Ever since Jesus snatched me out of prison, I have been committed to do likewise. First, I started in the South Bronx and now in Chicago.
The murders in Chicago surpass the casualties we have experienced in the Iraq and Afghan wars. Since 2015, the homicides have ranged from 470 to 774 per year. The shootings at night sometimes sound like a warzone. Since 2001, over 77,000 people have been shot in the city. It is the Chicago War.
For over five years, I have been visiting Chicago to see how I could help. I have the background and experience that might aid the peacemakers in the battles and divert some of the shooters and gang members from violence. I took a film crew with me to shoot the various scenes that Chicagoans, particularly those on the South and West Sides, are experiencing.
The Oscars are now considering that movie – Chicago: America’s Hidden War -in their Best Documentary Feature category. America’s most violent war is raging in the most populous city in the Midwest. Chicago needs all the help it can get to amplify what’s happening on its South and West Sides. Please help by spreading the word about this documentary. Watch the trailer and the full-length video when it comes out. Arm your minds, and if you believe, arm the peacemakers in the city with prayers and resources.
In my teens, I had been a drug dealer at the height of the crack wars, and unfortunately had witnessed people killed right in front of me. When I heard what was going on now in Chicago, I vowed to help any way I could and put to the test the many things we saw decades ago that helped to transform the streets of NYC when it held the dubious distinction of being the U.S. Murder Capital. As an Afro-Latino, I was strongly compelled to fight against the Black-on-Black and Latino-on-Latino violence there. It was a weird déjà vu.
Hospital waiting rooms in Chicago are often so packed with shooting victims that some of them had to languish outside bleeding on the street. Also on the sidewalks, family after family were crying. I saw the buckling knees of an African American mother crash onto the concrete with despair as she received the news that her beloved son had just passed.
There are unsung heroes in the streets. One whom I met and came to admire is Dr. Donovan Price. Can you believe that he hits the streets armed with a police scanner so that he can race to ongoing shootouts so that he can get there to support the victims with much-needed bereavement counseling? You have heard of storm-chasers, now you can hear about the murder chasers. The difference between the two is that Price and other murder chasers are coming to calm the storm, plant the seeds of peace in the storm clouds, and rescue the victims.
Dr. Price doesn’t cruise around during the daylight hours. His car curls the streets at THE MOST DANGEROUS HOURS when bullets are the most likely to be whizzing. On a few night shifts, I hopped in the car with Dr. Price as he was rushing to the scene.
The evidence of the war was immediately visible: bullet holes dotting parked cars; fresh blood still flowing, and boundaries just erected by police tape. The scenes were so surreal.
It has become uncannily business as usual for both the community and police alike. The entire normalized situation shocked me to my core. Ambulances descended, clean-up crews arrived, and in less than an hour, the whole crime scene vanished, and the block was back to its normal flow as if nothing had ever happened. The war has left many indifferent to the trauma and genocidal behavior — but underneath there is stark terror.
One man tattooed himself with the names of all his loved ones, family and friends. He pointed to one name and observed, “My little brother got killed. Shot once in the chest.”
No detailed forensics! If you didn’t know a shooting had just happened there, nothing outward clued you in otherwise. In NYC, when homicides take place, a light tower is erected and cops are stationed at the location to help thwart all illegal activity in that area, including revenge killings. This sends a powerful message to criminals that they will pay a swift price for any poor judgment or battles entered in while the cops are on the scene.
One gangster talked about how his best friend died and why he wanted to go out and kill ten times more people. He said, “It’s pain, Bro’. It’s pain” Killing is no longer gang against gang. It is a random war against everyone. At a gang debrief in a church, a former drug lord told me, “I have ‘Kill or be killed’ tattooed across my chest.”
I decided to dig down into the depths of pain. I sought out Spencer Leak, the man who runs the busiest funeral home in America – Leak and Sons Funeral Home.
He told me, “They [gangsters] are now shooting in a random style and feeling satisfied by whomever they hit.” Mr. Leak explained further that “It wasn’t like this in the past, but now more women and children are showing up dead.”
Nevertheless, he still hopes for a better Chicago, despite the years of frustration at the rapidly accelerating murder rate. I told him I was from NYC and that we wanted to help reach the shooters on the streets. He encouraged me like a grandfather, admonishing me to be careful.
My wife Tiffany and our two daughters moved to Chicago for summer to execute our plan of meeting the most dangerous people there. This turned into the full feature documentary entitled Chicago: America’s Hidden War being distributed by CineLife Entertainment.
Due to pandemic theatre restrictions, Chicago: America’s Hidden War release date is still to be determined. Please visit us to be kept up to date and enlist in this fight now at www.ChicagosHiddenWar.com.
Dimas Salaberrios is the Producer of Chicago: America’s Hidden War and Emanuel.
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