Too Many Young People Are Dying

Last Friday morning I attended the funeral of 18 year old Tommie Williams. He was shot and killed the previous Thursday evening near 5pm on the corner of 61st and Cottage Grove. The church where the funeral was held was packed, primarily with young people. It was evident that he was a well-liked young man. His mother shared that the Lord was keeping her strong but that whoever shot her son didn't just shoot him, he shot their whole family (meaning it hurt all of them deeply). His father told those in attendance that he didn't want his son to be just another t-shirt. (In the inner city, when a young person dies, t-shirts are made that have his/her picture on it and usually say RIP.) Tommie had six sisters and four brothers.

On Thursday evening (of this past week) 14 year old Juan Cazares was playing basketball with his friends. At around 6:30pm two men walked out of an alley and began to shoot. Juan was shot, and eventually died from gun shot wounds early Friday morning. Juan was well liked and known for his sense of humor school officials said. Juan had two younger sisters and a younger brother. He lived with his mom and some of his cousins.

Juan became the 33rd Chicago Public School student that has been killed by violence this school year (2008-2009). A total of 508 Chicago school kids were shot (not all fatal) from September 2007 through December 2008, according to data compiled by the school system and released to the Chicago Sun-Times. Those CPS shooting statistics do not even include other school-age kids who have been shot. Adding those kids would double the 508 shootings of CPS students (according to Chicago Sun-Times March 9th article). That averages out to almost 32 children shot each month. Although (thankfully) not all of these shootings have been fatal, the damage is still severe.

“There is physical damage, which is awful enough. But the psychological damage can last much longer – both for the victim and their classmates. Many kids in the most violent neighborhoods of Chicago are paralyzed by fear, and it’s hard to blame them (Chicago Sun-Times March 9, 2009 article).”

I am still trying to get my mind around all of this. I have been praying and thinking about all of these shootings and all of these young lives that have been taken. It is sobering enough to hear the number and to hear the statistics, but when you start to personalize it and think about the families, the friends, and the classmates that are effected it becomes even more tragic. There is so much potential in the young people here in Chicago. I see it first-hand every day and every week. At the same time, many of these young people feel deep pain. There is a saying that I have been reminded of lately that says, "hurt people hurt people." Young people are hurting, and they are acting and reacting out of that hurt. The crisis of youth violence that our city is experiencing right now is a very complex issue. Unfortunately there is not a "quick fix." In the next few weeks I will continue to blog about this topic, thinking through preventative responses that the Church here in Chicago can engage in.

Please pray for our city. Pray for the young people and their families. Pray that peace would reign in the streets. Pray that the Church would rally and unite in acts of compassionate intervention.

I recently discovered a Chris Tomlin song entitled "God Of This City" that I have been singing as a prayer. The words are as follows...

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

Amen!