- John H. White/Sun-Times Media
- Alderman Willie Cochran says “a change in the mentality about guns” is a leading cause of violence.
Alderman Willie Cochran has been trying to get to the roots of the violence battering the south and west sides since long before the latest carnage—14 people killed and 68 others wounded over the three-day weekend, and more in the days since, including a fatal shooting on the Dan Ryan Expressway Wednesday morning. At least three of the shootings happened in Cochran’s ward, the 20th.
First, though, the alderman needed to get some gas. He pulled into a station on 63rd. It took him a minute to find his credit card. When he finally jumped out, someone was already removing his gas cap—a man in his 20s with braided hair, wearing a T-shirt and low-hanging jeans.
“Be safe,” the alderman said. He started laughing. “And get yourself a belt!”
Cochran didn’t dispute it. “But it’s an issue broader than our city,” he said. “It’s an effort that has to be funded by the federal government, because of the lack of city resources. Do we spend all our money fighting foreign wars? You know, they call them antigovernment militias over there. They call them gangs over here. How long will it take us to understand we’ve got a war right here to deal with?”
We drove across the Dan Ryan Expressway and into Englewood, where, on 63rd, a public clinic offers pediatric mental health services. Mayor Emanuel, with the approval of aldermen, has shuttered or privatized many of the city’s health programs, and the Englewood clinic is now run by the University of Illinois and a private agency. The public mental health clinic in Woodlawn, closed two years ago, was recently reopened, also by a nonprofit provider.
Still, he said, there remains a culture of aggression and violence that has to be addressed. “I grew up in Blue Island. My dad was from the south. My father started showing me how to use a gun when I was five years old—a .22 rifle, shooting cans out in the country. We had six guns in the house. But there’s been a change in the mentality about guns. Now, in certain communities, they’re just used to harm people.
