Media Justice Blog

Father Plefger and Annette Nance-Holt interview

June 14, 2010 - 1 Comment

Father Plefger and Annette Nance-Holt speak about their violence prevention efforts.

Tags: African American, church involvement, community involvement, female, gang violence, gun violence, male, murder, parent involvement, south side, street violence

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

CPS anti-violence program takes off, slowly

June 03, 2010 - no comments

As CJ lay in a hospital last winter nursing a gunshot wound to his arm, the prospect of graduating from high school seemed a distant dream for the skinny Roseland teen. Mostly left to his own devices, he had drifted to the streets at an early age and often skipped school, since attending class required crossing a web of gang lines that conflicted with his own affiliations.
Five months later, CJ rarely misses a day, participates in class and is on track to graduate. He credits his turnaround to an ambitious program launched by Chicago Public Schools this school year to stem youth violence.

Tags: chicago tribune, church involvement, CPS, Farragut Career Academy, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, Hyde Park high, invisible boundaries, june 2010, male, manley high school, murder, noble network charter school, non CPS, Roseland, school violence, south side, street violence, tilden high school, youth voices

Bloody Urban Landscapes

May 07, 2010 - 1 Comment

Driving through some of this city’s neighborhoods is like driving through an alternate, horrifying universe, a place where no one thinks it’s safe to be a child.

You follow a map in which the coordinates are laid out in blood. Over there, in front of that convenience store, is where Fred Couch, 16, was shot to death last December. The Couch boy went to the same school, Christian Fenger Academy, as Derrion Albert, an honor student who was beaten with wooden planks and kicked to death three months earlier in a broad daylight attack that was recorded on a cellphone by an onlooker.

Tags: 15-19, African American, church involvement, community involvement, CPS, drugs, family violence, fatherlessness, fenger high school, gang violence, gun violence, murder, New York Times, north west side, Prologue Early College High, south side

Chicago has come a long way

April 27, 2010 - no comments

Tio Hardiman knows Chicago's killing fields better than most people. The director of CeaseFire Illinois keeps tabs on violent conflicts across the city. He and 120 workers broker truces -- sometimes literally getting between gunmen -- to stop the shooting.
So Hardiman's opinion on whether Chicago should allow the Illinois National Guard to safeguard the city carries some weight.

Tags: april 2010, Chicago Sun Times, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, interpersonal violence, male, murder, New York, police involvement, south side, west side

Global agency reaches out to youth on South Side

March 01, 2010 - no comments

World Vision, which provides impoverished children in developing nations around the world with access to clean water, nutritious food, education and health care, launched its South Side operation Monday at Pulliam Christian Reformed Church in the Roseland neighborhood.

Tags: Chicago, Chicago Breaking News, church involvement, gang violence, march 2010, non CPS, poverty, Roseland, south side, street violence, west side

Juvenile Probation-A Day on the Front Lines

February 26, 2010 - no comments

Rodney Purdy is a Cook County Juvenile Probation officer. His job kicks in after a young person is found delinquent, or guilty, by a judge. Probation officers, or P.O.s, are, in a way, the eyes and ears of the court, making sure the kid follows through on the judge’s orders. Maybe to go through drug rehab or do community service or attend anger management class. The P.O is supposed to make sure the young person’s getting what’s needed, to stay out of prison and get a new footing in life.

Tags: 15-19, 848, African American, Chicago, CPS, criminal charges, drugs, Englewood, female, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, january 2010, male, NPR, police involvement, poverty, prison industrial complex, roseland, school violence, south side, youth voices

Home from war, vets keep peace in Chicago streets

February 23, 2010 - no comments

Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are returning home from one combat zone to fight a different battle. This time, they are manning city streets to fight against youth violence.

Tags: 15-19, bronzeville, community involvement, CPS, fenger high school, finalcall.com, gang violence, gun violence, january 2010, male, murder, police involvement, poverty, south side, street violence, wartime violence

Chicago’s real crime story – City Journal

January 30, 2010 - no comments

This past September, a cell-phone video of Chicago students beating a fellow teen to death coursed over
the airwaves and across the Internet. None of the news outlets that had admiringly reported on Obama’s
community-organizing efforts mentioned that the beating involved students from the very South Side
neighborhoods where the president had once worked. Obama’s connection to the area was suddenly lost
in the mists of time.

Tags: 10-15, 15-19, African American, carver high, chicago reader, church involvement, city journal, CPS, criminal charges, drugs, family violence, fatherlessness, fenger high school, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, invisible boundaries, january 2010, male, murder, police involvement, poverty, robeson high school, roseland, school violence, sexual violence, south side, street violence, the ville, west side

Getting Out and Staying Out

January 27, 2010 - 1 Comment

Half the young people who get out of Illinois youth prisons end up back inside. They
just can't make it outside. When Illinois broke off its youth prisons from adult ones
three and a half years ago, it vowed to change that.

Tags: 15-19, 848, Chicago, criminal charges, female, gang violence, hispaniclatino, january 2010, non CPS, NPR, police involvement, prison industrial complex, school violence, south side, stealing, youth voices