530 Young People Killed in Chicago Since 2008; Make New Jim Crow Number One Book in America; Fathers Dance With Daughters for Valentines Day; Pray The Devil Back to Hell; Five Major American Cities Have Less Than 50% of Black Men Working - Is Your City One of Them?

530 young people killed in Chicago since 2008! Where is the reponse by government, faith leaders, parents or the African-American community???   More young people are killed in Chicago than any other American city   Since 2008, more than 530 youth have been killed in Chicago with nearly 80 percent of the homicides occurring in 22 African-American or Latino community areas on the city's South, Southwest and West sides.   By Kari Lydersen and Carlos Javier Ortiz January 25, 2012     "Pour out your heart like water For the lives of your children Let justice roll down like waters Righteousness like an everflowing stream."   So sang a soaring chorus of voices-young and old-inside Hyde Park Union Church on Nov. 6. The songs were interrupted by a somber litany of names: Chicago youth killed since the school year started in 2008. The event was called "Urban Dolorosa," a commemoration held at five different churches around Chicago in November casting the Biblical mourning of Mary for her son in the context of contemporary youth violence.   The scene is a painful and all-too-familiar reminder of the youth violence epidemic that has gripped Chicago, the home of more youth homicides than any other American city. Chicago has a homicide rate more than double those of New York City and Los Angeles.   [Click Here to view photos from the Too Young to Die project]   In Chicago, more than 530 people under the age of 21 have been killed since 2008 and many more have been shot or have otherwise suffered violence-often at the hands of their peers and particularly in the city's African-American and Latino communities. Nearly 80 percent of youth homicides occurred in 22 black or Latino communities on the city's South, Southwest and West sides-even though just one-third of the city's population resided in those communities. The rate of youth homicide in West Englewood on the city's South Side, for instance, was nearly five times higher than the citywide mark.   In contrast, there have been 22 other Chicago communities with no more than 1 youth killing since 2008. Many were located on the city's North Side, but others like Beverly, Garfield Ridge, Hyde Park and Mount Greenwood did not lose any youth to violence but are next to or just a few minutes drive from others with some of the highest youth homicide rates in the city like Woodlawn, Roseland and Morgan Park.   Much attention has been paid to the crisis. Community groups have held countless marches, candlelight vigils and events featuring empty desks signifying slain students.   After Christian Fenger Academy High School student Derrion Albert was beaten to death in September 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Chicago and pledged to address youth violence, with Duncan calling Albert's death "a line in the sand." They announced a $500,000 grant to restore a peaceful environment at Fenger. Yet the drumbeat of violence continued, with 218 student shootings and 27 student deaths reported during the ensuing school year, according to media reports quoting then-CPS CEO Ron Huberman.   And while the framing of violence suffered by Chicago public school students has focused much of the attention-and resources-on that population. The most dangerous time for young people in Chicago may be the first few years after high school. Since 2008, a total of 247 young people between the ages of 18 and 20 have been murdered in Chicago, nearly as many as the 286 under the age of 18 who've been killed during that span.   Each death or serious injury also causes wide-ranging ripple effects on friends and family members who are left with the psychological burden of witnessing violence. Studies strongly suggest that when young people live in neighborhoods plagued by violence, even when they don't directly suffer violence, they are considerably more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety, and are more prone to behavioral problems and academic underachievement.   The numbers of youth deaths and shootings have not been significantly reduced despite efforts by Chicago politicians and police, including the Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), the concentration of officers in neighborhoods with high gang activity, the "Culture of Calm" program instituted in "high-risk" public schools, and the efforts of well-known non-profit organizations like the peer intervention group CeaseFire. Community members, youth advocates and youth themselves consistently say that it is nearly impossible to curb youth violence without addressing the underlying social conditions: extreme racial and economic segregation, a lack of job opportunities, limited access to higher education, violence-plagued and under-funded public schools, broken families and a general feeling of hopelessness and marginalization among many Chicago residents.   "What is the mindset of the person when the future holds no hope?" asked Wiley Rogers, 70, a long-time community activist in Woodlawn and a former social worker for the Chicago Department of Public Health. "Historically, every generation has had the promise and hope of the future out there. These kids don't have that. What matters is today. It leads to this horrible fatalism, where life ain't worth living anymore."   Despite the daunting nature of the problem, many Chicagoans are fighting in their own personal ways against the epidemic of violence and despair. Here we profile several groups and individuals whose efforts are not reflected in crime statistics or economic indicators, but who nevertheless have an undeniable impact on their communities.   The nascent group Spitfire uses music to offer a positive but unvarnished outlet for young rappers coming from neighborhoods where violence "is always easy to find, and if you don't pay attention it will find you," in the words of 22-year-old Bronzeville resident Eric Brown aka musician Young DBoy Low. Simply telling stories-set to beats-of real life in the 'hood and the struggle to remain humane and sane in the face of violence is itself an act of resistance and revival in the eyes of Spitfire founder Henry Mann and the young artists who have signed on with the group.   The sister grassroots activist organizations Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) and Fearless Leading by Youth (FLY) use direct action to address the social and economic inequities that underlie youth violence. They fight for the rights to decent housing and health care, among other things, demanding a trauma center for the South Side and opposing the planned closing of public mental health clinics in poor neighborhoods. The groups were born around housing issues in the Woodlawn and Englewood neighborhoods, and accelerated with the death of Damian Turner, an 18-year-old founding member who was shot just blocks from the University of Chicago Medical Center and died after being transported downtown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.   Seventeen-year-old Ondelee Perteet never intended his life to be defined by violence; as a young teen he avoided gangs and guns. But that all changed in 2009 when he was shot in the chin at a party and paralyzed from the neck down. Since then he and his mother have lived a brave, stark personal struggle to survive and succeed despite the tragedy-simultaneously becoming a symbol of hope and a living testament to the horror of gun violence.   When asked what could be done to reduce the carnage, these community members echo academic and law-enforcement experts in saying there are no easy answers. One thing they stress is that people must not give up: society must not give up on the youth in these neighborhoods and, even more importantly, the youth must not give up on themselves.   "People believe the negative stereotypes that urban youth are all gangbangers and school dropouts," said Kandice Denard, 21, the sister of FLY co-founder Turner. "But that's not true. We just need to exercise our power and our voices. We need to show people that youth can really be something."   This is the first in a series on youth violence. Check back next Wednesday for the second installment. Funding for this project was provided by The Chicago Community Trust via the Community Media Workshop.   With Children This Much Out of Control, Why Won't Chicagoans Come Out to "Pray The Devil Back To Hell"   Join us on Monday, January 30, 2012, 6:30 pm at 3509 South King Drive in Chicago to "Pray The Devil Back To Hell!!! If the women of Liberia can end violence by praying and acting, so can we!  We must pray and we must act, now!!! Two 13-Year-Old and Two 17-Year-Old Boys Resort to "Wild, Wild West, Stage Coach Style" Stick-up of Chicago Transit Bus    1/22/12    CHICAGO - Bond was set at $150,000 for two of four teens who allegedly boarded a CTA bus, shut off the engine, beat the driver and robbed at least one passenger, authorities said.   The four -- two 17 year olds and two 13 year olds -- are alleged to have boarded the bus in the 600 block of East 71st Street about 7 p.m. Saturday after disabling the engine by hitting a switch on the side of the bus, police said.   Love, of the 700 block of East 90th Place, was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and a felony count of robbery. Williams, of the 7200 block of South Evans Avenue, was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and a felony count of attempted robbery, police said.   On Sunday, a judge ordered Love and Williams held on $150,000 bond. Prosecutors said Love punched a passenger and stole an iPod, watch and seven dollars, while Williams attempted to rob a passenger by going through their pockets.   