Just another day in the city. Children playing hopscotch, 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
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