Depending on where you live in the US, obviously, the effects of youth violence may not be a big issue in your community. Recently a report came out about the total number of murders of minors in the city of Chicago and in some communities there were zero deaths of youth but just down the street in a different neighborhood there might have been several. What is interesting is that each neighborhood in Chicago can almost be its own little township where just crossing the street can be a world of a difference in opportunity and education.
I think about people that live in Montana and how they must see a place like Chicago, I imagine a couple sitting on their porch and hearing the news on the TV or radio as they look out at the beautiful mountains and hear about shootings and gangs. What must cross their minds? I’m sure that it’s out of concern about what is going on in the world and at the same time very thankful that they live where they live. I don’t blame them for feeling that way and it would be great to have a life without worry of drive by shootings and gang violence. It would be great to have a life without police brutality and political corruption but places like Chicago were not built for freedom of anything. Here we have to take it whether we like it or not and it’s really not the youths fault but much more about what a system expects.
I have friends that live far from Chicago and have spent time here or in other large cities and they always say that the people in Chicago have some serious issues and that it must be something in the water that makes us the way we are. I don’t disagree with that statement because it does seem like we all have a chip on our shoulder and we dare each other to knock it off each and every day.
Is it because we are an urban city? Is it because there are so many different cultures mixed in one city? Whatever it may be it has made for an interesting experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I could have done without the violence as anyone else but does it mean that we just keeping moving along each year doing the same campaigns, marches, political actions, protest, etc.?
I find it interesting that ONE person running for an office in this city really thinks that they will change it all and not to discredit anyone’s ambitions but if you have lived here long enough you should already know that the solution to the issues here is NOT via the political system in Chicago or the state of Illinois for that matter. It really comes down to dealing with the people first hand and I know MANY people will say “but we have tried that!” and I will always say “NO you haven’t!” I can say that because the people that have said that they have tried have not tried to be unconditional in their approach.
Here’s an example; people in the Latino community say they have worked hard to stop the violence in the community so when asked who did they work with on that the first group is ‘oh the police…’ and they go on and list a varied of groups that usually have a Zero tolerance approach to youth that might look like they might be a “trouble maker.” The police have their place in any society but they should NEVER be used as a social worker, counselor, role model, or the standard to reach because in a city like Chicago the police force is under a lot of stress as it is so for them to fulfill those roles would mean that they are not going to let their training affect their opinions when dealing with “at-risk youth.” The police need to be what they are and that’s a law enforcement tool and nothing else.
People usually will say that the reason they work with the police is because they are afraid of what might happen to them if they approach these “at-risk youth” on their own and I laugh because I tell them “they’re not wild animals!!” I would take caution approaching a grizzly bear at yellow Stone Park but a 15 year old kid? What have we become to think that a 15 year old kid is dangerous to approach?
Our perception of what youth are is what fuels the violence in our communities and that is a hard pill to swallow but it is the truth. I was at a church where the pastor ended the service with basically condemning “gang members” and how we needed to pray to get those devils out of our communities, if he only understood who was standing behind him he might have thrown the Bible at me or his bottle of oil!
We cannot continue to have a belief system that is based on hate because that’s how it is being expressed when we say “well if he didn’t want to get shot he should have never been out on the street! He got what was coming to him! Oh well!” That is something I have heard more than once about a teenager being shot and killed. What do we do different? How can we look at things differently?
I ask this of you, is it the best practice of humanity to disregard someone so easily and carelessly?
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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