Three black men attacked the victim and stole his Blackberry cell phone, CTA bus pass, and several credit cards, said police.
It isn’t clear if the assault and robbery occurred while the “CTA passenger” was on or off the bus.
A second victim, who was also attacked by three black men, was roughed up on the 1400 block of West Arthur, near Arthur and Greenview.
Police called the incident an “attempted strong-arm robbery”. However, unconfirmed reports indicate the second victim may have been robbed as well.
The suspects were simply described as three black men in all black clothing.
No arrests have been made and police are investigating.
there go those black guys committing crimes again. but we aren't suppose to mention their race. Shhhh!
ReplyDelete20 years ago if someone would have told me that Rogers Park was gonna morph into a South Side ghetto I would have laughed in their face.
ReplyDeleteWhen you see the blacks
ReplyDeleteYou can't relax
Growing up on the Southwest side, I caught the end of the "transition" era. My white grandparents, along with their knit community, were quick to call themselves victims to the blacks quickly filling up the medium to low income neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteBut living in a neighborhood now considered a ghetto, not once was I assaulted, robbed, mugged, or harmed by the people in the neighborhood, including the gangs that seemed very violent, but really only to each other. What I DID see in those gangbangers, was stupidity and hopelessness. Even as a kid with a borderline-racist family, it was easy to make the distinction between someone being born a criminal and someone's unfortunate environment making it easier for them to be one. And that being said, I stood the same chance to be a criminal myself, and quite the handful of my friends in the community fell into that lifestyle.
I never, ever feared for my safety down there. It wasn't until 2008 when I moved to an expensive place in uber-gentrified Wicker Park when myself and my guests became constantly afraid, annoyed, and often feel victim to the robbery, intimidation, and overall crime.
I subscribed to this blog and recommended it to friends because I thought it was a raw resource for local news that wasn't hidden in the inept blur of the major media. I'm surprised I didn't notice until now that the majority of the posts and comments are just ignorantly pointing a finger at a race of people and victimizing themselves to some bigger picture that the rest of the world isn't seeing.
You all sound like adults, and I'm incredibly surprised that you guys could have such a narrow view of the world you live in. I'm not fed up with black criminals, I'm fed up with criminals. More importantly, I'm fed up paying taxes in a city and country that looks at crime only in with short term vision, and refuses to accept that it is almost always directly related to poverty and the mindset of people like you.
Out of the 3 who have posted before me, it is obvious none of you sound like you would willingly hire a black person if you owned or managed a business. So you know what? YOU are the problem. Your disgustingly selfish mindset has been the problem for the last 3 centuries.
Blacks, hispanics, and whites are all born in the same way. We all need the same care, nutrients, and fostering in the first day of our lives. After that is when the statistics of who will be a bank executive criminal and who will be a poor criminal come into play.
You live in a world where GE and Bank Of America (among MANY others) profit billions upon billions of dollars a year and pay not $1 of tax to our government, yet you're "fed up with black criminals".
Give me a break. You deserve to be the victim you made yourself out to be.
Oh Benn, get off your high horse. I live in Edgewater, just south of Devon, and attend CAPS meetings regularly. Police had out the wanted list, which is usually 80-90% black, 5-10% Latino, 5-10% white. Usually, (of course, not always), the blacks are suspects for armed robbery, strong-armed robbery, break-ins, etc. Latinos? Usually car break-ins, and maybe a property. Whites? Usually prostitution/drugs (on Thorndale). Of course, prostitution, drugs, and robberies are all interrelated, but this is why myself and many other former bleeding heart liberals are tired of blaming society and treating them as victims.
ReplyDeleteAs for your business comment and would I hire...not sure. I work for, ironically, one of the biggest banks (who, FYI, pays taxes, and our CEO stood in front of Congress saying the rich should pay the "lions share" of the taxes" in this budget mess), and the people of color I work with are the best of the best. So, perhaps this is a class issue in the hood, but let's not pretend that the social/econ lower class is the diversity club.
