You know, it’s kind of funny. There is so much debate here about whether or not a particular neighborhood is safe. However, there seems to be no dispute that if you move to Englewood, you’ll probably be leaving in a body bag. Good to see we all finally agree on something.

Not exactly a glowing recommendation of the area in which Jennifer Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason Hudson and nephew, Julian King lived prior to being murdered. The quote from above is repeated over and over again by all involved with this particular post regarding the safety of Englewood.

Despite Jennifer’s success as an Oscar winning actress in Dreamgirls, an accomplished singer with a new debut album and a past American Idol favorite, her family decided Englewood is where they grew up and Englewood is where they would stay. My only question is why? According to the Chicago Police Department as early as 2000, Police District 7, which includes Englewood, was the highest crime area with rates of 3,360 Violent Crimes per 100,000, easily beating the next highest Police District. My conclusion, Englewood is very dangerous and everyone who lives there knows this.

Chicago Police Districts:
1. Central, 1718 S. State St.
2. Wentworth, 5101 S. Wentworth Ave.
3. Grand Crossing, 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
4. South Chicago, 2255 E. 103rd St.
5. Calumet, 727 E. 111th St.
6. Gresham, 7808 S. Halsted St.
7. Englewood, 6120 S. Racine Ave

The man who allegedly committed these murders William Balfour, was a product of the violence which seeped out of every pore of the Englewood area, and Jennifer Hudson’s family, was yet another victim of violent crime. There is no fault in wanting to stay true to your roots, or to show people you haven’t ‘changed’ because of your success, but on the flip side it doesn’t make you a bad person if you move from an area as hostile as Englewood. Why else do we go to work everyday other than to better the conditions we live in and provide a safer environment for our family.

This isn’t to say if the Hudson’s moved to some high end neighborhood William Balfour wouldn’t have done the exact same thing, because if someone is intent on causing you harm, they will do so no matter where you are. With that said, why stay in Englewood? It makes absolutely no sense to me when you have the means to make a change, for instance living in a gated community, but rather you voluntarily choose to stay in a crime infested city like Englewood.

This is an unimaginable tragedy with innocent people being murdered, but I can’t help to think how different it all might have been had her family chose to live hundreds of miles away from all the violence and chaos which surrounded them everyday in Englewood.

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