The weekend slaying of a boy who was carrying laundry home from his grandmother’s house had an all-too-familiar ring for North Lawndale residents.
Martell Johnson, 15, was gunned down in the 1400 block of South Springfield Avenue, just blocks west of where James Taylor, 19, was shot dead on a sidewalk in July as he tried to make peace between two men arguing over drugs.
The deaths of these two young people–who were not involved in street mischief–have set the neighborhood on edge.
The shootings also have contributed to a murder rate that police say is 4 percent higher so far this year from the same period last year. That follows a historic 25 percent drop in last year’s murder rate, which had Chicago leading a nationwide decline in homicides.
Tuesday afternoon CeaseFire, a violence prevention program, and ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, held a rally and march in response to Johnson’s fatal shooting Saturday night.
About 100 marchers and onlookers gathered on Springfield, where a memorial of balloons, stuffed animals and toys marked the spot where Johnson died.
“Anytime a brother or sister is shot, we all suffer the consequences,” said Rev. Robin Hood, lead organizer for the North Lawndale chapter of ACORN.
“We have got to come to the point where shootings are not allowed in this community,” he said.
Ald. Michael Chandler (24th), whose ward includes parts of North Lawndale, offered a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for Johnson’s death.
“This vicious cycle of violence has got to stop,” Chandler said. “We want the people who did this to come forward.”
Chicago police say they are still investigating Johnson’s slaying but have no one in custody yet.
At the rally, Johnson’s mother tearfully talked about her son, who had just started at Manley Career Academy High School and was eager to try out for the basketball team.
“He never did nothing wrong,” said Janet Johnson, as her older son, Anthony, held her. “He wanted to be a pro [basketball player] one day. That’s all he wanted to do.”
Though the overall murder rate has crept up, police say that there have been modest decreases in the murder rates for North Lawndale’s Marquette and Harrison Police Districts. Still, police officials recognize that the poverty and long-standing gang affiliations in the neighborhood will keep it near the top of the city’s list of troubled areas.
“We’ve been trying to get CeaseFire over there for some time, and we really need them,” said Deputy Supt. Charles Williams, who heads the department’s Bureau of Patrol.
Other hot spots for gang conflicts are in the Chicago Lawn District on the Southwest Side, where 33 murders have been recorded this year, up from 22 last year, police said. The murder rate also spiked on the Northwest Side, increasing in the Grand Central District to 31 from 22 last year; and on the Far South Side, where murders in the Calumet District have almost doubled, to 28 from 15, police said.
Through Monday, there had been 382 murders in Chicago compared with 367 for that same period in 2004, police said.
“These problems are not solved. People have not changed their thinking [enough] about shooting another person,” said Gary Slutkin, executive director of CeaseFire.
CeaseFire, which uses community outreach and former gang members to negotiate peaceful ends to street conflicts where violence is common, is just beginning to build its network in the Lawndale area, Slutkin said.
Through next year, the group has about $50,000 in state funding to spend in the area. There are two violence “interrupters” working in the area now, but it is not enough, he said.
Tera Parker, 38, leaned against the side of her home at Springfield and 15th Street and watched the procession.
“I think they want to make the change,” she said of the marchers, “but the right people”–people doing the shooting–“aren’t participating.”
Anthony Johnson, 19, Martell’s brother, could barely speak through his anguish.
“Just tell me why?” he asked the crowd. “That’s all I want to know, is why.”
A visitation for Johnson will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Lenoir Funeral Home, 1511 S. Pulaski Rd. Services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Lawndale Community Church, 3827 S. Ogden. Ave.
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