7 October 2009
Excuse me if I don’t do cartwheels.
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.
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