The One Thing I Hate About The Summer by Rambling Raven
By APOOO • May 25th, 2009 • Category: General •
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The One Thing I Hate About The Summer by Rambling Raven
I love the family gatherings. I love the walks on the beach. And I absolutely adore the warm nights. There is however, one thing I do not welcome with the warm summer weather. I do not like all the violence that the warm weather brings to the inner city. Chicago’s violence spikes when the weather gets hot. In fact a huge part of the murder rate here takes place between the months of April and September. And most involve young African-American males as both victims and culprits. The victims and culprits usually range from the ages of 12-25. Chicago media has been keeping a running count of all the school age children who are murdered every year. Last year before school began, over 30 students between the ages of 12-18 were murdered. The suspects in most cases were young adults themselves.
One problem is that too many young people roam the city streets in the summer without curfews. Yes, the city has a curfew but little is done about it, especially when parents themselves allow their children to stay out until the early hours of the morning. Another huge problem is that there are too many children with not enough to do during the summer months. There aren’t nearly enough summer jobs for these young people. Many turn to the selling of drugs in order to make a few dollars. Due to huge budget cuts and the lack of interest to invest in the poorest communities, there are few summer activities sponsored for pre-teens and teens. And, of course, there are just too many guns on the streets. For some reason it is extremely easy for a poor, underage, unemployed person to get their hands on assault weapons.
Just last weekend, in a matter of eighty minutes, nine people were shot and one fatality occurred in a series of shooting across the city. The incidents happened during one of the warmest weekends of the year thus far. A deadly combination of too many idle teens, with nothing to do and warm spring nights.
I don’t know what the solution to this legacy of violent summers is. The problem is multi-layered. We first must somehow teach our children that life is precious. They must be given hope. And we must, as a nation, invest in this country’s most vulnerable. We must find a way to help those who are the poorest and most disenfranchised. Somehow we have to find a way to bring happy summers back to our children who are not fortunate enough to spend summer vacation beyond the borders of their own communities.
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Raven,
Also a resident of Chicago, you know I know this first hand. In fact, I hate to watch the news because you know that’s going to be the leading story. I was telling my children the other day when I was a kid, you didn’t have to worry about that. Neighbors were allowed to look out for everyone. If trouble was brewing, the adults put an end to it and resolved the issue before it could get out of control. Nowadays if you look like you want to say something to these parents it’s a problem. That’s why the kids don’t know how to act. I worry more about my 18 year old son than I do my little ones. He’s in the street coming and going from work and school, and the pressure is there. His friends sell drugs, are back in forth in court and I keep telling him that is not a life that he wants to lead. Chicago is such a beautiful city with so much culture and yet, they would rather be pushing up on someone to protect a street the city owns.
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I am right there with you Nardsbaby. I also worry about my 17 yr old nephew. I heard on the news last night that the death toll for CPS students this year has reached 33. That is a whole classroom of children——GONE! The problems are two fold but it all starts in the homes. What has made life for these guys so unbearable where they can, without even thinking about it, gun down another person?
I just don’t get it…seems like each generation gets worst…why Lord, why?
We are our own worst enemy. I don’t understand why our children are not being taught to value life, especially their own.
Raven I can’t recall, did you say that you were a teacher in a past blog? I asked because Moses Miller has written a book, THE BARACK IN ME, and he’s trying to come to Chicago and get the book inside of schools. It’s an inspiring read that just may help some of these young men see that just because they were taught something, or live a certain way doesn’t mean that it has to be the way they live.
Yas it’s sickening. You see these young men standing on the corners refusing to try and the worse part is the girls who actually want to be affiliated with them. Now I’m not going to act like I didn’t do things myself, but at the same time I knew that I wanted to live past today. It’s devestating the way they all assume that life ends at 18, or they think that it’s me or them and the parents don’t seem to care that prison has become their homes. It’s like we’ve been hit by a nuclear bomb and people are enforcing the sterotypes instead of trying to defy the odds. Imagine if they listed how many young people were incarcerated on a daily basis? It would probably be enough to fill up Soldier field.
I know what you mean Raven. I am even more apprehensive this coming summer because of the brutal murder of four policemen in March and the attitude of many Oakland residents about the police in general. I’m keeping my city and yours in prayer for the long, hot summer.
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