Gun violence in State Park, Collinsville, Illinois
In Illinois, there’s a small town called “State Park Place” in Collinsville. According to Wikipedia, “State Park Place is an unincorporated community in Madison and St. Clair counties, Illinois, United States. State Park Place borders Collinsville to the east and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site to the west (State Park Place, Illinois.). You can find the well-known Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site which sites the remains of the ancient Native Americans who made a living there. This historical building might just be the only good part of State Park. There’s something knew happening there every day. If you drive past State Park Place you will encounter many problems. You can tell our community is divided. Let’s dive deeper into the community.
There are 4 sides to State Park Place. Mostly people that are in the low and middle class live here. You can find a two local popular Mexican store’s that you can walk to, a nearest gas station, a meat marketplace, a church that’s abandoned and two auto shops. All these places make up our community and allow us to build connections with each other to make sure we all know who’s living in our environment. I mean, would you feel safe living in an environment where you completely don’t know anyone? I don’t think so, because I know I wouldn’t. This community is not diverse. It’s mostly Hispanics and Caucasians living there. It is always important to touch base with your neighborhood/ community to make sure you’re all on the same page and to gain trust with one another just in case one day something happens, you can confide in them to telling you the truth. You’ll be able to see a lot of house-less people roaming the streets at night. I personally witnessed one walk in the nearest gas station and take something to eat without paying.
That brings us to the real problem within this community. Gun violence. What is gun violence? According to Wikipedia, “Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm”. (“Gun Violence”). Why is gun violence considered a wicked problem? Gun violence is considered a wicked problem because it is very compounded and has no straightforward solution. What bout gun violence makes it a wicked problem? Gun violence introduces multifaceted causes, diverse shareholders, and long-term impacts whether it be good or bad. Gun violence has the highest crime rate throughout the whole United States of America but particularly in this community we will touch base on. When I was living in State Park Place, I’d hear gun shots at least three times a day. That’s just ONE day and during the daytime. Can you imagine how hard it was for me to stay focus during E-learning days? I would have to go over my aunt’s house who lived in Collinsville just to do my schoolwork. I lived one house away from the nearest gas station and out of all my 4 years of living In State Park Place, I never found to convince myself to walk down there by myself no matter if it was daylight or nighttime. During the nighttime you could hear houseless people arguing and yelling from down the street. Individuals vandalize resident’s gates and write on them saying cruel things. These things all may be bad but the worst issue the community has, must be gun violence.
Nothing can ever compare to the type of hurt where you must forcefully say goodbye to your loved one. On January 1,2023 at approximately 1:40 PM my brother’s received a phone call no friend would want to receive. Their best friend had been fatally shot just down the street from where we lived. The shooting was walking distance from our home. To this day, I genuinely cannot believe what I was arriving to, I saw a lot of polices, ambulances, family members yelling at him telling him to keep pushing through, and an awesome human being choking on his own blood fighting for his life. All this happened in OUR community. Our community failed him. If we had local police enforcements this could have been solved easily. If people would have spoken up about the random gun shots throughout the day to the city council, we wouldn’t have lost one of our residents. Even after this fatal accident, the shootings did not stop. Now, my brothers are stuck with a heart ache of losing their best friend and his parents are stuck seeing his blood on the street that they’re living in.
I ask myself, who are the stakeholders and reasons of this problem? I hate to admit it, but it’s us. Nowadays, you mostly see young adults in fault of these activities. This all plays from bad childhood and individuals not receiving the help they need or not wanting to be helped. I feel as if there are many undefined solutions with this. The community can enforce community policies/ guidelines that includes the law enforcement, and a set ground rules for the residents. Spreading awareness can be a great starter point. With these solutions, new problems can be created daily. Residents not liking the over policies law enforcements are indicting, trust issues will be upheld, and residents moving away.
The irreversible part of gun violence happens to include long- term influence on community confiding, and cultural differences. Of course, not all solutions will work for this problem, but it never hurts to try. This most important characteristic is that this is URGENT. The urgency of lowering gun violence rates and keeping the community safe at all times is very important. We do not want to keep losing our loved ones due to some foolishness that could’ve been handled completely different. As the government job, it Is their responsibility to make sure we’re all safe especially publicly. Addressing gun violence urgently is critical to prevent further loss of life, improve safety, reduce economic burdens, and restore community trust.
“State Park Place, Illinois.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 July 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Park_Place,_Illinois
Gun Violence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun violence.)