Over the years, Chicago wears the stigma of being the gun violence capital of America.
Now, Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin works to change what he calls a “quiet genocide.” Last week, he announced plans to seek international help by appealing to the United Nations U.N.) and possibly bring in peacekeepers.
In response to Boykin’s concern, the city’s mayor, Rahm Emmanuel said that he sees improvement. He added that there are major plans for the city by boosting the police force with a thousand more cops, and increasing the care of kids in after-school programs, and implementing 31,000 in summer jobs and close to 7,500 in mentoring programs.
Although homicides are down by 15 percent and there has been a significant decrease in arrest since 2016, Boykin emphasizes that the numbers of shootings are still astronomical.
At press time, Boykins was traveling to New York to meet with Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Support. He hopes to garner international help for what he considers a crisis in the city.
At O’Hare International Airport on Thursday, December 14, Boykin said:
“I’m hoping to appeal to the U.N. to actually come to Chicago and meet with victims of violence, and maybe even possibly help out in terms of peacekeeping efforts, because I think it’s so critical for us to make sure that these neighborhoods are safe.”
Unkept Peace
U.N. Peacekeepers are the largest deployed military in the world. Their moniker, the blue helmets, signifies a mass collective of military persons from all over.
Peacekeeping purposes are to diffuse or assist nations in severe crisis or conflict. In the past, peacekeeping mission have not been so peaceful; and brought criticisms of meting out harsh regulations. Rwanda, Serbia, Congo, Darfur and Haiti are just some countries in recent years that voiced opposition against U.N. peacekeeping efforts. Reports of sexual violence, unjustified killings and abuses toward citizens come up in documents.
