Eddie Kornegay and Brad Wilcox: We can make Chicago safer by prioritizing stronger families
December 27, 2023
It was a cold winter morning in 2021 when my youngest son ducked into a local gas station to grab a snack before heading to work. As he came out and entered his car, a gunman approached, yanked on his door, pointed a gun at him and commanded him to give up his car. My son refused. He was shot in the head.
Miraculously, my son was not killed. The bullet passed through his left temple, exiting down through his right cheek. But the incident made the local Chicago crime problem real for me and my family in the most personal and painful way possible. Unfortunately, my family’s experience is not uncommon. Across the city, Chicagoans saw a decade-high number of assaults and car thefts and homicide rates last year, according to a recent Illinois Policy Institute report. Certain offenses are on pace to increase in 2023.
