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this weekend, Chicago lost two babies. a one-year-old and a ten-year-old. Sincere & Lena. Lena lived in the neighborhood where I grew up, a couple blocks from where my family still is. My heart hurts for their families and for my city. My heart hurts because this is preventable.
A couple of years ago, @WBEZ did a featured called Every Other Hour (the rough frequency at which there is a shooting in Chicago). One of the things they did was interview young shooters about why they pick up guns. http://interactive.wbez.org/everyotherhour/
Nationally, about 15% of people arrested for deadly shootings are under 20 years old. In Chicago, that number is 25%. one in four. younger shooters have adolescent brains. impulse control, decision-making, weighing long-term consequences, managing emotions? a struggle.
why do young people get into the circumstances that lead to them taking other people's lives? In some cases, the lives of children? we know, because they've told us. for generations.
these young people crave a sense of belonging & approval. they're out of school. they've witnessed other people shooting & being shot. in the @WBEZ piece, one describes being 13, holding his brother as he died of an OD. another describes being sexually abused at home from age 8.
we know what works to address these issues. we know mentorship works. we know working to get kids back engaged in school works. we know that providing them a way to feel like they fit into the world without picking up a gun works.
why don't we invest in these things?
why don't we invest in these things?
this program reduced violent arrests by 44%. it cost $1100 per participant. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/study-chicago-counseling-program-reduces-youth-violence-improves-school-engagement
We're now up to spending almost $5 million dollars a day on police in Chicago. for a system that, by design, can ONLY BE reactive. can only respond to violence with violence.
and everything else, everything that is not this, is starving to death.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/09/chicago-police-budget-funding-lightfoot-progressive-caucus-cpd-defund-police/#:~:text=The%20city%20budgeted%20nearly%20%241.8,its%20most%20recent%20annual%20report.
and everything else, everything that is not this, is starving to death.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/09/chicago-police-budget-funding-lightfoot-progressive-caucus-cpd-defund-police/#:~:text=The%20city%20budgeted%20nearly%20%241.8,its%20most%20recent%20annual%20report.
I don't know who the people are who murdered these children. I do know this: I wish we could have spent 5 million dollars a day to help them find something else to do with themselves. I wish we could spend that money to help Lena and Sincere's families heal.
I wish we could spend that money to help Lena and Sincere's brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles work through this unimaginable loss. I wish we could spend it to ensure that they don't pick up a weapon and raise it against someone else's child in revenge. I wish. I wish.