They then allegedly beat and punched the bus driver, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. The two 13 year olds have each been charged with a count of misdemeanor battery.   Grand Crossing District tactical unit officers responded immediately to the call and arrested two of the teens at the scene, Mirabelli said. Two others attempted to flee the area but were soon caught by police.   A witness on the bus, along with the victim, were able to identify the four as the offenders, Mirabelli said. Prosecutors said Love has some juvenile arrests, including a residential burglary.     Join us for the film - Pray The Devil Back to Hell!  on Monday, January 30, 2012 Film: 6:30 pm  Discussion and Prayer: 7:30 pm at  The Black Star Project 3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B Chicago, Illinois $5.00 for members - $10:00 for non-members.     Being sick and tired of being sick and tired of youth violence in America is not enough!  You must pray and you must act. On Monday, January 30, 2012, the men and women of Chicago will gather to see the powerful movement and documentary of women that brought peace to war torn Liberia, Pray The Devil Back To Hell.  And the men and women of Chicago will work to pray the devil of violence and despair that is in Chicago back to Hell! Join them.  Men and women across America can join this movement to Pray the Devil (of violence) Back to Hell in your city or town by calling 773.285.9600.  Click Here to view a trailer of the documentary.  Those who have attended previous showings of this documentary will be admitted free.   People of Conscience and Who Value Social Justice Must Buy and Read this Book New Jim Crow Social Movement Ready to Transform America in the Spirit of Dr. King In my opinion  The new Jim Crow alive and thriving By Leonard Pitts Jr. January 15, 2012 lpitts@MiamiHerald.com    Leonard Pitts, Jr. I have something for you.     In June of 2010, I wrote in this space about a book, The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, which I called a "troubling and profoundly necessary" work. Alexander promulgated an explosive argument. Namely, that the so-called "War on Drugs" amounts to a war on African-American men and, more to the point, to a racial caste system nearly as restrictive, oppressive and omnipresent as Jim Crow itself.     This because, although white Americans are far and away the nation's biggest dealers and users of illegal drugs, African Americans are far and away the ones most likely to be jailed for drug crimes.   And when they are set "free" after doing their time, black men enter a legal purgatory where the right to vote, work, go to school or rent an apartment can be legally denied. It's as if George Wallace were still standing in the schoolhouse door.     The New Jim Crow won several awards, enjoyed significant media attention, and was an apparent catalyst in the NAACP's decision last year to call for an end to the drug war. The book was a sensation, but we need it to be more. We need it to be a movement.    As it happens and not exactly by coincidence, Alexander's book is being reissued in paperback this week as we mark the birthday of the man who led America's greatest mass movement for social justice. In his battle against the original Jim Crow, Martin Luther King, in a sense, did what Alexander seeks to do: pour sunlight on an onerous condition that exists just beyond the periphery of most Americans' sight.    I want to help her do that. So here's the deal. I'll give you a copy of the book - autographed by the author, no less - free of charge. You don't even have to pay for shipping. All you have to do is tell me you want it and promise me you'll read it.    In fact, make that the subject line of the email you send to request your copy: "I want it. I'll read it." Send it to lpitts@miamiherald.com. Make sure to include your contact information and mailing address. At month's end, I'll draw 50 names from a bucket and send out 50 books. If you work for the company that syndicates my column, or a newspaper that runs it, you can't participate. The same goes if you're my kin or my friend.    On March 15, Alexander has agreed to appear with me at Books & Books in Coral Gables, where I will moderate a discussion with an audience. You'll also be able to submit questions via Twitter @MiamiHeraldLive and Facebook. Video from the event will be posted on The Miami Herald's website (www.miamiherald.com).     And here, let me make one thing clear. This giveaway is underwritten neither by my employer nor by Alexander's publisher. Me, myself and I will pay for both books and shipping. I chose to do it that way in order to impress upon you how vital I personally feel it is that you read this book.    No, I have no financial interest in its success. I do, however, have tremendous emotional interest. Half a century ago, Martin Luther King and a cadre of courageous idealists made a sustained appeal to this nation's misplaced sense of justice, forced Americans to see an outrage that was right in front of them yet, somehow, beyond their line of sight.    