Bruce Kraig Injured

Bruce Kraig Injured

Bruce Kraig, Professor Emeritus in History and Humanities at Roosevelt University, co-founder of Culinary Historians of Chicago and a good guy (as well as a participant at last week's Village Hut Jain lunch) was attacked and beaten a few blocks from my house in the past few days.

More here:

http://www.wjinc.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=8493

I've had the pleasure of listening to Bruce Kraig lecture during my time at Roosevelt, and this about the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Another instance of "WTF is wrong with the world today?"

I have no patience with this kind of ridiculous behavior. "Wilding" has also been reported in Downtown Evanston - I believe sometimes one member of the group will film it on their cell-phone camera (which has the benefit of making it easier for the police to catch the bastards.)

I hope the kids they caught are the ones responsible, and that they throw the book at them.

Nah, I hope they decide to pick me I sure as hell aint going to throw a book at them, I have much more painful options!

It's about time those years of experience clearing brawls at Wrigley and various bars paid off.

Oh, dear. Poor Bruce. What a frightening thing to have happen to such a cheerful and delightful man. I'm glad he had only minor physical injuries -- but still, how horribly unnerving.

Bruce and I have emailed back and forth tonight, and it seems that within blocks (not even one mile) of my house, several guys who fit our demo have been beaten up. So I got to ask myself, what would I do if I found myself in the same position as Bruce? Walking along in broad daylight, meeting people who want to hurt me, not rob me, but just cause pain.

I considered arming myself somehow, but that's an invitation to further violence (and who needs some better attorney proving that I, though attacked, was the perp), so my solution is this, pollyannish as it may sound: if confronted by a group of three guys ready to kick my ass, and assuming I have time to use my mouth, I would ask them to lunch. Growing up on the westside of Chicago, it's been my experience that if you can shift the mood just a little, you can win potential assailants to your side, confuse them in an elementary way, and rewire the moment to defuse the aggression.

1 to 3, but my advantage would be that I'm not insane. They seem to be. That's a significant advantage.

Or, I can go down swinging and, probably, get my ass kicked, which is maybe going to happen anyway.

Jeez, I've convinced myself. Maybe I should prowl the neighborhoods, vigilante-style, seeking sociopaths to take to out to eat.

Well, there was that story about the robbery that was stopped by offering the guy with the gun a glass of wine. It might work -- if you get to say something before they land the first blow.

Cynthia wrote:Well, there was that story about the robbery that was stopped by offering the guy with the gun a glass of wine. It might work -- if you get to say something before they land the first blow.

Maybe that's where this thought came from; that and this:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=125464

HI,

I'm stunned. I'm in regular contact with him via e-mail daily often by voice. He didn't say a word.

I expect to see him today. Thanks for the advance information.

Regards,

Cathy, and anyone else who speaks to Bruce, please let him know that just about the rest of the world is horrified and terribly, terribly sorry about what happened to him.

Bruce and I have emailed back and forth tonight, and it seems that within blocks (not even one mile) of my house, several guys who fit our demo have been beaten up. So I got to ask myself, what would I do if I found myself in the same position as Bruce? Walking along in broad daylight, meeting people who want to hurt me, not rob me, but just cause pain.

I considered arming myself somehow, but that's an invitation to further violence (and who needs some better attorney proving that I, though attacked, was the perp), so my solution is this, pollyannish as it may sound: if confronted by a group of three guys ready to kick my ass, and assuming I have time to use my mouth, I would ask them to lunch. Growing up on the westside of Chicago, it's been my experience that if you can shift the mood just a little, you can win potential assailants to your side, confuse them in an elementary way, and rewire the moment to defuse the aggression.

1 to 3, but my advantage would be that I'm not insane. They seem to be. That's a significant advantage.

Or, I can go down swinging and, probably, get my ass kicked, which is maybe going to happen anyway.

Jeez, I've convinced myself. Maybe I should prowl the neighborhoods, vigilante-style, seeking sociopaths to take to out to eat.

1. Live, you must survive. You must survive to fight another day or testify. Run like hell if you need to.

1a. Fight like hell and win. Again this includes running away. Properly motivated you will bound over a barb wired fence in nano seconds.

If someone is beating you, has you on the ground and beating you, it is perfectly acceptable to take your thumb and push one of their eyeballs right out the back of their head.

2. Let the professionals know when intimidating people are anywhere. The police make $60k per year with pretty good benefits and most actually enjoy taking thugs off the street.

3. To be aware is to be alive. Be conscious of your surroundings. Thugs victimize the easy meat. Look like you know what you are doing even if don't. When you enter a building be aware of the emergency exits. When you walk down your own block think about all the possible escape routes.

4. Arm yourself? I like the idea but unless you are rifle w/bayonet at the ready you are at a disadvantage. Most attacks like this one are ambushes, you are surprised usually from behind. Be prepared, be prepared to be hit really really hard from behind. That first blow is a combat tactic meant to shock, stun you.

5. You are a weapon.

6. Rules for a Gunfight
Anonymous

1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap - life is expensive.

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.

5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.

9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket."

10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

11. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

12. Have a plan.

13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work.

14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.

15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

16. Don't drop your guard.

17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.

18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.)

