Speech on Chicago Gang Violence

A lot of students look out the window and look into the city and think that its beautiful. When I end up looking outside…I see a city full of pain, regrets, revenge, envy and injustice. When I talk about Chicago, I don’t talk about the suburbs I mean downtown but instead including the south and the west side. Where the gang violence has destroyed the lives of brothers, sisters, mother and fathers. In a cycle that never seems to end. I am here to inform you of three things: the amount of violence, what is causing the violence and what can we do about it.

Is the violence in chicago bad at all? Let me show you, In 2014, there was 2, 589 shootings in Chicago.  83% of those shootings had gang afflictions. 456 people died from the shootings. The youth in Chicago nicknamed the city Chiraq because there was twice the amount of people killed in the streets then in Iraq in 2012.

Half of you are guy don’t care and half of you guys are asking what is causing the violence.

This problem has been developing when the city took away the projects from low income families. For example, In 2000, the city took away Cabrini green, housed 15,000 people and turned it into high rises. A lot of the gangs were located in this place and destroying these building giving these people section 8 and basically sent them out into the ghettos. The city took away the systems that the gangs had and is making them run wild in the ghettos by killing each other’s. The problem is getting worse when the “new Chicago” plan is closings schools, closing projects, closing homes to turn into more high rises and business  which is forcing families out into the hood. In this environment, where the fathers are the best at playing hide and go seek but never coming out to play in their child life, where finding a positive male figure is harder than to finding  waldo, where any second  a flying bullet could be screaming your name. The youth aren’t really thinking about the future because they are in the survival mindset and only trying to make it through the day without being six feet deep. A lot of the youth explain it by saying “it’s a war out here and we’re fighting to live.”  It is obvious in the genre of Drill music…which started in Chicago and is becoming popular all over the United States. Drill music is mostly about rappers that rap about violence that happened to them or that they are going to cause. Artist like Chief Keef, Lil Mouse, lil reese represent different gangs in the south side of Chicago and the radio stations are putting these songs full of violence and threats all day long. In a way the music industry unconsciously are promoting the violence in Chicago.

To be honest with you, I don’t have all the answers but I do have some ideas how we as Moody students and even more as Christians could make a difference. The violence in Chicago is being muted in the news and overlooked. But why? All people are hearing and thinking about the violence is “its another black or Hispanic boy gone, gang related victim” Michael pledger, a catholic priest that is a big activist against the violence in Chicago, said “If white children were being killed in the numbers of brown or black children then we wouldn’t be here sitting talking about violence” X2 We have to speak out for the oppressed and voiceless by bring awareness. Also be willing to listen to other people stories. Guys when we go into our PCM or talk to any youth we have be a father figure in their lives because you could be the only positive father figure they ever see. Ladies be a positive female leaders shows the girls that someone believe in them and that they do something in their lives. Church, we have to get out of four sided building and step into people lives and live life with them and be willing to share the gospel and being transparent about our struggles. Moody students, lets step out of just being in downtown all the times and invest some our free time in west or south side churches or even one kid that would know that somebody believes in them.

We Will Never Know When Our Day Could be our Last

Before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior I was involved with the Latin Kings, a powerful Hispanic gang, for 3 and ½ years in the west side of Chicago specifically Humboldt Park.  During the second year of being involved in the gang, I learned a valuable lesson that I will carry in my heart till I die. I learned that we just don’t know when we will die. At that time in my life, I thought that I finally found a family that I belong in but it took the sacrifice of my emotions, friends, safety, and sanity. I was in the edge of depression from seeing a lot of friends getting killed from drive by and leaving but never coming back. In a regular August day my Marco and I went to play basketball in a local park that had a playground only 10 feet away from the basketball court. I known my friend since I was in seventh grade. He got me involved in the Latin king when I was in eighth grade. Daily, I was with him playing basketball and hanged out every day and talk about what was going on in our lives. One of the things that we had in common was that we both came from a broken family. Both of our fathers were alcoholics and daily getting drunk. We came from families that never wanted to play a part of our lives because our families didn’t know how to deal with destruction that our fathers caused in our families. He was like a brother to me and stood by my side when hard times and goodtimes came.  While I was shooting around with Marco, I saw a little kid around six or seven with brown hair trying to climb up the slide. He was going up and slipped and went all the way down. He kept doing this for five minutes. I felt bad so I told my friend “Hey Hold up, let me help the kid out. Just shoot around for a little.” He replied, “Sounds good but afterwards let’s go out to eat”. So I ran to the little kid and when he saw me walking to him, a big smile appeared on his face. When I walked up to him I asked him, “Can I help you get up the slide?” and without hesitation he jumped up and said “Yes! Please!” I went to pick him up and right when I put him on the top of the slide, I heard three gunshots. Instantly, I grabbed the kid and put him underneath me to try to use myself as a shield for him.  After the shots ceased, I looked back to the basketball court and I saw my friend laying down. I ran to the basketball court and saw that my friend had been shot three times in the chest and blood was everywhere. I picked up his bloody body in my arms and put my hand over the gunshot wounds in his chest. I was yelling with tears running down my face, “Help, help, please, this can’t be happing, somebody help please, please! God save him!! God please! Stay with me, homie! Somebody is coming to help you! I got you! I can’t keep going on life without you, bro. Stay with me, man!” I kept yelling until my voice was gone from hopelessness and not being able to deal with the pain anymore.  Every second I felt his breathing slowing down while my mind became a hurricane, leaving a path of destruction. My mind was playing a movie of the times he had saved me from being shot or getting stabbed. I was bawling, knowing that I wouldn’t have Marco for the rest of my life. The ambulance came in 10 minutes, which felt like a lifetime, and they pronounced him dead on site. In the ambulance, with his lifeless body next to me the only thing that I was thinking about was getting revenge. I was angry at the heartless person that took the only brother I had from me. This event has pushed me over the edge of depression and I struggled for depression for the next two and a half years. We just don’t know if this is our last day, last hour, last minute or last second. I learned the hard way that it only takes one second for somebody’s life to be taken.