It’s Sunday morning in Chattanooga. Blue sky frames scattered clouds and the birds sing as most of you read this.
The same sky shines all over town, but in some communities the birds hush as gunfire erupts. Sooner or later today, odds are unfortunately good that someone will be shot — or at least shot at.
This beautiful, and in many ways progressive, city has got to come grips with the class, education and financial gaps that have spawned increasing gang activity in what at times appears to be a combat zone in east and south Chattanooga.
It’s time for action when “perpetual” lockdowns at the East Lake Boys & Girls Club drive the executive vice president to beg for help after she herds 60 or 70 youngsters into a room with no windows as bullets fly outside.
“We are pleading for your help,” she wrote to her board members Tuesday evening while in lockdown. “There is gunfire in the area with people shooting at each other. It is the 3-4 [third or fourth] time within the last month and [a] half. Could you use your influence to talk with City Council, County Commissioners, police or any other official that has the authority to help provide a safe place for our children.”