On June 4, 2016, The New York Times published an article analyzing civilian regard towards Chicago’s sweeping gun violence crisis and its grim repercussions that disproportionately affect its communities of color.
The Time’s necessity to communicate the stories and struggles of victims and their loved ones follows one of the most fatal holidays in Chicago history—64 people shot and six pronounced dead over the 2016 Memorial Day weekend. With violence and grief engulfing neighborhoods on the South and West sides, a team of Times reporters compiled live video footage, interviews and photographs, along with statistical data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, to provide compelling insight into the localized patterns of violence across the city.
Born and raised in Chicago, I naturally gravitated towards this analysis piece because the gun violence crisis is one that has been long-neglected and taken advantage of by city politicians. It is extremely personal to me. Although the daily news cycle is bestrewn with gun violence-related stories, the reason as to why the violence occurs and acknowledgement of its concentration in majority Latinx and black ceases to be mentioned in the reporting process.
“A Weekend in Chicago”, while ethically encapsulating victims’ strife through interviews with family and friends, prioritizes why this pattern of gun violence persists.
In the several video compilations retrieved over the course of The Time’s three-day visit, the reporters display an overarching visualization of once-thriving communities that have been forced into extreme poverty after failed urban development and over-policing.
Using data from a Kaiser Family Foundation poll questioning how Chicago residents feel about crime and the police in Chicago, The Times deducted that crime, violence and gangs are the most pressing issues for 60-percent of residents on the South and West sides. Additionally, 50-percent of overall poll participants agreed that contacting the authorities would escalate the situation or have little benefit.
One video includes a clip of a white Chicago police officer beginning to act aggressive with a young black male while responding to a call regarding a physical altercation at a house party, which accentuates The Time’s poll analysis conclusions of the authorities being an unreliable, even catastrophic, resource in situations of gun violence.
With community members terrified to report crimes for their own safety and public authorities aggravating already-tense circumstances, victims’ families and others are left to suffer in silence with minimal resources and attention from the institutions that are obligated to provide.
Header image taken by Whitney Curtis for The New York Times
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