My Perspective: The War On Our Youth—A National Priority

“A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.”
Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Committee Keynote Speech

Well President Barak Obama, 5 years ago you said above quote in your 2004 Democratic National Committee Keynote Speech and America listened. Americans were amazed with the speech however we are at this point where the streets of Chicago and the kids on the south side are being gunned down nearly every day. Many of the parents on the south side and residents in the city of Chicago are outraged as well hurt by the fact that President Obama has not spoken out against this or even made any reference to this being a national issue. So if President Obama belief is that we are connected as one people. Then if a child on the Southside where President Obama still owns a home and did most of his community organizing gets shot and killed, that matters to President Obama right, even if it’s not his own child. If it matters than it surely doesn’t seem like to many of the residents of Chicago and the parents who have seen nothing but complete silence from President Obama on this issue.

However not all Chicago natives are silent. CNN’s news anchor Don Lemons, a native of Chicago recently did a news cast on Saturday and Sunday entitled Chicago’s Deadly Street where he looked at the violence in Chicago where former Chicago Public Schools CEO and current U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan said the violence to Chicago’s youth started when he arrived and that is one of his biggest regrets from his tenure in Chicago. Well it is about time Duncan acknowledge this because one of the first things he talked about was the fact that he was losing sleep over what was happening to students in Detroit regarding education but if Duncan was losing sleep over them than he had to be having nightmares over the violence in the streets that is plaguing many youths lives and the horrible condition of Chicago Public Schools that are not charters.

Therefore if we are all connected as one people as than U.S. Senate candidate said in 2004 than why aren’t we all trying to improve the conditions of the violence in Chicago that has taken nearly 150 youth in the last 2 years and has left nearly 1,500 youth wounded from gun violence. So when will we all be connected as one to address this issue. The issue has constantly gotten worse and now is the time for all Americans to help our fellow Americans in Chicago deal with this strategic issue that is plaguing our youth like never before. The war on our youth is a national priority and if we can’t solve the problems in Chicago than how can we solve it anymore. Today Chicago, tomorrow Detroit, the next day Baltimore and by the end of the week Los Angeles. This is why this war on our youth is a national priority and it begins with us solving the problem in Chicago because it has been ignored for far too long. Too many youth are dying nationally but what is happening in Chicago is similar to what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq which is why we must address this war on our youth now. This is a national issue and we must address it is such.

Now Chicago Public School officials and religious leaders kicked off a campaign to get students back to school for the start of the new school year. They are also working together to help curb the violence in Chicago that's killed or injured so many young people. Partnerships and collaborations are needed because at least 50 Chicago students have been killed by violence since last September. School officials are asking parents and churches to help them keep students safe as another school year approaches. Top Chicago Public School officials hosted faith community leaders from around the city today as part of their annual back-to-school campaign. They want to make sure kids get back to class on the first day of school and they are asking religious leaders to help them attack youth violence in Chicago.

People in Chicago are trying to address the violence and have been trying since 2005 when the youth violence began to increase. However they shouldn’t be doing it alone when we as a nation are suppose to be one and we all should be helping them because if a youth in Chicago dies than it is like our own youth dead. "We're calling on the faith community to work with us, to partner with us to do more in all our efforts to attack the issue of youth violence in Chicago," said Ron Huberman, Chicago Public Schools CEO. This is what I am asking from all Americans not to work with Chicago but partner with Chicago residents to help them save youth lives once and for all. Top school officials call for help from interfaith leaders in getting students back to school and having parents help with decreasing the violence that is taking over our communities. "Every one of those kids needs a mentor. Every one of those kids needs a faith-based leader who will take them under their wings and support them and help them build those adult relationships that are going to help carry them through the day," said Huberman.

