One of our long time favorite authors, Heather MacDonald:
This past Memorial Day, more than 1,000 teens swarmed the blocks around Lake Michigan in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. A resident described the scene: “Hundreds of people were walking and running down our street, jumping on top of cars, twerking, smoking blunts.” One group twerked on the top of a city bus.
At about 9 pm, the Chicago Police Department closed Lake Shore Drive. As sirens wailed, the Hyde Park resident armed himself with bear spray to retrieve something from his car. An hour later, a gunman shot three teens a block from the resident’s home. The suspect remains at large, though police made 13 arrests for illegal gun possession, battery of an officer, and other felonies.
The previous day, an after-prom gathering in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood descended into mayhem. “It looked like a million kids out here,” one neighbor told WGN News. “They were acting like straight animals. Kids were all on top of cars. They were stopping in the middle of the street, twerking.” Fights involving pepper spray and other weapons were common. Cars sped through the crowds. Shortly before 3 am, a police commander formed skirmish lines. Three minutes later, a sedan veered into oncoming traffic and struck an officer. Moments afterward, it hit a second officer, crossed into another lane, accelerated, and plowed into three more cops. The rampage ended when the vehicle crashed into a police car and a utility pole. The 18-year-old driver was carrying a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. An hour later, shots were fired in the area, but no arrests have been made.
These two incidents are just a few of the mass-disorder events this year that have been dubbed “teen takeovers.” Nationally, violent felonies overall are down, but disorder is not.
And that's just the first four paragraphs of an extensive and thorough article exploring the teen "takeover" trend, how they started, what's behind it (and what isn't) all backed up by a boatload of interviews, statistics and ::gasp!:: actual research!
We were first introduced to Ms. Mac Donald's work via her book, "The War on Cops" way back in 2016 and have been a reader ever since. A stalwart defender of the police and opponent of political correctness dictating law enforcement policy, her work has only gotten better over the years.
Set aside a good chunk of time for this article - you won't be disappointed.
Modern "journalists" should take note....maybe they'd learn something....but probably not.
Labels: events, general
