Funeral Should Not Have Been Allowed To Turn Into Gang Spectacle!

Sent to me from a reader:

Today the funeral was held for Alex Vernon, the 19 year old gang member killed last weekend on Paulina. The funeral took place at St. Paul’s by the Lake at Ashland and Estes. Ritual is a powerful metaphor throughout our lives and society but there is no more powerful ritual than that associated with death.

My heart breaks for the family whose son was taken from them twice – first when he joined a gang and then, more permanently, by gang violence. They should be able to mourn openly. In fact, we all ought to cry with them for a life snuffed out far too prematurely, for a community where this sort of activity exists.

However, this funeral should not have been allowed to turn into gang spectacle. Father Heschle should have told the family and friends that gangbangers would not be permitted in the church and no loitering, double-parking, and congregating around the chapel would be permitted.

Police should have been notified in advance and should have been on hand to disburse the double-parking, loitering gang members who flooded the streets around Ashland and Estes for approximately 2 hours. They were forced to abandon standing in the middle of the streets once it started to rain, then they took shelter in their cars..... cars that continued to be double-parked in the street.

Sadly, the community and those who ought to know better have let down this family, even in the face of death. The gang to which this young man belonged got to have their spectacle, thus reinforcing in the minds of its existing and prospective members that if you die “in the line of duty” you will go out BIG.

Father Heschle of St. Paul’s helped stage the show (or at least did nothing to hinder the production) and the police simply sat in their one car on hand and watched with no attempt made to disburse the gang members loitering (or even to direct traffic which had completely shut down the area).

The leaders and protectors of Rogers Park ought to be ashamed of themselves for actions that absolutely perpetuate the myth and romance of gangs. And the rest of us ought to be mightily angry and let them know it.

That “Shrine” on Paulina needs to come down and the Alderman and the police need to find their backbone steel themselves to do what every rational person knows needs to be done. Unfortunately those of us who obey the gun laws and are not armed are not in much of a position to take action here.