Multiple communities (I was a military brat, so I moved around a lot), but I see your point.

LOL...it could be 200 communities (although only 1% of those would have effective "community policing") and the point is still the same. ;)

Many of the people that I interacted with (internet and IRL) shared similar stories. I know that we only represented a small-ish group, but I hear about things (violent and non-violent) MUCH more now.

But, again, I see your point :)

I don't think the city of Chicago can afford to bring the Olympics here but that's another topic completely.

You're right, there are a lot of people struggling on the South Side, and it seems like no one is doing anything to help them.

I heard about this earlier. I don't know why Obama is involved in this (hell, let this be a Michelle project).

Maybe they think the spillover benefits from the games will give the city some money to help those that are struggling? I don't know.

[quote}You know things are getting bad when you have to be 18 just to buy a can of spray paint.[/quote]

But you can buy a railroad tie at any age. How do youngsters get to that age without any respect for other humans?

I don't think so, but you can call me a pessimist.

In some instances, it's going to push neighborhoods out and into other neighborhoods (when they build the various stadiums/housing for athletes/etc.) and that's going to cause more problems.

This is just my opinion, but these low income neighborhoods aren't going to be lifted up, they're going to be moved over, and then the city will ignore the same people, just in a different geographical area.

I agree, and even if the area is left untouched for the Olympics, do you really think the city is gonna use it's revenues to help the South Side? I seriously doubt they would.

I won't call you a pessiment, because it's likely going to be the case.

All of the development will probably lead to (more) gentrification in the city, pushing the lower-class citizens farther out. I'm willing to bet money, though, that city leaders will use the argument to bring the games to the city.

I agree. If it isn't getting bad or much hasn't changed, then why all the school shootings?

If the 1996 Summer Olympics can be in ATL then the 2010 Olympics can be in Chicago.

Both are urban centers with booming economies in some regards. Both have a large impoverished population. The government will just cover up the high levels of deprivation for the Olympics and then leave Chicago exactly the way they found it (the money made from the Olympics is just a bandaid on the poverty in these areas).

Why all of what school shootings ("school shootings" and mass killings like Columbine aren't the same criminological dynamic)? The ones that always happened or just the ones that made national news? Speaking of, have there been any school shootings in the national news in the past month?

There were school shootings when I was in middle school and high school. Students were holding principals up at gunpoint. The media and the majority of the American public just didn't care until it was white people bringing guns to school. Then it was more than "those bad minorities in those poor neighborhoods with their crackhead parents." That's all.

[There were also pregnancy pacts when I was in middle school and high school. That's why I am humored by the media attention given to those girls who did that pregnancy pact this year. Oh, the outrage...this didn't happen when WE were kids...and let's blame Jamie Lynn Spears.]

Pretty much. There's been a LOT of gentrification in Atlanta since the '96 Olympics. There's only a handful of housing projects left, but most outlying cities did not experience a great deal of improvement IMO. In the end, a lot of the projects were closed, and a lot of those residents got vouchers to move elsewhere. Clayton Co has gone from a tranquil place I dreamed of living in one day to a place with increasing violence and crime. Thanks, Olympics! :rolleyes:

@ drphil: I liked the bandaid reference. *nodding*

RIP Derrion. I hope his death will not be in vain.

LOL @ "agreement is good"

DrPhil I agree, and I've never looked at it like that. However, don't you think there are good reasons to dwell on school shootings even though they are rare? I dunno, I just think they're an unprecedented kind of adolescent violence.