"It's critical for CPS to reach out to the churches. We really need to focus on parents' empowerment by teaching parents their role and what they can do because there is a lot of parents who are silent on this issue," said Rev. Tyrone Crider. The 2009-10 traditional school calendar officially starts Tuesday, September 8. Some 132 schools operating on a year-round calendar begin classes August 10. "The all year-round school goes a long way toward helping kids stay off the street all summer," said Rev. Marshall Hatch, New Mount Pilgrim Church. Johnetta Anderson, a recent high school graduate, says young people are killing each other because they have no hope and there are too many negative images around them. "If you put us in a negative environment and then you show us negative, and then when we listen to the radio and the music all we're hearing is negative. How can you expect positive acts from these kids? I just feel we need to put more positivity on TV, tell these kids about their history, tell these kids what they can be," said Anderson.

Well let’s give our youth hope, let’s give them inspiration and something to be encouraged about. Let’s show our youth a better way and give them opportunities and chances to survive by showing them positive television and giving them real conscious orientated positive music to listen to that stimulates brain cells rather than kills it. Ron Huberman says random shootings that kill students in front of and near schools impact everyone in a school. Crisis situations and their unsettling effects on people's lives must be addressed and that is what CPS is attempting to do by reaching out to faith-based organizations and asking for their help in keeping kids in school and safe. This is the direction that should have been taken 3 years ago but now is not the time to dwell on the past but instead we must move forward and work as one to improve the present so that the future can be better.

However it won’t be easy but some high school students in Chicago are pushing policy makers to adopt some of their ideas for stemming gun violence which is what is needed. Youth are needed to help fight this war on them because if youth aren’t involved in curbing the violence and in creating better situations for youth to live and prosper than no matter what we as a nation do, it won’t work without youth wanting it. The kids are part of a program called Mikva Challenge and they surveyed 750 Chicago Public High School Students about violence. They found that few kids blame police. Instead, most teen respondents said poor parenting and negative messages from culture and friends were the biggest contributors to gun violence. Edward is a junior at Orr Academy High School. He says, based on the survey results he thinks more kids need mentors to consistently counter all the negative messages out there.

So where are the good mentors. Our youth need role models and people with integrity that can relate to them and help them see a better way in life. The youth in not just Chicago but across the nation need people who care and people who will encourage youth to succeed. Our youth no longer need people who will say, “I know you have potential, I know you can be somebody in life, okay. I'm here to help you. I'm not here to judge you, I'm not here to hurt you but I'm here to help you, to lift you up from where you fell.” Instead our youth need people who say those things but actually back up with engaging youth on a semi-daily basis or as much as they can in order to make sure they are truly there to help youth succeed. To many times, people make promises to youth and say they are here to help them but they don’t really do what they say which leads to many youth being hopeless and becoming despair due to broken promises time and time again. Well now is the time to restore that hope and to remove that despair from our youth in Chicago as well as throughout the world.

While the youth in Chicago such as Edwards are trying to give solutions to the problems that make the violence exist and force youth to become hopeless, not all youth are as active as they are. Still youth are trying to approach these situations from a different perspective but it will take more than just youth involvement to change the status quo of out-dated solutions that have been implemented to fight youth violence that seem to just increase the violence rather than decrease. So if we look at Chicago, the gun in the streets makes blanket conceal and carry in Illinois unlikely. Politicians who believe that simply getting more gun laws will decrease gun violence or youth violence just need to look at Chicago to understand that is the way when current gun laws haven’t been enforced to curb violence. There is a war going on in Chicago's inner city. News of the violence sometimes trickles into brief media reports in Central Illinois and throughout America that give us a small glimpse into the troubles facing Chicago and perhaps our nation.

