Just another day in the city. Children playing hop scotch, walking home from school, sitting on their front porch with their grandmother, and sleeping in their beds when a bullet finds its way to them, taking their lives.
Shamiya Adams is yet another victim of gun violence in Chicago. It was 9:30 on a summer evening. The 11 year-old was at a sleep-over with her friends. The children were enjoying girl-talk and s’mores when a random bullet soared through a window zeroing into Shamiya’s head.
How can it be unsafe for a child to play with friends inside their home? If they aren’t safe there, then where?
Shamiya was one of at least 22 shooting victims in a 12 hour period this past weekend. No doubt Shamiya’s shooter was a teenager, a young person who’s now taken the life of another young person. When caught and tried, he will be confined to a prison with other criminals.
We never must be immune to the sobbing mothers seen weekly on the news, heartbroken over the loss of their children due to gun violence. Our children cannot grow up thinking this is normal. Children shouldn’t witness or know, be related to, or be a victim of gun violence. They also should respect the lives and property of others and not spend their summer firing weapons as if in a video game.
A couple of years ago, the daily program, Chicago Windy Live, featured a special program on inner city violence. Father Michael Flagler, the beloved pastor of St. Sabina Church and an integral part of the community, said the problems are multi-layered. They can’t be solved with one change. Poverty, parenting, drug and alcohol abuse, education, employment opportunities, community involvement, and mentoring are issues that need to be addressed.
These children in the mix of all of this are not “that neighborhood’s” children, they are our children, our future. If you are able to help an inner city child or their family, please do so. We can change this situation and the future of our city one child at a time. At the very least, remember them in your prayers.
©2014, Mary K. Doyle
Midwest Mary 
How can it be unsafe for a child to play with friends inside their home?
How can a neighborhood continue to accept the violence that permeates the area? How can they continue to allow children to be indoctrinated into a culture of violence, of “no-snitching”, of illegal activities.
This isn’t limited to Chicago but it also applies to the rural areas also. Violence is concentrated in the urban areas according to the statistics.
Violence doesn’t come out of no-where; it is a direct result of the choices people make and continue to make. Back up a step or two and ask “Why did the people resort to violence”?
Our children cannot grow up thinking this is normal.
Most children don’t grow up thinking it is normal to lose a friend or sibling to violence. Ask yourself why so many in Chicago do think it is normal. Address that issue if you want to make a difference in violence.
Father Michael Flagler, the beloved pastor of St. Sabina Church and an integral part of the community, said the problems are multi-layered. They can’t be solved with one change. Poverty, parenting, drug and alcohol abuse, education, employment opportunities, community involvement, and mentoring are issues that need to be addressed.
Maybe the good Father should wonder if he is part of the problem :
In May 2007, during a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition protest outside a suburban Chicago gun shop, Pfleger was accused of threatening the life of the owner, John Riggio. The Illinois State Rifle Association released a tape where Pfleger was heard telling the assembled crowd, “He’s the owner of Chuck’s. John Riggio. R-i-g-g-i-o. We’re going to find you and snuff you out… you know you’re going to hide like a rat. You’re going to hide but like a rat we’re going to catch you and pull you out.” Pfleger later claimed his use of the phrase “snuff you out” was misinterpreted.
Bob S.