The all-too familiar news of a young person being killed in Chicago is a blow that strikes at the heart of a community.
The all-too familiar news of a young person being killed in Chicago is a blow that strikes at the heart of a community.
Though youth slayings in this city have shown little signs of easing, it is time to disassociate the body count from the Chicago Public Schools. Each time a teen is gunned down or otherwise killed, their count is annotated with “CPS student.” The notation indirectly casts aspersions on the city’s public schools system. None of the 29 young people murdered so far this year met their demise on public school grounds. Few of them have even been killed during school time. CPS officials boast that the time the students spend in school may be the safest time of day for them. Yet, upon announcing their death, their public school affiliation is quickly mentioned.
With more than 90 percent of the slain youth victims being minority, and 90 percent of the school system’s student body being minority, it is unconscionable to link the deaths with the school system, and it should stop. Before the slain youth are CPS students, they are sons and daughters of the community, children of the City of Chicago.
The issue of gun violence continues to be a bane for this city and other metropolitan areas around the country. In Chicago alone, 511 adults and children were killed last year, with a disproportionate number being under 21. That is not a problem of public schools. It is a byproduct of living in a violent society where crime is salacious.
The reality is that when our children are taken away from us by violence, their school affiliation makes little difference. If there have been 29 youths who are CPS students killed this year, it is only a percentage of the total number of children killed.
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