31May2010
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Many of you know that I come from a military family. but as we remember soldiers and Marines like them this holiday, I think we aIso need to remember the war going on in our cities everyday. I was talking to a friend the other day and remarked how 22 people had been shot and at least one dead. He asked if I was talking about Afghanistan. While that may be the overseas war Americans choose to ignore (or claim as patriotic), this war is our forgotten war at home. It’s the one that involves our urban youth. It’s the one we shrug off as “gangbangers getting what they deserve” and quickly forget about it as we get on with our lives. We judge their mothers at their births (OMG she already has two babies and she’s only seventeen), judge the children as they grow (he’s wearing a Reds cap…must be a gangbanger), and send them off to prison when they’ve committed something we deem as “adult” crime. Never mind that they’re only sixteen years old. Something has got to change.
It’s not just Chicago. It’s all of our cities. In Boston this weekend, a fourteen year old boy was shot. What are we doing to stop this violence? We cannot afford to give up on one more youth…on one more neighborhood…on one more class. This Memorial Day, remember our city soldiers who are fighting for their lives and the lives of their families everyday. Remember our fallen youth this Memorial Day, and let’s start working together to end this war.
Find a volunteer opportunity near you.
http://www.dosomething.org/
http://www.serve.gov/
22April2010
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Two years. That’s all we allowed Cynia Cole to live. I wonder if this will be the last time we sit idly by as a nation as our innercity youths are murdered at alarming rates. These children have hope for a better future, but we’re not giving them a chance. From birth, they’re on their own as if our society is shaking their hands and saying, “Good luck kid.” as we push them out the hospital door.
It breaks my heart that these children are not allowed to be children. They understand all to well hiding from gunshots and gang bangers. They cannot even go outside and play without fear. Something has got to change.
I appreciate what Brian White says about wanting things to change. He has a plan and I hope we allow ourselves to work together and bring about that change. Start with our neighborhoods. Make yourself seen and heard. I am not going down without a fight.
Cynia Cole deserved better.
17April2010
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Everyday I hear more stories about how the US is policing the world with our ideals and policies while possessing an apathetic attitude towards our own. If we can’t even guarantee that our children can attend school without worries of being shot, what right do we have to tell other countries how they can or cannot treat their citizens?
It was another violent week in Chicago. Yes, some of them were allegedly gang related…does that mean we stop caring? I think instead of categorizing the violence as gang related and letting it go, we need to offer these children options in order to not only give them hope and choices for the future but also to keep them away from the gangs. When we as a society abandon them and their neighborhoods, they have nothing except the gangs. The streets will always be there for them. We have proven that we will not. We need to take it back and show these kids that we believe in them and we will not give up on them…no matter what comes down the path.
How we can help:
1. Volunteer Match
2. Child Advocates
3. On Your Feet Project
10April2010
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
It’s been over three months since I last posted. I feel like I’m in confession. I guess it’s an appropriate feeling since it is Easter weekend.
When I moved from Chicago, I thought I could run away from the violence and despair we all feel in its city streets. I thought that I could run and hide from the south side, but it’s been haunting me ever since. I’ve even tried to ignore this blog, but nothing can seem to keep my heart being broken over the senseless violence that plagues my city’s streets.
Last week in the time span of just a couple of days, 41 people have been shot and a few of them were killed.
I’ve been trying to write this entry for a week now…it’s not easy to talk about the city I love in these situations. It’s not easy to admit that I am feeling despair and losing hope…Chicago deserves better. These children deserve better…
Common - The Corner
1January2010
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Since today is Jan 1, everyone seems to be discussing resolutions. Yes, it is kind of ridiculous but can be fun so without further ado, here are my resolutions for the year TwentyTen.
- Run a 10K
- Visit Tanisha in Holland
- Continue to work with my organizations and on my plan for improving urban education
It’s a new year. A new day. A new hour. A new minute. Life is beautiful. I am thankful for everything I have experienced this past year. I live every moment as though it were my last. I may not be updating as much as usual, but know that I am out living my life. I hope you’re doing the same.
7October2009
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
I heard on Morning Edition this morning, that Chicago’s problem with youth violence will once again take the national spotlight. I’m sorry, but I don’t really believe that Duncan and Holden’s visit is going to do any good towards solving this crisis. Remember, he had the opportunity to help when he worked as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
No, his visit will do nothing more than give something for people to watch on Brian Williams’ show. It will give folks yet another reason to bash Chicago. It will not do anything towards getting people away from their televisions and into the communities to help stop the violence. We need to start seeing these kids as our kids. Our nieces, our daughters, our sons, and so on. Stop pushing them aside because they’re not from your neighborhood or not your relatives. We are all in this together. Although you may feel that you are safe from the violence, remember that it has a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it. Violence knows no boundaries.
