Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 21, 2019

…medical coverage, benefits for surviving family members…

Ask if they have dental, because you’ll probably end up getting your teeth kicked out with that career move.

Good advice from Ray. Very practical.

If I were a police officer, I’d wonder why Des was so down on a black cop. What’s he hiding?

Choose wisely, your future, your life depends on it

Support comes in all forms. Sometimes being supportive is not all that helpful.

If Ray can actually get Des to think hard about fatality rates for a while, it will be extremely helpful. BTW, Ray has a useful skill here. As a police officer, he’s very used to talking to people who don’t want to talk to him.

Yes, it is – maybe the kid’ll wake up to reality…

Actually it’s about as helpful as you can get.

Don’t trigger the poor kid with pesky facts or assertions of morality or common sense….sheesh.

I’m amused that anyone thinks that the kid is the one who gets to choose the gang, instead of the other way around.

“I am trying to decide what gang to join. " Here in Chicago, the shooting peaks during the days bounded by Memorial Day and Labor Day. As of May 19, on average, a person is shot every four hours. Much of the shooting is gang-related. Google: Illustrating Chicago Values Google: BBC Life and death on the lost streets of Chicago

Fatality rates are important! I think he’s on the right track with the kid.