Jerald McNair

A young attendee inspects an assault rifle during the 2013 NRA annual meeting and exhibits at the Brown Convention Center on in Houston.

Jerald McNair: Our youths don’t need access to assault weapons. Let’s put politics aside

December 7, 2022 at 8:35 p.m.

Despite one's position on gun control, or their political party affiliation, I hope most will agree that anyone under 21 years of age should not have access to assault weapons...

People cheer as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the crowd during a rally at the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor on Nov. 4, 2022.

Jerald McNair: Gen Z and millennials turned out in the midterms. They have good reason to pay attention.

November 21, 2022 at 9:04 p.m.

Perhaps the youngest voters in our democracy are beginning to see that they can effect change. The midterm elections saw historic turnout among this voting bloc ranging in age from...

A boy looks through the fence at the Columbine High School tennis courts in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999. Thirteen roses were placed on the fence in remembrance of the people killed by two armed students at the school.

Jerald McNair: We all have a role to play in stopping bullying

October 12, 2022 at 9:07 p.m.

It has been more than 20 years since the first state passed anti-bullying legislation. The Columbine High School massacre in 1999, in which 12 students and one teacher were fatally...

Secretary of State Jesse White hosts African American Heritage Month celebrations at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2015 attended by Gov. Bruce Rauner, left, and several honorees.

Jerald McNair: Celebrating the career of Secretary of State Jesse White

October 10, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.

Recently I received mail that allowed me to renew my license remotely because of my safe driving record. It quickly reminded me of the laudable work of Illinois Secretary of...

An evidence marker sits next to a gun at the scene where a 13-year-old boy was shot while allegedly breaking into a Kia on Sept. 11, 2022, on Chicago's South Side.

Jerald McNair: Our youths are facing their own war

September 28, 2022 at 4:49 p.m.

Is it time for our youths to wear bulletproof vests? How many more mothers and fathers have to bury their children? In far too many communities, violence has been normalized....

Students wait in a hallway to enter their classrooms on the first day back to school at Sunkist Elementary School in Anaheim, Californi, on Aug. 11, 2022.

Jerald McNair: Our youngest generation is looking to us for guidance through this fragile time

September 7, 2022 at 7:53 p.m.

How do we improve the lives of those in Generation Alpha during these unprecedented times? This cohort is the first generation to be born entirely in the 21st century, ranging...

The entrance to a Chicago Public Schools elementary school on June 25, 2020.

Jerald McNair: School attendance should be a high priority. Youths’ well-being depends on it.

August 1, 2022 at 8:29 p.m.

When I was young, my friends and I did chores at home such as cutting grass, raking leaves and shoveling snow. It wasn't a big deal because that was the...

Memorial items on July 8, 2022, pay tribute to the victims of the Highland Park mass shooting.

Jerald McNair: How do school leaders respond to such challenging times?

July 20, 2022 at 8:08 p.m.

As school leaders prepare for the upcoming school year, I am certain many of them have heavy hearts similar to mine that are filled with emotion and uncertainty. Mass shootings...

Students from Montgomery Blair High School march down Colesville Road in support of gun reform legislation February 21, 2018, in Silver Spring, Maryland. In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, the students planned to take public transportation to the U.S. Capitol to hold a rally demanding legislation to curb gun violence in schools.

Jerald McNair: Gun reform legislation is a teachable moment for our youths

June 29, 2022 at 4:43 p.m.

How do we respond if a child wants to know what the recently passed federal gun reform legislation means? What do parents, educators and other adults say when a child...

A person uses a smartphone at an airport.

Jerald McNair: Is texting preventing the younger generation from developing competent writing skills?

June 13, 2022 at 9:32 p.m.

What is the difference between writing and texting? If you were to pose that question to youths from Generation Alpha — born starting in 2010 — many of them may...

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