Competing Values

"I adore Chicago. It is the pulse of America." — Sarah Bernhardt

Perhaps the most fascinating and thought provoking hour of TV is on CNN on Thursday nights. The documentary series "Chicagoland" explores the trials, challenges, beauty, and triumphs of Chicago, Illinois. It is emblematic of major cities throughout the United States, and that's something we should all consider.

As depicted in this documentary series, Chicago is a city of great art, culture, and cuisine. It is a place where business leaders birth beautiful new ideas, citizens rally around sports teams, and diversity is celebrated. It's a place where generations come together to help build America. But that's not all it is.

Chicago is a violent place. It's a place where the promise of young life is snuffed out in many neighborhoods on warm summer nights. It's a place where kids struggle to get to school, are afraid to go to school, and face a hopeless future. It's a place where poor inner city youths have never seen the water though they live less than 30 minutes from Lake Michigan.

This is the great dichotomy. And it isn't a problem unique to Chicago — it is a problem that plagues many of the great cities of the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It is a problem, it is troubling, and it is something that we need to deal with as a country.

My favorite TV series of all time is "The Wire." Some say it is about the drug trade. That's true, but it is so much more than that. David Simon was a reporter in Baltimore. He loved his city, but saw its problems. When he worked to create "The Wire," it was a love letter to Baltimore, but it was meant to be emblematic of the systemic problems we face in America. It beautifully captured the multi-faceted problems, and asked viewers to consider what could be done before it was too late.

That show was fiction. "Chicagoland" is all too real. But they cover the same material and depict the same problems. And as someone who wants this country to have a future, who wants a future for my children some day, I have to wonder when we are going to deal with our own problems.

America is always quick to jump in where trouble arises overseas, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But when kids can't walk 10 blocks to school without fear of being shot. When administrators for the school district in a major American city celebrate because they've gone four whole days without a student being shot, we have a problem. I'm not talking about Iraq, I'm talking about Chicago.

Chicago is a place of beauty, culture, and promise — but not for everyone. That's a shame, and that should be the shame for all of us.