Fortunately, many Americans aren’t affected by gun violence on a regular basis like the people of Chicago are. However, for those who live in Chicago, the unfortunate reality of gun violence has become a pandemic that has been ignored for far too long. According to the Chicago Tribune, there were 201 murders in Chicago in the first half of 2009. In comparison, there were 511 total murders in 2008 in the windy city. That equates to over a murder a day. As many supporters of concealed and carry strongly advocate the right of law abiding citizens to bear arms, many blame Chicago politicians for blocking efforts to pass conceal and carry. While it is very easy to support the concept in the relative safety of Central Illinois, State Representatives are elected to represent their constituents in their respective districts. There is no doubt that with the level of violence occurring on Chicago's city streets a majority of people living in Chicago would like to see stricter controls on firearms, and are strongly opposed to conceal and carry. When you look at the way that gun violence is affecting the African American community the statistics are appalling:

Chicago 2009 Murder Statiscics
88 percent of victims were male
78 percent of victims were black
44 percent of victims were between the ages of 20 and 30
84 percent of victims were shot to death

Cleary, many African American neighborhoods are being overrun by gang violence. So while many feel that conceal and carry levels the playing field between criminal and citizen. It is easy to understand why so many of Chicago's leaders are strongly opposed to such legislation. Since a majority of Illinois officials comprising both chambers of the General Assembly represent Chicago or the surrounding suburbs, it will be nearly impossible to get blanket conceal and carry legislation passed in Illinois. One compromise that might work is to allow each individual county to establish their own conceal and carry standards. Gun advocates, who already believe that Illinois has to many gun laws, might not find this acceptable either. They believe the second amendment is applicable regardless of you geographic location. A recent Supreme Court ruling essentially reaffirmed that position by ruling against gun bans in Washington D.C.

Conceal and carry gained some momentum early in the 96th General Assembly of Illinois. The Illinois Sheriff's Association came out in favor of a House Bill (HB 245) during the last legislative session which would have made conceal and carry law in Illinois. The bill never made it out of the committee process, and was re-referred to the House rules committee. It is unclear whether or not that bill, or another conceal and carry bill, will be put to a full vote any time in the near future. Gun rights debates are often heated with strong emotions on both sides of the argument. One need only pick up a copy of a Chicago newspaper to see how the proliferation of guns on Chicago streets is destroying some sections of the inner city. Many times the victims are innocent children who may be riding a bike down the sidewalk, or playing with a friend in the front yard. While it is important to fight against any further restrictions on our constitutional right to bear arms, if you look it at the issue from an urban Chicago perspective, it is understandable why many Northern Illinois leaders are hesitant to vote for conceal and carry. Conceal and carry would work in most areas of Illinois. Those that advocate local control shouldn't have a problem with their particular counties voters deciding whether or not conceal and carry is acceptable in that jurisdiction. Likewise, let Chicago voters decide what's right for their city.

Still the reality is that creating a conceal and carry law might not solve the problem of gun violence in the city either because as reported during Don Lemons report a Chicago spokesman said that during a one day turn in your gun campaigns that nearly 7,000 guns were turned in by Chicago residents in one day. However even with that effort, it seems that many guns are still on the streets of Chicago so, it will take more than just new gun laws to improve the conditions of Chicago’s violence. The violence in Chicago is not about race as some might equate to me because Chicago’s deadly streets affects all Americans and the fact that any youth gets shot and dies should make all of wipe especially if we are all in this as one as Obama said at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

This is a national priority and Chicago has experienced a rise in youth violence, particularly in its inner-city neighborhoods like never before. There have already been nearly 150 school students who have been killed in the last two years, which is troubling, and nearly 1,500 young people have been hurt in the shootings during the same time span. One factor causing the violence is the large-scale demolition of the city’s public housing developments. When the “projects” were torn down, over 20,000 families were sent to other neighborhoods. This means that over 100,000 poor people had to find a new place to live. Nearly 90 percent ended up moving to other poor neighborhoods in Chicago that were as crime-ridden as the projects. This also meant that the kids had to cross gang boundaries. It is not an accident that youth violence is occurring in and around Chicago schools because gangs spend a lot of time recruiting in school areas. The youth who ended up in new schools were assumed to represent an enemy gang, even if they had no gang membership.

