Where's the Outrage Over Continued Violence In Evanston?

Last Tuesday as I started making dinner, the phone rang at 5:38pm. Caller ID indicated it was an automated call from the high school, so I let it go straight to voicemail:

Hello. This is Marcus Campbell, Associate Principal at Evanston Township High School, calling with a special message. Today, June 11th, 2013, several hours after school was dismissed, gunfire was heard in the area of Church and Dodge. Police responded to the area and an investigation is currently underway. School safety protocols were enacted, and at no time during this incident were ETHS staff, students or visitors in danger. Thank you very much. 

Sounds reassuring, doesn't it? But here’s the thing: I’d been there, just after it happened, and it was surreal, particularly since an ETHS parent had been attacked at that very corner earlier that morning.

I’d been driving west on Church Street at 4:00 p.m. toward the high school with my 7th grade daughter and her friend. They’d planned to see some of their 8th grade friends from Nichols Middle School graduate at the high school.

As we neared the intersection of Church and Dodge, cars were backed up past Mason Park. 

“Why’s there so much traffic?” my daughter asked. 

Seeing the flashing police lights ahead, I said, “Must be lots of people heading to the graduation.”

Then I started noticing the pedestrians all around us. Not parade-like, but gaper-like, all looking and pointing at the southeast corner of Church and Dodge. 

“What’s going on?” I asked out loud, but the girls were busy texting their friends. “What’s everyone pointing at?”

Police walked in small groups around the area. People stepped out of their businesses along Church. Women poked their heads out of a salon. 

As I neared the stoplight, I counted at least 11 police vehicles. Officers had set up a roadblock, preventing left turns onto Dodge – exactly where I needed to drop the girls.

“Why are you going straight?” the girls asked nervously. Can’t we go in the front? 

At this point, I figured something had come to light about that morning’s attack.

“I think they just want us to drop you off in the back of the school,” I said, craning my neck as an officer urged me to keep going. 

We drove into the ETHS parking lot on the west side of the school, only to see high school students filing into the building from the baseball and softball fields. ETHS security personnel stood near the doors, and nowhere did I see parents of 8th grade graduates filing in.

“Are you sure we’re supposed to go in through the back?” the girls asked. 

“I’m not really sure,” I said, feeling nervous. What’s going on? “Let’s circle around again to the front of the school.”

We took a left onto Lake, then another left onto Dodge, pulling up across from a huge crowd of excited graduates and their families milling around outside. At the end of the same block, I could see another crowd -- anxious, hushed and tense -- gathered near the yellow police tape. Rolling down my window, I asked an ETHS security guard what was happening. There’s been another shooting, he'd said. But don't worry. This isn't something random. It's been an ongoing issue between two groups of people.

Today, June 11th, 2013, several hours after school was dismissed, gunfire was heard in the area of Church and Dodge.

I looked back over at the hundreds of families gathered, wondering what to do. I’d planned to drop the girls off and run some more errands until they needed a pickup. Would they be okay? How would the other parents feel? Should I go with them? Is someone on the loose? 

…at no time during this incident were ETHS staff, students or visitors in danger.

This wasn’t even about the incident from that morning. This was a new event in a long line of many these days in Evanston. I keep hearing it’s a small group of people fighting with one antoher. That it’s “thankfully not random." Is that supposed to make the violence any more palatable?

“You're mad, aren't you, Mom,” my daughter observed from the back seat.

"Why does this keep happening?" I fumed, texting the other mom with what little information I had.

Then, my daughter asked the question she's asked many times this year: "Does this make you want to move out of Evanston?" Every time my kids have asked me that, I know there's so much more beneath the surface, and it literally breaks my heart.

“Absolutely not,” I said, trying to contain my anger. "We're not leaving. This is our home."

Ultimately, the girls got out of the car and joined the graduation crowd as it slowly entered the school. As I pulled away from the curb and drove north on Dodge, I drove through a crime scene near the corner, just as I had earlier that morning.

I've played that calm, cool, collected voice mail from ETHS several times, growing more frustrated with every listen. Why aren’t we talking more – or more outraged -- about what's happening at Church and Dodge? What are we doing to prevent the violence in this neighborhood? If this is really just between two groups of people, then they're huge groups with far-reaching grudges. Why didn’t ETHS mention the morning attack in the voice mail? Why aren’t we talking more about Tuesday? More about safety? More about how lucky so many people were that day? If there isn’t something done immediately to increase public safety around this intersection -- where people from all over our community walk and bike and jog and drive and take the bus and music lessons and get their hair done and visit the dentist, then I can guarantee I won’t be the only one who’s pissed as hell.

Thank you very much.