The residents of Chicago are tired of the violence. We are sick of watching as our children die violent and senseless deaths. We are taking back the streets by getting involved with youth programs and other volunteer opportunities. Sometimes it takes little more than smiling and being kind to kids no matter what your preconceived notions about them may be. In fact, let’s just get rid of all those notions already. It’s a new day. A new dawn for my city. We are coming together to show the next generation that they can do better than we did.
Remember that Malcolm X quote? He said, “Look at yourselves. Some of you teen-agers, students. How do you think I feel and I belo ng to a generation ahead of you - how do you think I feel to have to tell you, “We, my ge neration, sat around like a knot on a wall while the whole world was fighting for its hum an rights - and you’ve got to be born into a society where you still have that same fight .” What did we do, who preceded you ? I’ll tell you what we did. Nothing. And don’t you m ake the same mistake we made. ..”
Malcolm X said that 30 years ago. Let’s not let another 30 years pass.
2October2009
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
I have the deepest love for my city Chicago, but I have also been a long time opponent of Chicago getting the 2016 Olympics. The main reason being that I believe time and resources need to be spent on education and after school opportunities for our youth rather than padding Daley’s ego. Today I actually read a post that someone wrote about how sorry they were for the people they’ve known who have spent years preparing for this bid.
Tell you what bidders…let’s channel that energy & money towards our youth. What? You say that’s not profitable? I beg to differ. Not only is it profitable to ensure the safety and success of our youth, it is extremely damaging and expensive for our society to ignore these students and push them aside. Sure, that means that you’ll have to start treating these students as human beings and equals to yourselves, but you don’t have a problem with that, right?
29September2009
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Of course folks are lobbying for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Chicago. I mean..there’s nothing else that should take precedence over that, right?! Nothing like say…CPS students being killed at alarming rates?
10September2009
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
Two young African American males (guessing 14 yr olds) were having a conversation on the bus, and it made my morning. They were talking about grades and classes and correct pronunciation…really! These kids were not stereotypical “nerds” either. They were wearing 59/50 hats and shoes to match. On the same bus, I see kids of all races on their way to school. Some of them are dressed in street wear and others in dress clothes, but no matter what they’re wearing, the majority of them are serious about getting an education and improving their lives. To so many adults, these kids would be judged as “thugs”…if only these same adults would take a second to listen to what the kids were actually saying!
On the same topic, I love that certain people in hip hop culture have stepped up to the plate and made it cool to wear glasses and dress clothes. I love that artists like Nas and Talib Kweli have stepped up and made it cool to be smart and well read. Now it’s up to us to allow these kids the chance to be all that and more. They deserve it.
3September2009
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it.
This morning, there was an article in the Metro about ’school bus safety’. The tips they offered were ideas like “do not play in the street while waiting for the bus”. Helpful as they may seem, they are not going to help our kids living in areas like Roxbury and Dorchester. Getting hit by a school bus is probably the least of the fears these families face when sending their children off to school. They have to worry about random violence like what happened to Cedirick Steele while waiting for a ride two years ago.
Although I wasn’t raised in this city, I feel that I have been here long enough to say with some authority that Mayor Menino’s time as mayor is up. He’s had nearly twenty years to govern this city yet we still have the same issues and concerns we had when he started. I have always said that for a city this size, there should be very little to no violent crime yet it continues to be a constant concern of its residents.
Boston is also a city that boasts of having top-rated universities but is not so quick to speak about their elementary and secondary public schools. We are failing our children and abandoning them as they drop out and turn to violence and other crime. Sure, it’s easy for Menino to throw numbers at us in an attempt to prove success, but when even one child is lost, we have failed.
Menino has shown through his (lack of) actions that he doesn’t care about the residents of these areas by allowing violent crime to continue. Where are the youth programs to pull these kids off of the streets? In fact, where is Menino when all of this is going down? I was actually surprised to see that he showed up to the debate last night. He spends so much time holed up in his Hyde Park compound bubble, I didn’t realize he remembered where Boston was…
It’s time to show the Mayor that we are done with the status quo. It’s time to show our youth that we will not settle for second best when it comes to them. It is time for a change and Michael Flaherty is that change.
