring that if more money was placed into afterschool programs instead of gentrification of the city maybe Serrano could have been helped or the victim would have been somewhere indoors. I am constantly astonished at the Mayor’s ability to wipe his hands clean.

JoeM500

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:48:36 -0600

Death penalty for Serrano & Murithi! Life without parole for Rosa!

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:44:39 -0600

I like how Murithi, who has only been here since 1999, was quoted as saying this whole thing dates back 20 years. Screw this crap of excusing everyone for everything just because of their upbringing. Something went awry somewhere along the line if he went from a "well-adjusted" living arrangement with his birth father in Northlake to living in a gang house in Logan. I can't even watch Dobbs anymore he's so freaking annoying - he's worse than O'Reilly or Limbaugh. Yet I recently heard him say that he eats a lot of salsa, probably more than ketchup. Go figure.

Stephen

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:33:00 -0600

I don't think Rosa is excusing Serrano's behavior, but is attempting (poorly) to place his actions in context of what is clearly a rough upbringing. Not all criminals are born that way and while it isn't as tragic as seeing a thirteen-year-old girl get shot, it is certainly is unfortunate that these troubled youngsters have chosen gangs over a more promising future. Serrano absolutely should be blamed for his actions, but it needs to be acknowledged that "the mean streets of Logan Square" (as you put it) helped put him on this path.

been hecht

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:26:38 -0600

Geez, Lou Dobbs will have a field day with the latter 'punk.'