Back in 1963, upon learning of the assassination of then President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X said it was, “merely a case of ‘chickens coming home to roost.’” Fast forward to 2022, and looking at the daily stories of crime coming from out of the Black community or committed by Black people, it looks like our own “chickens are coming home to roost.”

There has been an absolute failure among a certain segment of the Black community in raising their young people. Too much emphasis has been placed on their superficial appearance, and especially an addiction to designer clothes, and not enough on the moral character of the individuals. Anybody for the past couple of years, who has really been paying attention, knows that Black teenagers and young adult children have been going downtown and acting like complete jerks. Worse are the folks who try to defend it.

This past weekend has had more accurate reporting on the situation in a long time. From the illegal huge gathering at North Avenue beach that then spilled out onto the streets around Clark and LaSalle, to the moronic behavior down at Millennium Park and The Bean, the ignorant behavior of our young people has been on public display. And it’s not a pretty sight. Girls bending over like dogs in heat shaking their butts in the air. Boys jumping and hopping on cars and fighting amongst each other, proving that they have no home training. And sadly more often than not, when our young people gather, gunfire is now an expected occurrence. We have a segment of them living down to every derogatory comment that the Ku Klux Klan has said about us.

Black leadership, be it political or religious, has been very quiet about denouncing their behavior. Instead they come up with all the excuses that never offer any real solution.

Chicago needs a show of force to get these folks to calm down. We need a day, a week and especially a weekend without any killings. There is a major need for some of these, “I don’t give a F***” folks to have to understand that they will soon need to “give a damn. We cannot as a society be tolerant of the behavior and expect it to get better. It won’t. We’ve given them an inch and they’ve taken several miles!

The state of Illinois built Tamms Prison as a show of force against inmates who wouldn’t behave. No sooner did it open and placed individuals there, then our community activists were out crying and complaining. And because leadership in this state had no fortitude, they caved in. We need to reopen Tamms. We need to have crimes that are Tamms Prison eligible.

We need to place individuals there and let it be known that they will be in their cell 23 hours a day. Visitation is limited. We also need to offer a prisoner exchange with other states. No longer will you go to jail in Illinois. Let’s see how they feel knowing they’ll end up in Montana, Idaho, or down in Arizona. They won’t be going to Statesville, Pontiac, or any other downstate prison where they meet up with their homies. They will truly be serving a sentence!

To quote Malcolm X a second time, he said, “To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.” As a society, our job is to make sure the latter is occurring!