As for Wicker Park...uber-gentrified? Really? From what I know from friends living down there, unless you're at the epicenter (North/Damen/Milw), "uber" gentrified may be a bit of an exaggeration. But you can stay down there, feeling self-righteous that you paid a lot of money to live in a place where you say you feel less safe, while I happily walk my dog in Edgewater, not feeling too terribly unsafe, but not pretending to be coloe blind.
I think Benn and BankerGuy both make a strong arguments for their positions. My g/f and I are both Hispanic. I grew up on the South Side but I currently live in a condo I purchased last year in Rogers Park. I actually live on Paulina North of Howard St, which used to be (and think still is) referred to as "the jungle". I have met some wonderful ppl from all walks of life in my new neighborhood. We have a lot of Jamaicans and ppl who have emigrated from Africa who are nothing but nice and courteous.
ReplyDeleteI see what Benn is talking about on a daily basis. I see junior high kids who live in the section 8 apartments specifically North Point Apartments on Paulina who have no one to guide them, no one that cares what time of night they are roaming the streets or with who. The kid who shovels our snow lives in that building and in my conversations with him I can see that he totally feels disenfranchised.
The fact is that all the trouble makers in our area are all black but specifically African American. My neighbors are Haitian and I had a discussion a couple months back about issues in our area and they informed me that they also feel they have to keep vigilant of the black people in the section 8 buildings and they also do not let their kids associate with the kids in those buildings.
It’s not a race issue it’s an issue with African American culture in the United States. My opinion is that their history in this country and the oppression they faced created the problem and no one has found a way to correct the cycle (welfare or reparations won’t fix it).
All that being said, I haven't been directly affected by crime in my area and I'm not afraid to walk my dog at night. Some of the kids say that because I wear a shirt and tie to work that ppl on the block assume I'm a cop... whatever works I guess lol. I also love the size of my place and I wouldn't have been able to swing something like it in Lakeview which is where I previously lived. I had my car broken into several times over there.
Mark-
The liberal baloney looking to excuse whatever blacks do has worn thin by now. Forty years of the same multi-cultural indoctrination has brought this country to it's current low point. Blame everyone else for the way blacks have trashed this and other cities, that's over, people can see for themselves what the reality is. I just hope Chicago doesn't become the next Detroit, courtesy of the blameless ones.
ReplyDeleteI no longer live in Wicker Park, I'm in Bridgeport now. The only reason I moved to Wicker was for my business.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather not even use the word liberal to describe myself or anyone else. These political classifications have obviously not solved anything, and the fact that our government is about to shut down over a 2-team political system fighting over their 2 uncreative ideals is proof of that.
I'm going to try and make my point briefly:
- 40 years is nothing. NOTHING. People who go to college have kids that go to college, and so on. A mere 4-5 generations ago, blacks were slaves and prevented, with force, from getting an education. Just 2 generations ago blacks were still being forced by law to be segregated from whites (and of course suffered a MUCH lower standard of education and service in that segregation). That's your grandparents, who in most cases take a huge part in raising their grandkids, who are just now becoming adults.
The upside?
We're all drinking bottled water and playing Xbox on our 60" HDTVs because we one-upped the world with our use of free labor a century ago. Not something to be proud of, but know where your blessings come from before counting them. The consequence is poverty and crime being tied to race, much more so than it is anywhere else in the world (except maybe South Africa, and places where you had similar history).
- Bankerguy, what bank do you work for? I have a sock drawer full of cash they might be interested in holding (I'm not a drug dealer, just very pissed off with the way some banks do business).
- Finally, I'm absolutely not saying that people shouldn't be held responsible for their crimes. But we are the WORST out of all first world countries at SOLVING the problem. This has led to us, by far, incarcerating the highest % of our population. A higher % than any other nation in the world. Higher than China and Russia combined.
When someone commits a crime, how often do you think it is because they were born evil? It is pretty easy to break down to one or a combination of these problems:
1. They are poor or homeless
2. They are addicted to drugs
3. They are uneducated
4. They are mentally ill
I understand the ideology that you don't want these problems to be your financial responsibility. But simply imprisoning these people (especially at Cook County for under 1-year sentencing) or putting them on house arrest doesn't solve the problem, but it STILL costs you money. More money, in fact, than you'd be paying to simply solve the problem (research has shown).
