The Violence Project

I wanted to give a special nod to the Chicago Tribune’s recent investigative piece on taxpayer money targeted for after-school programs being squandered on things not related to school or after-school.

The juicy details:

Powerful Senate Democrats quietly gave out the money to handpicked nonprofits, schools, businesses and churches. The lawmakers funneled the money through the Illinois State Board of Education, which rubber-stamped the choices.

But a Tribune investigation found that nearly half of the 48 groups that got money this past school year were running dubious programs, or declined to show how they spent the money. Only 11 of the grants went to established programs with a history of tutoring or mentoring school-age children.

Singled out in the article is Illinois State Sen. Rickey Hendon, who is the main sponsor for these grants in question. Hendon responds further in the article by saying, “yeah, I take chances on people. I’ve had success and failures.” If half of the 48 programs are squandering their $20,000 grants or are not able to show how this money is being spent, we come to a situation beyond a simple success or failure.

In a year where close to three dozen young people in Chicago (not counting the suburbs) have been killed, it is an outright shame to find such little disregard from a public official we elected to serve in our best interests, not his or his friends and associates. What will Sen. Hendon have to say if a child in his district is shot because they had nowhere else to be other than the streets since the money for their promised after-school program is in someone else’s pockets instead? Another simple failure? Try telling that to the child’s parents, or the parents who have already had to live the nightmare of losing a son or daughter.

Opacity.us

The Chicago Defender recently published a compelling cover story about one mother’s struggle to protect her son from the influence of gangs in their neighborhood. The boy, who is only 10 and learns at a slower pace than other children at his school, is the type of child gang members look for when taking in new recruits. Sadly, this same story is found not only in neighborhoods across Chicago, but in cities across the U.S. Situations like this are no different than the stories we read of children forced to become soldiers in places we consider a world away from ours.

The death of 15-year-old Shakelia Taylor this past Monday is another sad reminder of the problems with violence that have recently been lately gaining more attention. Taylor was a former Chicago Public Student, who had been enrolled in school in Indiana. Although her death doesn’t add to the headline of “another CPS student “killed,” it is no less important or tragic.

Equally tragic was the murder of 17-year-old Amar Aslam in England. Aslam was beaten to death in a park in West Yorkshire. It is unknown whether his death was gang related, but gang violence has been a growing problem in parts of England, some attributing it to racial tensions.

It is interesting to compare the racial element in gang violence here and in a country like England. Whereas race seems to be at the center of the gang violence in England, gang violence in the U.S. is examined by the racial makeup of the gang members and victims. For example, all of the CPS students killed by gun violence this school year were black or latino. Out of that, all but one were male. Local-area groups like CeaseFire recognize this element; the make up of their staff and outreach workers is predominately male. But this shouldn’t overlook the problem of violence and teen girls. What problem is that? More to follow…

Dr. Ron Rufo is a crime prevention speaker with the Chicago Police Department. His police work mainly focuses on juvenile crime and speaking to various students about the dangers of joining gangs. In March, Rufo was stationed at Crane Technical High School the day student Ruben Ivy was killed.

Below, Rufo talks about a boy who learned the consequences of gangs the hard way.

Dr. Ron Rufo

Transcript:

So then I talk about paralyzation. I talk about dying. I talk about paralyzation. Then I talk about a young man that I actually tried to help when I was in the ninth district. I get a little choked up sometimes telling this story because it’s true. This young man was a good boy, but he lived in the heart of a gang on Morgan Street.

He said to me, “Officer Rufo, I don’t want to join a gang, but they’re pressuring me.”

One September when I was going to a school I happen to see this young man and his mom was pushing him in a wheelchair. He had got shot

He said, “Didn’t you hear what happened to me?”

Because that was my old beat.

He said, “Didn’t you hear what happened to me?”

I said, “No I didn’t. Can you tell me?”

He said, “Well, a couple guys got shot.” A rival gang, which is down the street, came over and started shooting.

The one guy he mentioned got killed, and I didn’t know about that. Another kid got shot in the leg…or like the lower leg by his ankle. And he got shot in the back. He said, “I’ve been paralyzed since.”

That’s what I tell these kids.

He asked me what I was doing. I said I was in preventive programs. I go out and teach kids about not joining a gang. He said would you mention my name and mention this to them:

“I didn’t listen to you and look where I’m at. My mom has to clean me, bathe me, and do everything else. My so-called gang, my so-called family never came to see me at the hospital, and they walk across the street while my mom is pushing me. “

Now, he’s got to be about 21.

He said, “Where are they now? I gave my life for them, and look what I have to live for: Nothing, and this how I’m going to be the rest of my life.”

From the L.A. Times:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a splash when he announced plans last week for ending L.A. Bridges, an anti-gang initiative under fire since the Riordan administration for failing to demonstrate clear results.

But in dropping the L.A. Bridges programs and shifting the money to his appointed “gang czar,” Villaraigosa put off yet again answering one key question: Are these programs, which last year received $13.2 million, successful in quelling violence and keeping kids out of gangs?

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