Only Uncle Sam can tamp down Chicago street carnage

The Mayor and Police Chief; indeed, the Governor as well, can hold daily press conferences on how they’re combating the grotesque carnage of Chicago’s mean streets.

But the victims and future victims would be better served if our collective efforts were directed at the only source that can make a dent in the weekly toll of 70 shot, 10 of whom die: Uncle Sam.

For it is centuries of national institutional racism that funneled millions of guns into huge pockets of poverty, crime, joblessness and despair containing millions of minorities shunned by privileged America.

A society doing that and allowing it to continue is ensuring that local and state authorities will continue to flail away at a problem far beyond their control.

Unless we as a nation stem the flow of unlimited guns and provide sufficient jobs, these twin drivers of grotesque violence will pile up the count of dead and wounded till the end of time.

Uncle Sam has the means, but has never had the will. Until he does, the police, doctors and undertakers may as well proceed with their work in silence.