Gun violence is unnerving, but I won't live my life in fear

Enjoying a break from the heat wave on a recent morning lakefront walk, I came across the jarring site of a crime scene.

Like a needle dragged across vinyl on a turntable, the image of that sheet-draped body on the ground instantly killed my positive vibe.

"The air of love and of happiness" referenced in the old-school jam "Summertime" became summer sadness.

Editing stories about the violence in my beloved city is one thing, but seeing its aftermath up close in one of my favorite places in Chicago is quite another.

Can’t we peace-loving folks find refuge somewhere?

The lakefront has always held a special place in my heart. A place to sit on the rocks with friends listening to music as a teen. A place for fun with my kids, and later, my grandkids. A place to show off our dazzling skyline to out-of-towners. A place to talk to God.

Now, apparently, it’s the O.K. Corral. A teen girl and two guys recently were shot, allegedly by some guy on a bike near 63rd Street Beach. And there were three fatal shootings in just two days near Margaret T. Burroughs Beach, one of those victims likely the one I saw on the ground surrounded by police.

My 4th Ward alderperson, Lamont Robinson, has decided to close Burroughs Beach — often referred to by its former name, 31st Street Beach — two hours early and station violence interrupters there at night. The curfew is supposed to be a trial run for 10 days.

The shootings and teen takeovers and mayhem they bring are, of course, disturbing. No one group has the right to be "taking over" any public place. The lakefront belongs to all of us. And while closing the park at 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. might cut the mayhem for people who bother to respect the curfew, my guess is that people who whip out guns to resolve disputes could not care less about a curfew.

I think Robinson should pump the brakes on a permanent early closing of the beach.

It would be a shame to let the selfish, lawless actions of a few people mess up a good thing for everybody. A lot of folks prefer hitting the beach later, when the sun isn’t scorching hot. And people who work during the day or who just want to sleep in and chill on the beach later ought to have that option.

As bad as crime has spread citywide, other parts of town aren’t rolling up their sidewalks early, especially when, in the blink of an eye, our glorious summertime Chi will be over.

I’m also more than a little worried about the safety of these violence interrupters. How do you protect these peacemakers, and how do you interrupt a violent mindset and replace it with a rational one? Don’t know how many times I’ve seen or heard about the folks trying to break up fights, or prevent them, becoming the targets of violence themselves.

The violence interrupters may well be part of a long-term solution, along with giving people more places to go to address their mental health issues and finding more jobs and job training for people.

Short-term, though, I’d leave the violence interruption to the police. The squad cars lined up near park closing time are a familiar and comforting sight.

One thing I’ve found to be true since the unrest of 2020 is that there really is no safe corner of the city. Criminals strike in the Gold Coast. They strike out West, over East and in the Wild Hundreds. To stay safe, I pray and use my common sense to avoid obviously dangerous situations. But I refuse to live my life in fear.

I hope fear doesn’t win out and rob Burroughs beach-goers of some awesome summer nights.

Angela Myers is a digital copy editor for the Sun-Times.

This column is part of our occasional "Meet the Sun-Times" series introducing readers to editors and other staff.