Stopping gun violence is my dream, it may not be perfect dream but it is mine. Gun violence in Chicago is a growing problem that will never stop unless each and every one of us contributes. “In 2012, it had 500 murders, the most of any city in the country; Chicago has been among the top three cities with the most murders since 1985” (Drew Desilver, Pew research center. Factank,July 14 2014, Web, 10/17/14) Chicago had about 440 murders in the year of 2013 and over the weekend of July 4th 2013 there were 82 shootings in the Chicago area and 16 of which resulted in death. I find this so sad that we take a holiday that is supposed to celebrate America and pride and instead of celebrating we murder each other. 82 is a shocking number for just one weekend but what is worst is it was on a holiday; the irony of so many murders during our most patriotic day as a country is sickening.
So far in 2014 there are 201 murders and that number is expected to increase if we as a city don't do something quickly. Three years ago, our Mayor made some promises during his Inauguration speech to make the city streets safer. Addressing the voters who had elected him, he told the crowd, “Today, more than any other time in our history, more than any other place in our country, the city of Chicago is ready for change.” Where is the change??? Specifically, our Mayor cited violence as one of the four main challenges
for all the neighbors who deserve to walk home on safer streets.” This quote was said by chicagos very own mayor Rahm Emanuel and seeing the statistics above I believe that Rahm Emanuel has done little to nothing to solve this problem. These statistics are a little sad because most of these are after Rahm was sworn in and it is scary that a man that loves Chicago and says it is a beautiful city would let this violence continue and do nothing about it
Some of the people I have known since I was a little kid are laying in a coffin because they were in the wrong neighborhood or they had on the wrong colors or someone just didn't like them. I am personally just sick of it, sick of chilling with someone one day and the next day you are at their funeral remembering what you last said to them. When a family member or close friend gets killed we feel the pain and it really hurts, so my question is, why do we kill others knowing the pain it brings? I bet that if we ask the whole population of Chicago not one of those people could give a legitimate answer. The reason I feel that way is because I don't feel there is a legit reason we should be killing our own kind. Chicago is such a beautiful city and is known for Pizza, culture, diversity, and just great places to see and that should be what chicago is known for not gangs, killings, dirty, segregation. Chicago is a city with potential to be great but as of now when you mention chicago the first topics that are brought up are gangs, violence, guns, murder. Now our bad rep could change but we have to start trying to make a change not just talk about it
I cannot guarantee that you will all agree with me but I believe that if you ever want this to stop you first have to accept that it is a serious problem. After you accept it,,the first thing I think we need to do is to lower the voting age. Older people are not the ones that have to go through these problems, they are not the ones being killed on a daily basis. Young people are being shot and killed because someone decides that they don't like that person and wants them dead. Another reason is gangs. Now-a-days people can't wear certain colors in certain neighborhoods because you could be killed for territory and color. I feel that if we start to make chicago less segregated then there will be less gangs because a lot of gangs are based on race. I also think that if older people actually talk to the youth about gangs and educate them about it instead of labeling them as a bad child and giving up on them then just maybe they won't join a gang. I also want to get more community activities in all neighborhoods in chicago and have more sports teams that anyone can do just to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. I also think that they should be tighter gun control. There should be background checks before buying a gun and if that person has a record of being violent he/she can not buy a gun. There should also be a 3 month waiting period before you obtain your gun. A way to make sure the person that bought it keeps it, we will put a stamp on it with a number and if that person sells it and the person he sold it to is caught it will be tracked to that person and they will both be incarcerated for 8 years.
The people that make the decisions are often the type of people that don't really know anything about the topic or have never experienced it. So my question is, why should older people decide our fate and make decisions that could affect our life more than they know if most of them have never went through what we go through. Most of the adults that vote have gone through what we have but it really doesn’t matter what the voters say because the end decisions falls upon the people that put in the laws and they have probably lived great, safe lives. They take our suggestions into consideration but if they have never lived our lives then they can have no empathy for what we say and basically make a blind decision based on what they “think” goes on
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