Poverty and poor education are the guns, and crime is the bullet. If you're so fixated with race, then go to Montana or Eastern Washington and talk to some cops about meth and the absolutely terrifying violence destroying the communities there. You won't find one black person on the wanted list there, but the situation will look strikingly familiar.
I'm not on a high horse, and I'm not preaching liberalism. All I'm saying is that if you're anger's focal point is on what color the criminal is, you're ignoring the real issue to solving the problem. Instead of being mad about black crime, why not be mad about the way our system works. If history has taught us anything, it is that anger can be a gift.
Part of the crime problem could be solved if ignorant, uneducated, lazy people stop popping out babies that they aren't capable of raising properly.
ReplyDeleteThe entire welfare systems needs to be shutdown! When the lazy asses start to starve to death, they'll stop making babies and eventually die off.
Survival of the fittest baby!
@Fed up with black criminals: I concur. I feel as though I bust my arse to make a decent living as a single woman - only to see 25% deducted from my paycheck - partly to support women who fail to use birth control and who continue to have babies that cannot be provided with a good education, strong morals, or a safe home away from crime infestation. I don't want to pay for someone's poor decisions. These are the same mothers that say that society is keeping them down and that their children are angels when in reality, they are involved drugs, gangs, and theft. What happened to rising above? I don't mind supporting those that are disabled and mentally unable to work. I have no compassion for the lazy and ungrateful.
ReplyDeleteBenn, you took the words right out of my mouth. This website seemed like a good source of local crime, a way for me to stay up to date on goings on. But the racial tinge of the commentary, which the blogger has supported in the past, is too much.
ReplyDeleteEverybody seems wont to post where they grew up and where they live currently so I will do that as well-
I grew up in North West side Avondale. It's a diverse neighborhood with the "Polish Village" along Milwaukee Avenue, and several latino enclaves. I went to Chicago Public Schools my whole life (Reilly, Walter Payton) and I have had many black friends. It is sickening that people today, people who apparently live in the city, can seriously wake up in the morning and have these racist feelings. I moved from my parent's home and have lived in Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Pilsen and Little Village. These are all diverse communities of working class people trying their hardest to live the American Dream.
Anyway, from peoples stories it seems that those who grew up in the city, not who moved here from Aurora or Ohio, you guys understand that the issue is not race. It never was. The issue is opportunity. Believe me, I've seen my fair share of lazy white people and hardworking black people. I've met latinos who wake up every morning and commute 2 hours to high school. I've met asian gangbangers.
We really need to eliminate race from the discussion and start addressing the actual problem.
I want to thank the admins of this site for removing any rational argument I make in the comments. I'm sure Google will be interested to know that a racist-siding blog that blocks out anyone who doesn't agree, pretending to be a legitimate news site, is being hosted on their servers.
ReplyDelete-benn
Benn, your comments are not being removed or censored. They were unintentionally caught in Google's spam filter.
ReplyDeleteYou've just learned an important lesson: Never jump to conclusions without having all the facts.
I apologize for assuming. My opinions are not the norm so I figured I was being "de-trolled". :)
ReplyDeleteBenn, just because your opinions are in the minority, does not mean they are unappreciated. Keep expressing yourself.
ReplyDeleteI will try to keep an eye on the spam filter to make sure legitimate comments are posted in the forum.
Cool, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think you can select users signing in with Google (I'm doing this now) as white listed, if my memory serves me.
There are also some plugins you could use to make the CAPTCHA updated. The Blogger standard one was cracked a while ago by spammers.
"1. They are poor or homeless
ReplyDelete2. They are addicted to drugs
3. They are uneducated
4. They are mentally ill
There are PLENTY of FREE programs in this city that can help with EVERY one of these "excuses" you listed. YOU have to WANT to get help FIRST and it seems it's easier and financially better to rob, steal, mug shoot and kill people than to seek out the programs out there. Stop making excuses for lazy parents, absentee parents, lazy and uninspired criminals. These criminals don't have a problem lining up for Sec 8 or low income housing though...