There could be no better homage to his memory than to do that again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The Black Star Project encourages everyone to give copies of The New Jim Crow during Black History Month to students, family members, friends, prisoners, formerly incarcerated individuals, pastors, teachers, elected officials or anyone who might benefit from knowing the truth about why more Black men are arrested, tried, sentenced and imprisoned for crimes, many of them minor, than their white counterparts who commited the same crimes.     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Click Here to purchase a paperback copy of The New Jim Crow.   Click Here to view a 25 minute video of Michelle Alexander speaking on Democracy Now about The New Jim Crow.   Click Here to hear a segment of Michelle Alexander on National Public Radio speaking about The New Jim Crow.   Click here to see a 3 minute trailer of Michelle Alexander speaking about the The New Jim Crow.   Click here to find out if and when Michelle Alexander might be in your city or state speaking on The New Jim Crow.   Click NJCevents@gmail.com to discuss bringing Michelle Alexander to your city.   Click Here to become a member of The Black Star Project.   Click Here to learn more about The Black Star Project. Five Major American Cities Have Less than 50% of Black Male Residents 16 to 64 Years Old Working Black Men Working: Detroit - 43.0%, Buffalo - 43.9%, Milwaukee - 44.7%, Cleveland - 47.7%, and Chicago - 48.3%   Employment rate for black males in Milwaukee only 45 percent    January 24, 2012   MILWAUKEE - Only about 45-percent of working age black men in Metro Milwaukee had jobs in 2010. That's according to a study of census data by UW-Milwaukee.   A report released yesterday showed that the area's black male employment was 53-percent just before the 2008 recession hit. And in 1970, almost three-of-every-four black males age 16-to-64 had jobs - just 12-percentage points less than white men. Now, that racial gap is almost 33-percent, the largest in the country. And only Buffalo and Detroit had lower percentages of black males working than Milwaukee in 2010.   Marc Levine, head of the UWM Center for Economic Development, says the region has had a long, steady decline in manufacturing jobs over the last four decades. Also, the UW report blames what it calls "mass incarceration."   It said around five-thousand working-age black males a year have been jailed or imprisoned in Milwaukee over the last decade - including a growing number of non-violent drug offenders. The report also blames inadequate transportation from the city to the suburbs, where factories have done better than in the city in recent years.   Click Here to read full report.   -----------------------------------------------------------------   Percentage of Black working-age (16-64) males employed in forty selected cities: Detroit 43.0% Buffalo 43.9% Milwaukee 44.7% Cleveland 47.7% Chicago 48.3% St. Louis 51.3% Philadelphia 51.7% Phoenix 52.0% Indianapolis 52.6% Cincinnati 52.6% Richmond 52.7% Memphis 53.2% Pittsburgh 53.3% Hartford 53.3% San Francisco 53.3% Miami 53.4% New Orleans 53.5% Oakland 53.8% Omaha 53.8% Las Vegas 54.2% Birmingham 54.3% Newark 54.5% Columbus 54.7% Jacksonville 54.8% Los Angeles 54.8% Kansas City 55.1% Seattle 56.3% Charlotte 56.5% San Diego 57.1% Portland 57.4% New York 57.4% Baltimore 57.5% Houston 58.3% Nashville 58.4% Denver 58.8% Atlanta 59.0% Minneapolis 59.3% Boston 59.7% Dallas 61.0% Washington, D.C. 66.6% Click Here to read full report.   Click Here to view news report on this issue. Only 10% of all African-American teens are working in Illinois with only only 7.4% of low-income African-American teens employed. Employment statistics just as bad as great depression or worse for African American teens!   Job search not working for vast majority of teens  Black, low-income youths struggling the most, with employment rate at historic depths   By Corilyn Shropshire and Cheryl V. Jackson January 24, 2012   Anjelica Pickett, 17, has been searching for a job for about a year.   Despite making as many as five applications in a day during that time, Pickett, now a freshman at Truman College, said she's scored only one interview, with a grocery store. But that didn't pan out.   "It's kind of stressful,'' she said. "Growing up has been kind of hard. And getting everyday things like soap and stuff that people get everyday has been hard. I don't have like a billion aunts and uncles to ask for things." Pickett's story isn't atypical in Chicago, where only 16 percent of teens held a job in 2010.   Nationwide, for those between 16 to 19, the employment rate has plummeted in the last decade, falling to 26 percent in 2011from 45 percent a decade earlier, according to a study that will be released Tuesday by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Boston's Northeastern University.   