Media Justice Blog

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

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

Stop the Violence: Mayor Daley

June 14, 2010 - no comments

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley discusses how parents can help stop the violence - video interview-


Tags: Englewood, family violence, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, police involvement, school violence, 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

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

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

5 arrested in Near North Red Line robbery

May 12, 2010 - no comments

Police were questioning five people in the overnight robbery of a man on a Red Line train on the Near North Side in what was being investigated as a possible hate crime.

One of them had the victim's cell phone on him when Public Transportation Section officers arrested the four juveniles and an adult as they tried to leave the Grand Avenue subway station a little after midnight, police said.


Tags: African American, chicago tribune, hate crime, Jewish, male, may 2010, near north side, police involvement, stealing, 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