Have you lost count yet? I’m talking about gang shootings. They’ve come at such a dizzying pace the past week that “Another one?” has become Chattanooga’s unofficial motto.
Now the finger-pointing has started.
Of course it has. Our society loves to nail blame to a single culprit. When something goes wrong a head must roll. This is true whether we’re discussing a failing sports team, an underperforming business venture, or in this case Mayor Andy Berke’s beleaguered Violence Reduction Initiative (VRI).
However, human sacrifices don’t always correct a malfunction. And when it comes to crime like we’re experiencing, pinning the blame on one person is a fruitless endeavor. After all (I’m borrowing a popular political line here), crime is downstream from culture.
Gang members didn’t just decide to up and start shooting one another this week. A myriad of factors, deeply rooted and developed over the years, have led to the headlines we’ve been exasperated about.