"Remembering Our Children"

On December 17, 2008, I attended an event about youth lost to gun violence titled “Remembering Our Children.” I thought I had vision until the many faces of innocence flashed across the screen. I finally saw death at its worst.

I can see now that there has been a shift in the value system. The worth of our children has been minimized, from priceless to being priced for the highest bidder. Guns and the gun industry are robbing us of what was once considered treasures, our children.

My face rained tears over a child that could not have been more that seven years of age, lying in a casket. She was surrounded by a sea of grief and pain, loved ones, family and friends, crying. Internally, I screamed, "Where are the voices, voices advocating for Common Sense Gun Laws?” This is not much to ask for, the preservation of life.

How can I, an Elev8 Director, focus on the quality of education and the integration of services to improve the quality of life for our children, when I can’t be assured that they will safely make it to the next day?

-- Michelle Mason, Perspectives Charter School

Action from two ends of the spectrum

"Do a hundred things at once" is a maxim of comprehensive community development, and it came to mind as two very different event announcements came across my desk:

Gun control – St. Sabina Parish will hold a third rally at The Thompson Center to ask legislators to enact Common Sense Gun Laws on Wednesday, October 22, 2008, from 11 am to noon. If you need a ride to the rally, contact the Rectory at 773-483-4300 for a seat on the bus, which will leave at 10 am.

Green space – Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail will dedicate and improve a new greenspace adjacent to the future trail at 1811 N. Albany on Saturday, Oct. 25th. Volunteers will be planting flower bulbs, cleaning up and celebrating the new community space, called Albany-Whipple Park. Food and refreshment will be provided and there will be pumpkin decorating for the kids. So bring the family and some gloves if you want to help dig.

Is one approach more important than the other? Or do the two ultimately work together to create stronger communities?

'Our children and future are dying'

Gun protest at the Thompson Center. Photos by Gordon Walek.

When word came through about the latest killing of a Chicago teenager – the gun death on Sunday of Julian High School senior Kiyanna Salter on a CTA bus – it hit me as it always does, with sadness and anger that the affected families and communities must absorb this terrible hurt and somehow move on.

For the people around that young person, the pain must be debilitating. How can it not create a feeling of helplessness? The senseless killing of a child knocks down whole networks of people and institutions, or at least slows them down in whatever work or progress they might have been making. It ripples through classrooms. It travels down blocks and through neighborhoods and within families. It is personal.

And so it hurts even more to learn that Kiyanna Salter was a cousin of Southwest Organizing Project organizer Rabbi Joshua Salter, who works on safety issues on the Southwest Side. The death touched that neighborhood, too.

But violence can also galvanize responses, and two came across my desk today.

First, the Sun-Times reported that Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan refused to accept an anti-violence award from the Illinois Coalition Against Handgun Violence. He cited the eight students killed in the first month of the school year, and left the award on the table. "I don't feel I can accept this award, not quite yet," he said. "I don't feel I've earned it."

Second, I heard from Ernie Sanders in Auburn Gresham, who alerted me to a gun-control protest planned by members of St. Sabina Parish at 11 a.m. this Friday, October 10, at the Thompson Center. This is a return visit after a similar rally on September 24 (photos) and obviously just as needed.

Below, the notice of the protest. The second paragraph packs a punch.

"Our Children and Future are Dying"

"In response to 3 more of our children being killed due to gun violence we will meet on Friday at The Thompson Center from 11am to 12pm.

"It is still our mission to have "Common Sense Gun Laws" enacted in this state. This school year, 2008-2009, has already seen Chicago Public Schools lose 11 students. Understand we have only completed one month of school, and we have lost 1/3 of a classroom.

"Please help us get the word out, raise awareness, and put an end to the destruction of our children, our future. If you need to ride the bus to the rally please call the Rectory at 773-483-4300, the bus will be leaving the church at 10 am."