Trib A Game still missing from West, South Side protests

A visitor from another planet reading the Trib editorial 'A protest sure to provoke: Anger? Yes. Solutions? We'll See.' would have no idea of the unfolding daily tragedy on Chicago's South and West Sides. "Participants will rally to demand safer, more hopeful communities on the South and West sides with better schools and more job opportunities", just doesn't cut it. Where are the dozen folks murdered and several dozen more wounded by largely illegal guns every week? Were are the miles of wasteland, the Depression era unemployment rates, the revolving prison door, the third world drug trade? Instead we get this pablum: Protesters will "be marching in envy of the neighborhoods that will surround them as they proceed." When one of those protesters is watching their child bleed out in a drive by shooting they're not experiencing envy. The real audience for this editorial are the Chicagoans of privilege captured by the line "The more Chicagoans engage and push for positive changes, the more this next election becomes a referendum on ways to make Chicago a more successful, livable city for all residents." The protesters are not looking at the big picture of 'making Chicago a more successful, livable city'. They marching for survival by coming part of the Chicago which sustains life. The Trib's hope that the ten mayoral candidates will be inspired to offer real solutions outside of their pet project comfort zones is preposterous. This human crisis cannot be solved at the city level. It must involve the state and federal government working with city officials in a massive investment of many billions to undue a century of racism, neglect and disinvestment. Kicking the can of improvement 208 days down the road till election day is a non-starter. The protesters will be voting for change on Lake Shore Drive and at Wrigley Field today. They should be.