There has been an eruption of flash mobs downtown Chicago and in Chicago’s other near-north neighborhoods. This activity has nothing to do with random synchronized dancing and singing by group of people that disperse after their performance, which is usually associated with the term “flash mob.” Instead, groups of teenagers have begun erratic acts of violence in areas where such is uncommon. While the Gold Coast, Magnificent Mile and other near-north neighborhoods seem to be particularly safe, these mobbings are becoming more frequent. If one was to do a simple Google search, a list of links will appear from the summer of 2011 covering violence that has occurred in high-traffic, affluent and high-tourism communities, possibly more articles from last year than this one. Flash mobs may be less of a surprise when actually looking into the subject. These attacks have included incidents in shopping areas, residential areas, as well as on public transportation. The most recent act occurred in Wicker Park at Midblend Supply Co. on Milwaukee Ave. this past Saturday, when a group of at about twenty male teenagers stole approximately $3000 worth of high-quality jeans. The owner of the shop, Luke Cho, said that is was obvious that the teens were on a mission and as he went to lock the door of his store, there were about twelve more waiting outside.

One Gold Coast resident, Mary L. McCarthy said she is thinking twice about going out at night for the first time in thirteen years. Recently, she witnessed a group of adolescents gathered outside of her building. Another example of an incident happened at a McDonald’s on State St. and Chicago Ave., (a spot popular among youth) when a group of about 70 young people crowded in to the fast food restaurant causing it to shut down for three hours because of the disturbance. In June, a group of adolescents between the ages of ten and twenty beat a 36-year-old man walking home from work in the Gold Coast neighborhood and stole his iPhone. Many of these flash mobs have been caught on tape and the videos have been used to arrest the attackers.

These flash mobs form rather simply. Groups of young people gather at a given place at a given time and coordinate through social media and mobile phones and engage in violent and/or illegal behavior.

In almost all of these cases the attackers have been young African-American males who come from areas of the city that are much less affluent than the areas of the attacks, areas that have long been suffering from violent crime. Some writers have described the attacks as race riots or as examples of minority youth getting fed up with being on the bottom of the totem pole of society. In a city that is one of the most segregated in the U.S. and with a high youth unemployment rate for inner-city youth, it seems as if violent crime hadn’t got nearly as much mainstream attention until it hit upscale neighborhoods. City officials should make it a priority to make every neighborhood in Chicago safe, to level the playing field and go to the root of these violent attacks. All of Chicago deserves to be mob-free.