Media Justice Blog

Stop the Violence: Program tackles gangs, guns

June 14, 2010 - 3 Comments

A Chicago program is working to get gangs and guns off the streets.

Tags: 10-15, 15-19, ABC local, church involvement, community involvement, CPS, drugs, gang violence, gun violence, hispaniclatino, june 2010, little village, male, parent involvement, pilsen, police involvement, youth voices

Teen fatally shot at house party

June 14, 2010 - no comments

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed after a bullet flew through an apartment window over the weekend.

Tags: 15-19, ABC local, African American, CPS, Englewood, gresham, gun violence, harper high school, june 2010, male, murder, no arrest, police involvement, street violence

Wounded: Stop the Violence

June 14, 2010 - no comments

Video interviews of youth survivors of gun violence

Tags: 15-19, African American, community involvement, CPS, Englewood, gun violence, hispaniclatino, kenwood high school, male, murder, pilsen, police involvement, washington heights, youth voices

Teen shot handing out anti-violence flyers

June 05, 2010 - no comments

A teenager was shot while he was reportedly handing out flyers for an anti-violence event. The shooting happened shortly after 5 p.m. Friday at 67th Street and Blackstone. Police say the 18-year old suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

The director of the Woodlawn Organization tells ABC7 Chicago that Johnathan Lee was working for her group. She says the flyers were for a week-long event sponsored by Ceasefire.


Tags: 15-19, African American, gun violence, male, south side, street violence

Beach violence alarms alderman

June 02, 2010 - no comments

A North Side alderman is calling for police surveillance cameras along a stretch of beachfrom Oak Street to North Avenue to keep a lid on violence this summer.
"We just don't want any gang problems at the beach," said Ald. Vi Daley (43rd), whose lakefront ward includes North Avenue beach. "Beaches are there for people to enjoy, to play volleyball, swim and walk along the beach. We want to make sure it's a safe place for people to go.''

Tags: 15-19, Chicago Sun Times, female, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, male, North Side, police involvement, street violence

Students’ party brings sparkle — and hopes for peace — to Rogers Park

May 26, 2010 - no comments

Last school year, several students on their way to school watched a teacher get carjacked. Fights are a constant, and kids often are chased. Sirens wail and shots ring out when they are home at night. The kids avoid Pottawattomie Park, just outside their school's front door, because of the gangs hanging out there. Recently, a woman was lurking around the school handing out fliers to the teen girls, trying to entice them into sex work, with a phone number to call.

But rather than fear their community, the teens are trying to change it. For the second year in a row, they are hosting a party with a straightforward and time-tested goal: peace. A student-organized party informally called the "peace event,'' will be held on the streets around the school and part of Pottawattomie Park on Saturday, and the students are hoping the whole neighborhood will come.


Tags: 10-15, 15-19, community involvement, CPS, female, female, gang violence, gun violence, Jordan elementary, North Side, rogers park, school violence, street violence, violence prevention, youth voices

Cops: Dolton brothers tried to pimp teen girls

May 26, 2010 - no comments

Twin brothers from south suburban Dolton were ordered held on $100,000 bond after they were accused of pimping two teenage girls, authorities said. Cook County sheriff's police uncovered the operation where Myrelle and Tyrelle Lockett used Internet ads to pimp two teenage girls, ages 17 and 18, according to court documents.

Tags: 15-19, African American, chicago suburbs, chicago tribune, criminal charges, Dolton, female, gender violence, interpersonal violence, male, may 2010, non CPS, police involvement, sexual violence

‘It shouldn’t be that easy’

May 25, 2010 - no comments

Department officials estimate that about two-thirds of the 1,200 inmates in the state's eight juvenile justice facilities have been diagnosed with a mental illness and that half the young men and nearly all the young women have thought about or attempted suicide before they enter the system.

While it may be impossible to eliminate all suicide risks behind bars, the state has failed to take simple steps to protect these teenagers from themselves.

Tags: 15-19, African American, criminal charges, drugs, family violence, fatherlessness, government involvement, gun violence, male, may 2010, mental illness, murder, non CPS, police involvement, poverty, prison industrial complex, suicide

Upending Twisted Norms

May 12, 2010 - no comments

One of the most frightening aspects of the murderous violence plaguing so many urban neighborhoods across the country is the widespread notion among young people that killing somebody who ticks you off is normal. It’s something that is only to be expected, like eating when you’re hungry.

Tags: 15-19, academia involvement, community involvement, CPS, gang violence, gun violence, hispaniclatino, interpersonal violence, male, murder, New York Times, non CPS, police involvement, street violence

Success ‘up to you,’ teens told

May 08, 2010 - no comments

When Dorian Boyland was growing up in South Shore, he joined a gang, the former Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player turned multimillionaire auto dealer confessed.

Seeing he was headed for trouble, his single mother sent him away to live with his grandmother.

Tags: 15-19, African American, church involvement, corporate involvement, CPS, drugs, gang violence, morgan park high school, murder, robeson high school, street violence, youth voices