Public officials rallied for tougher gun laws Tuesday in the wake of yet another teen shooting, but of the nearly 1,000 Chicago public school students who joined them at the James R. Thompson Center, many said the solutions are more complicated.
In the chanting, sign-waving crowd, Corine Minniefield, a junior at Banner Linc Academy, said school officials need to get truants and dropouts back in the classroom and that police need to tighten up their protection.
“I’m just tired of turning on the news and seeing my people get killed. I can’t go to no more funerals. I’m tired of going to funerals,” said Minniefield, 18, whose cousin Ruben Ivy was killed outside Crane High School last month.
That fatigue was a regular theme as students gathered in a cold mist outside the building where many state of Illinois offices are housed.
Violence has claimed the lives of the 22 district students so far this school year, 20 of them by gun violence, a tally that does not include dropouts such as Shannon Brown, a former Fenger High School student who died hours before the rally, after a shooting on the Far South Side.
Although not all the students agreed tougher gun laws would stem the violence, they think something must be done.
“We want futures, not funerals,” they chanted, as they stood near a symbolic coffin.
A semi-circle of empty desks bearing the names of dead students flanked the lectern where officials criticized state and federal officials for failing to come up with tougher gun laws.
“We’ve lost a whole classroom,” said schools chief Arne Duncan.
The rally was sparked by Saturday’s slaying of Chavez Clarke, 18, in the parking lot of the Simeon Career Academy. Clarke was enrolled at Hyde Park Career Academy but was taking Saturday classes at Simeon to graduate in June, school officials said.
Two Dunbar Vocational Career Academy students were charged Monday with the murder.
In the 2007-08 school year, a record 34 Chicago Public Schools students were killed.
Kandyce Dean, a Simeon 11th grader who said she was friends with Clarke, believes getting guns off the street is the first step police must take to keep them safe. But she added that students, especially gang members, need more options, including job training, after-school programs and counseling.
“It’s gang-related. These boys are losing their minds. They don’t have anything to fall back on. They just look toward the streets,” Dean said. “They just don’t care.”
Ronnie Austin, an 18-year-old student at Banner Linc, an alternative school on the West Side, agreed. He added that many youths do not have the guts to resolve disputes without guns.
“They are punks. They don’t want to settle it with their minds or their fists. They are scared to lose a fight,” he said. “They are intimidated, so in place of their fists, it’s now guns.”
The need for an extended school day, Saturday classes and increased after-school programs have been a focus for Duncan and Mayor Daley, who spoke at the rally alongside Gov. Blagojevich and church leaders.
Daley, who has blasted national gun laws as lax, reiterated that theme as students chanted and yelled encouragement. He called on students to tell authorities if they see a gun, either in school or in their neighborhoods and homes.
“Tell someone that there is a gun … and you are going to prevent a child from being shot,” said Daley, who pointed to the empty desks. “These are our children brought to this world by adults, it’s time to do what is right.”
Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the South Side suggested that officials conduct “well-being checks” in the homes of youths who may be embroiled in gun violence. He also called for a $5,000 bounty on those suspected in shootings.
“A bounty says, ‘We’re coming for you. We’re looking for you. We are not going to accept you killing our children and walking away,’ ” he said.
Students also called on police to take a more active role. Many said they want more police at schools and more officers working to get gangs and guns off the street.
Chicago police already have moved about 50 officers from desk jobs to a “street impact initiative,” putting them on patrol near schools after the recent shooting near Crane, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.
Supt. Jody Weis also is asking all district commanders to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights to monitor violent activity, effective this weekend, she said.
Overall, homicides in Chicago are down as of April 1, with an unofficial tally of 88 murders in 2008, compared with 90 in the same time period last year. Police also have collected more guns to date, 61, compared with 33 in 2007, Bond said.
In 2007, there were 267 shootings involving children younger than 16 in Chicago, up from 247 the previous year.
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House gets involved
Angered by a spate of gang-related shootings that have left 20 Chicago school students dead in recent months, the House approved legislation Tuesday to allow prosecutors to seek stiff criminal penalties on adults who sell or give firearms to minors who later use those weapons as part of deadly gang initiation ceremonies or to commit other violent crimes.
Under the bill, adults furnishing those firearms could be charged with the same crime as the minor, whether it’s murder, armed robbery or another violent felony. The measure, which passed 107-0 in the House, now heads to the Senate.
– Tribune
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Youth shootings
Since September, 22 Chicago public school students have been killed. That includes 20 gunshot victims.
Date / Name / Age
Sept. 8, 2007
Jerel Smith
17
Sept. 10
Israel Mendoza 13
Sept. 14
Dalvin Miller
14
Oct. 6
Cordero Washington 18
Oct. 17
Arthur Jones
10
Oct. 21
Samuel Benavente 14
Nov. 8
Miguel Gomez 16
Nov. 2
Joseph Perez 17
Nov. 2
Richard Escobar 14
Jan. 7, 2008
Leonardo Otero 15
Jan. 16
Roky Uriostegui 16
Feb. 9
Rafael Villagrana 18
Feb. 19
Karlton Well
16
Feb. 29
Rogelio Calderon 17
March 1
Jose Garcia
18
March 2
Kadeidrah Marsh 15
March 2
Paris Bassett
16
March 7
Ruben Ivy
18
March 8
Channon Taylor 18
March 15
Salvador Contreras 18
March 28
Miguel Pedro, 15
March 29
Chavez Clarke, 18
– Tribune
