About
My name is James Edwards. I am a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. For the past three months I have been reporting on education issues in the city of Chicago.
This blog is a chronicle and, hopefully, a virtual community center to discuss and debate the violence finding its way in many Chicago communities, particularly violence that has so far claimed the lives of more than 20 Chicago Public School students this school year.
Recently, two classmates and I reported on the potential for this year’s deaths to surpass last year’s number.
While doing research, we were struck by the many layers this story began to take on. It was a story much larger than the 1,200 words we ended up writing and four minutes of video we ended up producing. We spoke with police, school officials, community leaders and teenagers who have been attacked by gangs or know others attacked by gangs. It surprised us how similar the anger and the hunger to improve things were in these people, who would normally be thought to be on opposite sides of the debate. Over the course of this blog, I hope to reach out to the same diverse group of people and organizations.
I come into this project both familiar and unfamiliar with the subject of violence and its effects on communities. Born and raised in Chicago, I have grown accustomed to the endless cycles of action and reaction violence brings to many neighborhoods. Although I’ve been fortunate to not lose a friend or young relative to violence, it has touched my life. My grandfather was a victim of gun violence when I was two years old.
GUNMAN KILLS BAR`S CO-OWNER, EX-WORKER
Chicago Tribune - October 8, 1986Edition: CHICAGOLAND
Section: CHICAGOLAND
Page: 6
Detectives were trying to determine a motive in the fatal shootings early Tuesday of the co-owner of a South Shore lounge and a former employee there.
Killed were Robert Seward , 71, of 8607 S. Indiana Ave., co-owner of the lounge at 2105 E. 71st St., and a former bouncer, Donald Hayward, 36, of 843 W. 77th St, police said. Both were shot in the head about 12:20 a.m. by a man who opened fire without saying a word, said Detective Charles Lind.
The man had entered the lounge about 11:30 p.m. Monday and drank two beers, witnesses told police. He then walked to the rear of the bar, shot the two men and fled, police said. Hayward`s mother, Velma, said her son was sitting with his wife, Ann, 32, whom he had married on Sept. 24. “They were just sitting there talking, when this man walked up and began shooting,“ she said.
Losing the chance to get to know someone so important to the rest of my family leaves me feeling a small connection with people who continue to experience such a tragic loss.
I can be reached at james-edwards@northwestern.edu