What should we do with our nation's poor then? Create rural slums hours from the nearest city and dump them there so we don't have to see them in our neighborhoods like they do in Brasil?
ReplyDeleteI believe in welfare reform but I think it would be almost impossible to actually eliminate welfare in our country. I agree with previous posts that some people seem to work at working the system and that's frustrating to the working class. I think welfare and unemployment benefits help our nations struggling citizens from facing the hardships you should only see in third world and developing nations especially now.
I think that even the most conservative in our country would not like to see children in the streets begging for money to help their family survive or unable to attend school for lack of funds like you often see south of the border. Actually some posts on this page remind me of a quote..“Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.” - Adolph Hitler
Reform is the key, I believe that if you can’t financially take care of yourself you should not bring multiple children into this world. Idea #1 - Administer mandatory birth control to women on welfare until they are able to get off the system and are able to financially care for a child. That way we stop having children born into those difficult situations.
Idea #2 ppl who collect welfare should be drug tested in order to collect their assistance since drug abuse will most likely keep them from being able to find and keep employment.
These ideas are controversial perhaps, but at least they try addressing the problems that help keep ppl into poverty.
Is anyone on this comment section a big brother to a kid in need of help or volunteering in community assistance programs like the ones offered at the Howard Area Community Center? I think your time would be better spent helping a kid with an illiterate parent with his homework or helping ppl with their resumes. Otherwise you just come off as an angry white person who likes to complain and is upset at black ppl because their presence scares you from walking down the street at night.
-Mark
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI have thought of those very solutions, why our state, local and federal government does not, is beyond me. If employee's and athletes are randomly drug screened, than so should those who receive money from the government. It's their "paycheck". Great idea. If women on welfare continue to have children that society has to support, they should not be given extra money for having more children and yes, I think they need to have mandatory birth control. As a society, we support children without fathers to the tune of 150 BILLION+ dollars a year!. I already raised my kids...I shouldn't have to raise someone else's. I also think that just because you are poor doesn't mean you have to turn to crime and inflict pain on other people. I don't think a person HAS to STAY poor if they have a desire to improve their life. Sadly, people receiving welfare become comfortable with the government hand outs and seem to have this attitude of why work when I can get it for free, and that becomes the cycle of welfare keeping people poor. The DESIRE to improve one's life NEEDS to be there if they want to do that. It's not easy to do and it takes a commitment to do it but our society wants a free and easy way out. WORK seems to be a bad word. No one wants to work for what they have, they just want to take it.
And yes, I do volunteer. I'm also NOT AFRAID to walk or be around black people BUT I AM AFRAID of ghetto thugs. There is a difference and you should make the separation, I do.
"What should we do with our nation's poor then? Create rural slums hours from the nearest city and dump them there so we don't have to see them in our neighborhoods like they do in Brasil?"
ReplyDeleteYES DAMN IT! YES!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(edited for grammar, duhhhhh)
ReplyDeleteAs you probably have figured out, *ahem*, I could go on forever. So I'm only going to mention one point on welfare:
Every few days I see someone using the Link card to buy food, and I'm always very annoyed by it. Not annoyed that my tax dollars are helping the poor, but annoyed that Jewel-Osco is profiting off of my tax dollars. A food product is marked up 30-250%, so often much more of our sacred tax dollars are going to Jewel or Walmart, not the hungry family.
If you want to reform welfare, start with that. Have welfare dollars start an ad-free Aldi-style state run food market. It will cost us much less, and people will get fed more and healthier food. If you open it to the general public, it will also create jobs and create healthy competition. (is anyone else amazed by how cheap groceries are in other cities?). In fact, if they stayed in competition for non-Link users, the whole system might actually pay for itself without tax payer assistance, and welfare would simply be a non-profit program.
