Another Peoria Murder

Eight murders in Peoria in just the first trimester of 2007. At this rate we’ll have 24 murders by years end. When growing up in Peoria, a murder was somewhat rare. Now they are becoming all too commonplace. We need to ask ourselves why this is happening and what can be done about it. First, why is this happening.

First and foremost, the reason this is happening can be summed up in one word; drugs. Drugs along with gang activity are a large part to the violence that is spiking in Peoria. Another reason for these crimes stems from poor parenting and, for lack of a least abrasive term, a “ghetto-culture.”

Kids and small children today are inundated with this “ghetto-culture,” the likes of rap and hip-hop music videos, video games, dress styles, etc. A generation or two ago, parents were upset with the new rock and roll music and the personalities of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. They thought rock music was some sort of devil music and did not care for their rebellious attitudes and long hair. But this is just a bit different than today. Look at the songs from these rap and hip-hop artists. There is nothing wrong with the style of this music (though it’s not my taste), it’s the subject matter. They depict violence, gang activity and sexual innuendo and degradation of women. There are actual songs about cop killing. Kids, as impressionable as they are, are exposed to this and want to emulate it.

While Elvis and the Beatles may have not been the perfect role models as they too had their share of drug incidents, their songs were more about peace and love. Also another difference, there were parents back then who intervened in this and taught their children that some of these activities were bad. This is where parents are needed, to teach children morals, the right from wrong, to teach them to respect others, to teach them responsibility and that there are consequences to their actions. When I was young and growing up in a “nuclear family,” the two biggest things I was taught to avoid were jail and welfare. Not today. Kids watch all this shit on cable TV and the Internet with little or no parental supervision. There are small children who believe that prison is nothing but a kind of gym where you play basketball. These kids are exposed to drug deals going on in their home, they stay up late at night, witness domestic fights and violence and other inappropriate activity. They grow up thinking this is the norm. So how do you think they will behave once they are on their own? This has been going on for some time now.

So what’s the solution? That’s harder to answer than figuring out what causes the problem. Implementing some of my ideas would probably prove even tougher to do.

1.) Good prosecutors to put these violent criminals away for a long time in facilities that are not very pleasant, to say the least.

2.) More cops wouldn’t be a bad thing.

3.) Take out the basketball hoops and weight lifting sets in prisons and replace them with leg irons for chain gangs. A lot of these criminals are lazy and the idea of work scares them; this is one of the reasons they turn to crime is they don’t have to do an honest day’s work. Once word gets out that prison isn’t just 3 meals a day and basketball and that hard labor is involved, they might think twice before doing the crime. They might realize it is a place to be avoided.

4.) Kids need to be taught that many of the images being depicted in the “ghetto-culture” are wrong. Since we can’t legally mandate parents to teach their children morals, we can educate children the right and wrong of many things in school, TV, etc., that they should avoid doing drugs and getting involved in crime. Teach then that going to jail is a bad thing, that it’s not fun and should be avoided. Does anybody remember when “Officer Friendly” came to visit your classroom?

These solutions won’t fix it all, but might be a good start.

Common Sense of it All: In 1992, I couldn’t stand to see Dan Quayle talking about family values. But more and more, it’s beginning to make a bit more sense to me now. If you raise bad kids, or fail to raise good kids, nine times out of ten, they’ll turn out to be bad people. Could Dan Quayle be right, that family values do matter?