Events To Stop The Violence In Chicago

With over 600 homicides, politicians and groups of individuals have been trying to create events and/or groups and even resources in order to put a stop to the violence. The gun violence within Chicago is out of hand. This problem needs to be addressed and taken care of. Many individuals feel that we should not try to stop the gun violence since the violence is coming from individuals within their own communities. But in reality that is more of a reason to help these surrounding neighborhoods because innocent people are becoming victims to this gun violence. Innocent families are losing their loved ones due to gang affiliation. For example, according to the Chicago Tribune, around 2:20 in the afternoon, there was a van that drove down the south side of Chicago and killed 12 people by spraying bullets at them. This proves that the violence is happening at any time. Most individuals believe that the violence is taking place late at night but in reality, the violence is happening during the broad daylight too. Another thing is that families are losing their loved ones, while the individuals who are committing the crime are not being caught. The media has shed some information about these incidents from gun violence, but they have not shown how the communities are trying to put forth their best efforts in order to stop this violence. There has been a lot of talk about continuing the war on guns within Chicago but strengthening and making gun laws more strict but in reality continuing the war on guns is not solving anything due to the fact that most of the guns within these communities are unregistered. Individuals within these communities know how to get a gun regardless on if they legally should have it. Many individuals have gathered together amongst their streets in order to protests against this violence. There have been multiple protests and rallies within these communities in order to get the medias attention on these tragic events. One known protest that has taken place within Chicago was known as the “Save Our City” rally, where thousands of individuals gathered together to protests about the fact that it is up to them to save their own streets. People gathered the streets and formed a two-mile long chain from Greenwood Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expessway. Families who have lost their significant others, siblings, or children laid in the streets of the expressway in order to show that they have lost a loved one to gun violence. One individual at this rally stated according to WGN TV, “We’ve got to look at ourselves and decide we are not going to allow shooting and killing to go on in our streets on our blocks while we live there while we walk there”(Lowe, Mike). Another individual also stated within this WGN TV article, “Every time you pick up a gun, every time you take a life, you’re affecting all of us”. These protests are not the only way that individuals have been trying to get the gun violence off the streets. There is an upcoming event on January 16 in the upcoming year 2017, from 1:00 in the afternoon to 9 in the afternoon. This event will take place in Wicker Park, and it is a free event. This event is made for individuals from all ages, and all religions. The event is called “Stop the Violence”. The overall idea behind this event is to present the communities with a chance to speak up about the last year, 2016 which has the highest amount of homicides and shootings. The idea is to present this idea that 2016 is over and that the amount of homicides within these communities will not continue and does not represent the surrounding communities of Chicago as a whole. On the event page it is stated that, “This event will feature presentations, break-out sessions, and open dialogue to promote violence prevention and to help empower communities that face the challenges of gun-fire. The day will culminate with a multi-generational sports tournament”. This event is great especially because it turns a serious situation, such as gun violence and the harms of gun violence, into an event that individuals can feel comfortable enough to speak about the uncomfortable and tragic events that have been taken place around Chicago. Another event that is used to prevent violence within these communities is the Youth Violence Prevention Plan. This is an after-school event and summer program that is ran by volunteers within the communities. This event discusses with the younger generations the consequences of joining in the violence, and how it violence will affect their families negatively if they choose to go down that path. This event also helps guide the younger generation into programs that will take up their time. It is better to have sports take up a child’s time instead of a gang taking up their time. This event takes children on sporting events, and shopping and takes them on field trips in order to show that there is more to their lives then the violence that surrounds their communities. It is a great idea to try and stop the violence while their young because then they are less likely to engage in the violence once they are older. Hopefully with all these events and protests, the violence within these surrounding communities will take a turn and we will not see families on the Chicago news at night crying that they fell victim to gun violence. We need to see a change, and we need to see the change happen now. Communities that work together to stop the violence, and will hopefully see a solution happen in the near future. Lets keep guns off the streets, and keep our children safe!