As violence in Chicago continues to spin out of control, businesses are reacting in logical ways. A Subway sandwich shop with a bulletproof enclosure for employees, for instance, made the news in the Windy City, showing that violence is affecting everyone, not just gang members.
With Chicago’s long, harsh winter finally over, the gangbangers and drug dealers have come out of hibernation; shootings and murders are rising to uncontrollable numbers. But this is nothing new. Chicago has been a war zone for years, and businesses have had to take measures to protect their cash registers, as well as the lives of their employees.
Chicago residents have given the city a new nickname, “Chiraq,” because it is more dangerous than actual war zones in the Middle East, and businesses have responded by building crime prevention structures into their businesses.
A reporter for Chicago’s CBS affiliate posted a photo of a Subway shop located at 116th Street and South Halsted–Chicago’s violent West Pullman neighborhood–showing the bulletproof enclosure the restaurant built for its employees. The shop also lacked a public bathroom.
The reporter noted that this was a sad indication of just how violent portions of the city had become.
The term “Chiraq” is becoming an apt nickname. Sadly, 13 American soldiers died in January and February in Iraq and Afghanistan. In March, no soldiers died. By contrast, however, 76 Chicagoans have been murdered in “Chiraq” in 2014 thus far.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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