And in Illinois, teen employment was just under 50 percent 10 years ago. In 2011, it was 27.5 percent. The dismal numbers have prompted calls by youth advocates for more dollars for youth employment programs.   "Job-training and placement funding will help to reverse the deteriorating pictures over the past decade for African-American, Hispanic and low-income youth in particular," said Jack Wuest, executive director of the Alternative Schools Network, a Chicago-based, nonprofit education advocacy group that commissioned the study.   On Tuesday, Wuest, other policy leaders and education and youth advocates will gather at a forum at the Chicago Urban League to drum up support for the Pathways Back to Work Act, federal legislation that would provide $5 billion in training and employment programs for youth and unemployed and low-income adults.   "You could only classify this in one way: It's a massive depression in the labor market for teens," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, the author of the study.   Teens 16 to 19 have been hurt more than any other age group in the labor market, said Sum. The younger you are, the more adversely you've been affected by the recession and other developments in the labor market, he said.   The job hunt is especially tough for teens who are African-American, Latino and poor.       For low-income and African-American teens, the employment rate during the past decade hit an all-time low: Just 10 percent of African-American teenagers are working, and the number dips to 7.4 percent for those who come from low-income families.   Chicago's Latino teens fared slightly better, with 19 percent working; the rate for those from low-income families declined to 14.2.   "That's what we consider to be the great social disaster," said Sum. "If you are black and/or low income, you run the greatest risk of not working at all."   In Illinois, white, middle-class teens are more likely to be employed, at 38 percent, than their black and Hispanic counterparts.   When they do find work, young people typically are confined to fewer sectors, including low-wage retail, fast-food and arts and entertainment jobs, Sum said.   "You'll rarely see a teenager working at a bank," he said.   Jobs are an important stepping stone for young people as they become adults, ensuring that they gain valuable social skills as well as strengthening the entire community fabric,said Alternative School Network's Wuest.   Moreover, teens whose parents are unemployed often have additional challenges entering the workforce because they are less likely to know about creating a resume, completing job applications and conducting interviews, said Marty McConnell, director of resource development at Alternatives Inc. of Chicago, a youth development agency.   "If your parents aren't working, they may not know how to help you with that sort of stuff," she said. When Fathers Are Their Daughters First Date, Every Other Man After That Must Measure Up! Men and women across America should/can plan and host a Daddy/Daughter Dance for Valentines Day. Call us at 773.285.9600 for an organizing kit to host a Daddy/Daughter Dance in your community or in your city.  Men in Chicago can register now for our February 11, 2012 Daddy/Daughter Dance at The Black Star Project by calling 773.285.9600.   As many/most Black children in American schools are failing academically, the only way to successfully educate them is with the support and actions of their parents, families and communities.  The only question not answered is, "Will Black people take control of the education of their children?" We have 15 free Saturday Universities operating in and around Chicago and south suburbs.  Please call 773.285.9600 to register your child for free academic enhancement or for more information about Saturday University.  We need teachers and tutors for our sites.  Please call 773.285.9600 to volunteer. Congratulations!!! YOU have made Red Tails the number 2 box office success in the nation!!! When George Lucas, director and producer of Star Wars, cannot get a film about Black American war heroes produced, financed and distributed without paying his own money, what does that say about America?  This movie will inspired generations of young Black boys, help America appreciate young Black men and improve race relations in America!  Don't miss it! As a matter of principle, every Black American and every American should see "Red Tails" in its first week at the box office ending Friday, January 27, 2012.  This movie is not just about war...it is about history and it is about the future of America!  Take your family!  Take your church!  Take your school!  Take your block club!  Take your homeless shelter or your halfway house.  This is a great American story!  Are we great Americans?     Click Here to hear George Lucas tell why no one would finance or distribute this movie from one of the world's most renown movie directors.   Click Here to see a trailer of Red Tails!!!