The situation has become explosive. Chicago also has some of the most corrupt and ineffective police. In low income minority neighborhoods, residents and police still don’t get along. The result is that people feel unsafe and don’t rely on the law to come to their aid. Instead, they will sometimes take matters into their own hands, which can lead to further escalations in violence. The city needs to spend time and money providing opportunities for youth in some of these neighborhoods. Most of the resources are in the elite areas of the city, near the Lakefront, but they are most needed in the middle and working-class neighborhoods. Hopefully this recent violence will serve as a wakeup call for Mayor Daley’s administration but it hasn’t especially since Daley was re-elected, you would think his administration would do more but they haven’t.

Things have gotten worse and it is clear that even Mayor Daley doesn’t understand the situation especially when he said that most of the youth that get shot in Chicago are dropouts but Chicago doesn’t count them as dropouts but as students. However all the students who have been shot this year are not dropouts, not one of them was a dropout, they were all in school and majority of them were honor roll students. This should make Chicagoans sad that their own Mayor doesn’t understand the rapid increase of youth violence and the fact that the students who are being shot are not dropouts but regular ordinary school age students trying to make their lives better. If this isn’t reason enough why the war on our youth and the city of Chicago’s youth violence problems are a national priority than I don’t know what else to say.

However Sudhir Venkatesh, a professor of sociology at Columbia University, has spent over two decades studying gangs in Chicago and New York and his most recent book, based on that research, is Gang Leader for a Day (Penguin Press) gives more insight to the violence in Chicago. It is so frustrating for folks in Chicago to think about what is plaguing the youth of Chicago but it is power book. Venkatesh points to the Lakefront with "MOST OF THE RESOURCES" and lends itself to a call for REDISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES. There will be no mention of two concepts: 1.) Private Property and 2.) The Need To Align One's Own Behavior with RESOURCE AGGREGATION. Venkatesh believes that some people, regardless of their best intentions see a Black or Hispanic community that is out of control as directed by their own devices as a situation that needs to be "kept". (as in "zookeeper", et al). In "kept communities" one doesn't look to have the people represent the primary force that contributes to their own education, employment, health - their standard of living. Instead we must look at the entire society's will that all people live at a certain level and keep trying until they are lifted to this level IN SPITE OF THEIR OWN ACTIONS which work to derail this effort for up lift.

However the war on our youth is not about race as some would want us to think but is about us a nation offering our youth better alternatives the lives they have. Our youth in America need better and we as a nation are failing them. Chicago should be seen as the example for how we as nation can improve our living conditions. If we can win the battle in Chicago by making it a national issue than we can win this war on our youth because it will make everyone wake up to realize just how bad the war on our youth truly is. Youth violence is bad every were and it has been a constant problem but no city in our nation’s history has seen the violence like it has been in Chicago since the 1980s when drugs were at its highest in this nation and ran rapid with new drugs like cocaine/crack being introduced.

There are many problems that need to be address but if we are to win this war on our youth, we must make it a national priority. We need to tackle the violence in Chicago with innovative ideas because to this point, no gun laws have curb the violence and more police presence on the streets has not helped either. We must bring new ideas to the table and this starts with all Americans being concerned about the youth in Chicago as much as we are concerned about our own. There are tons of Chicago residents and natives who can be spokespeople against this youth violence but all of them have remained silent so we can’t expect the likes of Barack Obama, Rahm Emmanuel, Oprah Winfrey, Davel Patrick, Michael Jordan, Mike Dikta, etc to address the violence in the streets because until this point they have not done. Therefore we have to step up America and help our neighbors in Chicago because if this was taking place in our city or town than we would want the rest of our nation to address this issue.

America we must stand up and unite as one to help our youth overcome this senseless violence on their lives and the constant attacks on their educational future. The war on our youth is a national priority that all Americans should be concerned about no if’s, in’s or but’s about it. We have to stand up now and win this war once and for all.

SAVE OUR YOUTH!