19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

24. Do not attend a gun fight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".

25. You can't miss fast enough to win.

With a pithy list like that, Mike G will be changing the LTH Forum headline 6 times a day. My personal favorite...#21.

I'm becoming afraid that even in "nice" neighborhoods where such things "can't happen" (like the one I live in, too), such things are happening more and more. We've just gone through a long phase, around two decades, of things getting better and better; maybe now we're embarking on the downward swing of the cycle. It happened in my parents' generation, and it caused a flight to farther outlying areas, and we, the younger "know-it-all" generation, condemned them for it, and moved back towards the city when we had the chance. God forbid we are about to gain a better understanding of our parents' decisions. I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case, and that we can continue to feel morally superior to them!

I can't help you in Oak Park, but if you want information about Neighborhood Watch or the Citizen's Police Academy in Evanston, PM me.

We've had a lot of success partnering with the police in our neighborhood. Often, localized incidents involve two or three bad guys, and once they are in jail, the problems stop.

HI,

While Bruce has a very dark shiner around one eye and a visible lump above it, he was his cheerful self today.

He did fight back his attackers by pushing back and getting low on the ground. He shouted out, which caused several people to approach to help. A female high school teacher jumped out of her car shouting something approximating, "You want more trouble!" The two guys and a girl took off with people following them.

Since his attack, there has been yet another bringing it up to a total of three. They are targeting older men 60 and up. There have been some arrests though not yet for Bruce's attackers. The police are quite determined to locate these people.

What I really appreciate is the resiliency in Bruce's personality. He certainly looks awful, but his spirits are high. He will certainly be surprised at all the warm thoughts and self-protection ideas offered by the LTHforum community.

Thanks everyone for your concern.

Regards,

also of interest:

these cretinous miscreants are apparently(gee...go figure) unaware that these fun n games already have a name: "wil'n" or wilding

wilding is so much more evocative, tho' perhaps not as immediately specific as the idiotic, "gooning"

I have no empathy for this "culture."

Christopher Gordon wrote:
I have no empathy for this "culture."

At first look I would have to agree. Looking past the obvious it has occurred to me that being empathetic is a viable option. According to the http://www.wjinc.com/main.asp?SectionID ... cleID=8493 , two 14 year olds and one 16 year old were arrested a short time later. If these are truly the perpetrators taking them off the street is easy. They will one day return though.

The 16 year old most probably will be tried as an adult and if convicted will serve at least 24 months real time. Thats two years of training in a hostile environment. Wonder what new skills he will learn there?

I attend a culinary training program paid for by the city of Chicago taxpayers. I am one of five of this class that are economically disadvantaged and qualify for enrollment. The other 11 are all recently released convicted felons.

Our class size is down to 11 now, soon to be 10 and if one individual doesn't see the light shortly we will be 9. It's really a beautiful thing to see when a hardcore gangster realizes he or she doesn't need to be a hardcore gangster.

"Empathy" "We" not "Them". "Jokers to the left of me Jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you."

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

My name is Steve and if you want my ground be advised you will need friends.

Many, many thanks to everyone who expressed sympathy for me and outrage at the attack: all too common these days. I can't answer each individually and so just these comments.

First, soft words could not have deterred the pepetrators.

The Oak Park police have been pleasant and, one hopes, effective in finding the villains. They may be the same ones or close to those who were caught after another attack on an older fellow. My wife said that the worst thing about it was that they could identify me as an aged, helpless fellow.

The detective in charge of the case is African-American (as were the attackers). In our interview I told him that the reason the damage wasn't worse was 1) intervention by passing motorists; 2) my training years ago, when in the Civil Rights movement, on how to protect oneself against police assault. He laughed a lot and then said: "they're punks, and we'll do our best to get them."

Since we can't carry firearms (well, I can in S. Illinois, where everyone has their collection of long guns for huntin' and shootin') in Oak Park, I've taken to keeping a 10 year old Twinkie in my pocket. It's raised many an eyebrow, but is very reassuring... and better than a hot dog.

Thanks again to everyone.

BK

Bruce, I hope that the unfortunate circumstances of your first post here don't mean that this is your last - welcome, and I look forward to hearing from you in a food-related capacity. Again, what happened to you just plain stinks. I am so sorry, and am grateful you had the presence of mind, resources, and help to escape as safely as you did.

Mr. Kraig, I am glad you survived this violent attack.

Some segments of society have no respect for life, and these are the people that are dangerous to those of us who love life in all forms.

A couple of comments:

I guess we can thank Mayor Daley(I like him, other than his stance on this issue), and the other mayors in the surrounding areas who have made it so that only the criminals are carrying guns.

Individuals like the ones that attacked you are one of the reasons I moved(70 miles sw of Chicago) out of the immediate Chicago area to raise my family in a safer environment. I still work in the suburbs daily, but when I do come into Chicago(about once a month) it is typically for a lunch somewhere with my family, and then we get out.

Not the answer for everyone, but the best move for me and my peace of mind regarding the safety of my daughter, wife, home, and myself.

I hope they catch these punks and lock them up, & once again I am glad you didnt get severely hurt.

With a pithy list like that, Mike G will be changing the LTH Forum headline 6 times a day. My personal favorite...#21.

I have a plan to kill and eat everything I meet.

Seriously, if this ventures into politics it'll be shut down. Let's remember the purpose of the thread: to express our sympathies to one of the good guys.