I do agree that mandatory testing should exist for welfare recipients, actually. But only if we stop imprisoning people for drug possession or any non-violent crime. Instead of denying them welfare until they're clean, you can put them into a proper program (much cheaper than jailing them or keeping them on dope AND welfare for years).
The key-phrase is to not put them into a privatized program, prison, or grocery store. No company should be profiting from people's tax dollars, that is the literal definition of facism and it exists everywhere these days.
These are often "just" crimes of opportunity, frequently carried out by teens who have heard from friends that's it's easy money. This incident does not appear to be part of a "systemic" problem. In 2009, there was a city wide "systemic" increase in armed robberies, which the police throughout the city made a priority. That initiative has significantly brought down the number of these types of crimes.
ReplyDeletePolice in the 24th District (where these incidents occurred) have recently have made arrests of people believed to have been involved in various robberies. It usually ends up being a small group, which, when they are able to get by with one or two robberies or burglaries think they're "pros," which fortunately leads to mistakes and their arrest.
General reminders: be aware of your surroundings. People walking around with headphones on are prime targets/victims.
I work for CeaseFire in Rogers Park. I deal directly with the so-called worst of the worst. Everyday I stand in the alleys, the gangways, blocks and corners with that guy that has the tattoos, the sagging pants, cap cocked to the side, and in most cases this guy has a gun on him and bags of crack in his mouth ready for sell or to swallow if the police try to sneak up on him. This is that guy whom it seems most of the people commenting on this blog are afraid of. This guy, who you guys have labeled as ignorant or criminal is actually a human being doing what human beings have done and have been great at doing since the beginning of time.....adapting to his environment. This guy is working with, and surviving with what this society and his environment has given him.....which I am sad to say,...is next to nothing. I'm sorry you guys, but nobody is born with a criminal mentality, this is a learned behavior and this is a fact thats scientifically proven. And what's really crazy is that if any of you guys were to go out there and question at length any of the hundreds of guys who fit the above stated description in Rogers Park, or anywhere in the country for that matter, they may not be able to speak as eloquently as Ben but what would they say would correspond chapter and verse. The sad part is they don't see a way out, because if they try to change, society would'nt accept the person who they had to become in order to survive the environment forced on them since birth. Most of these guys if given a chance would leave their current life alone and become the most loyal workers you guys could imagine if they could support themselves and their families through whatever job they get. But until society finds and sticks to a solution for these guys, I'll be out here trying my best to at least stop my confused brothers from shooting at each other, cause once upon a time it was me ducking those bullets.
ReplyDelete-keep open minds-
Benn,
ReplyDeleteNobody deserves to be a victim.
In your list of reasons, an important one is missing:
5) Via freewill, I choose to steal, rape, murder, etc.
With the various help programs and educational opportunities available, there's (almost) no excuse for crime. At the very least, one could rob someone, without murdering/raping, etc. them.
The various reports here indicate no morality/no ethics/no accountability/no responsibility. :(
Regarding the White Collar Criminals, it's time for a people power, political party movement, where ALL Democrats and ALL Repubicans are purged!
What's Up, there's no racial tinge here. :)
If this was 1911, the headlines here would mostly indicate White on White Crime and White on Black Crime. In 2011, the situation is reversed and that must be addressed, because even Black on Black Crime is (indirectly) supported by the Klan and many other similar hate groups.
CeaseFire Guy,
ReplyDeleteSolutions have been tried. A lot of these criminals/thugs are criminals/thugs by choice, not necessity. Until these free will acts are addressed, these "situations" will get worse-not better.
I don't like the race pinning either. I lived in Bridgeport and a white kid tried to rob my thrift store with a knife, in Humboldt park two Peurto Rican kids shot each other in front of my apartment, my brother witnessed a gang murder in Pilsen Mexican. I simply want to know what parts of Rogers Park are safer than the others. I know most of the crimes north of Howard are from blacks. Most of what I have seen were scam artists, beggers, black marketeers, and petty thrieves. I am hoping to buy a condo in the neighborhood and Rogers Park seems difficult to navigate, block by block the neighborhood seems to change from nice to ghetto.
ReplyDelete