Indianapolis is a war zone. In a tweet this morning, Rev. Charles Harrison, leader of The Indy TenPoint Coalition, referred to our city as the Wild Wild West. He said, “So far this weekend we have had 18 people shot, 1 person stabbed, & 4 people killed, bringing the total to 192 homicides so far this year.” A record. We hear reports of these deaths and can’t believe this continues in our city.
Although we do have an effort aimed at curbing gun violence, I think we can say with some certainty that we have not been as successful as we need to be. Meanwhile, there are methods that have worked in places far more dangerous. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the 90s rates of homicides went beyond epidemic levels—over 100 murders per 100,000. To change the trajectory of their gun homicide issues, the city went all out. It instituted a comprehensive program that targeted the drivers of violence in their city. They instituted gun-free zones, and fostered involvement with citizens in the most dangerous areas. These same techniques worked in Bogota and Medellin in Columbia and Santa Tecla in El Salvador, and there was a similar project in gang-ridden Oakland, CA that yielded amazing results.
These successful techniques target their efforts on city hotspots and specifically on ‘hot people’ resulting in an exponential reduction in violence. Extremely important to their methods is also early childhood intervention. We too must teach anti-violence and peaceful dispute mitigation in our schools beginning in first grade and continuing into high school. Finally, we have to rid our city of illegal weapons to save the lives of the very people who own them.
The Indianapolis Star quoted a local man after a nearby shooting. He said, “We’ve got so many ways to die. Coronavirus, car crashes, smoking, drinking…but we still come up with reasons to kill each other every day. For what?”
In every case, the answer to “For what?” turns out to be some minor issue. Someone felt disrespected, or someone owes the other $50. So they shoot it out—one is dead, the other will spend his life in prison unless they can’t find him and he then kills someone else or gets killed himself. A large number of these victims are under 25, some in their teens.
For all the Mayoral effort, for all the money spent, the good work and good intentions, let us say, “we tried that.” Now can we admit it isn’t enough? Isn’t it past time to get help from others who have had dramatic positive results? Can we get moving on this? Can we get angry? My God, we should.
Praying for change,
Nancy
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