I know someone who does crime stats for the Chicago Police Department. Every Monday when they go to work, they find on their desk a stack of arrest reports. And without fail, in an area that includes whites, Blacks and Hispanics in equal numbers, the race of the criminal is predominantly Black.

Now this column is going to piss off a bunch of people. Especially ultra-left-wing-minded folks. They haven’t done anything but push the narrative that Black people are the underdog, thus giving a certain element within the Black community the constant excuse to misbehave. Those excuses range from “we were once slaves,” to “we’re impoverished,” to “we’re getting over on the white man who’s been keeping us down!”

We are less than a month away from the year 2022. And when the ages of these young criminals who are arrested for all sorts of crimes are looked at, the majority of them were born in the 21st century! They are the New Millennium generation. They have had privileges and opportunities unparalleled in the entire history of Black people being free in this country. Their generation also has the greatest number of criminals within their peer group. Just recently in the news, there was a report about an 11-year-old serial carjacker. Although they did not identify him by name or picture because of his juvenile status, the general area where he lives tells the tale. And then we had the story from several years back of the young man who was killed in the far northern suburbs by the homeowner when he and his cousins were trying to steal cars. When his mama went on the news, she proudly professed that she knew her nephews liked to steal cars. And that for me will always represent the biggest problem in the Black community: Those who know about the criminal behavior of their relatives and tolerate/celebrate it.

I know people who are scared to go on the Dan Ryan because of the shootings that have occurred. The Bishop Ford and Eisenhower are also hot spots for misbehaving folks. And the smash-and-grab robbers, well you know who they were. Then there are the weekend gatherings downtown and especially by Millennium Park, where instead of enjoying themselves, our young people are fighting, shooting, and pretty much acting like damn fools.

It is embarrassing to have so many Black elected officials in this city and to have the corresponding level of crime coming from within the same population. We need Criminal Justice reform and especially Juvenile Justice reform. I for one am hoping that the arrest and charging of the school shooter’s parents in Michigan will start a nationwide trend to hold parents accountable as accomplices in their minor children’s misbehavior. Personally, I no longer want to hear any of the single motherhood defenses. There are too many varieties of birth control for this to still be an excuse.

Yes I am angry — and sick and tired of being angry — about the criminal activities of certain young Black people.

We were supposed to be on the road to a promised land. However, where we are now makes a mockery of that promise!