Less than a week after the NATO Summit convened in Chicago, the city has experienced a rise in shootings. As of this morning, over 30 people have been shot and two killed from gunfire across the North, West and South Sides.
Community leaders are speaking out against the violence and trying to find ways to remedy the problem.
Rev. Darius Dionte Randle, 26, feels concerned that the violence could hit home if it doesn't stop soon.
" I am grieved as a young man and pray daily for my own younger brother--who has entered adulthood--in times like these," says the young pastor of Radical Changers Ministries in south suburban Riverdale.
Randle feels that the true spirit of the Memorial Day weekend has been dampened by those who do not respect human life."When we are supposed to be honoring our veterans and those lost in war, we are faced with our own war in our back yards," he says.
Yet, the clergyman has not given up faith that things can improve.
"I am still hopeful, but more prayerful that the violence will cease and we will become a united Chicago in honor of those who defended this country," he proclaimed. Jon Beer, 27, had a brief statement about the city's shootings: "Violence in Chicago should not happen."
The law school student has interned in the U.S. District Court in Nevada and hopes to use his legal expertise to help make Chicago safer one day.
Activist Camiella Williams believes that stricter gun laws can help stop the violence.
" I am tired of the excuses for violence," the 24-year-old gun control advocate says.
"Violence has become too acceptable in our society."
Ahmad Baari is a personal trainer in Miami who does not limit his fitness routines to the indoors.
In his YouTube videos, he has worked out in the park and even the swimming pool. But his latest choice for a workout location is raising a few eyebrows: the railroad tracks.
Last week, the 35-year-old fitness guru posted a video of himself doing cardio exercises at a time where there was no train activity. While it has not yet been confirmed by Baari if trains pass along those tracks, it was a way to catch the attention of his YouTube subscribers. As of Sunday, the video had been viewed over 16,000 times.
Jasondra Johnson is taking off her cap and gown and putting on a church dress and a "crown."
The recent St. Xavier University graduate has found a unique way to put her clinical psychology degree to good use by engaging in a "role-playing" exercise.
Johnson plays "Velma" in the return of Regina Taylor's Crowns at Goodman Theatre--opening Saturday, June 30. The popular stage play was written by Taylor but adapted from a book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. For years, the production has been a crowd favorite because of its integration of church fashion, gospel music, and African-American culture.
This time, the setting of the play changes from Brooklyn to Chicago's gritty Englewood neighborhood--where Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson grew up. The main character, Yolanda, played by Marketta P. Wilder, moves from Chicago to the South where she receives "musical therapy" and "hatitude" from a group of women which includes Johnson's character, "Velma."
In April, Ms. Taylor told the National Association of Black Journalists Chicago chapter that she wanted a local focus and local talent for this particular run of the production.
That's how Johnson learned about the opportunity. The Thornwood High School graduate got a call from her speech coach--who was involved with the auditioning process that nonprofessional actors were invited to try out. The 22 year-old Goodman Theatre newcomer followed through and the rest is history.
Last week, she spoke with Zack's TV about what it means to be apart of such a historic theater project.
How has it been to work with Regina Taylor?
She’s
amazing! She’s such a warm spirit; she’s very easy going and very cool and
calm, collective, and I feel like I’ve already began to get so much inspiration from her—just working with her doing workshops and everything—so I’m really
excited to begin practice and you know, work with her and just to pull from her
energy.
How have you grown as an actress while preparing for this role?
I find myself
really trying to focus on discipline and as far as learning the script and
memorizing lines and pushing myself to be the best that I can be as far as
acting and pulling out the emotion that is needed from my character. Even while
singing the songs, I just find myself trying to push myself even more and become
more dedicated as a person and it’s establishing itself in many different areas
of my life as well.
How can this inspire teens from
the city?
Specifically,
Chicago, I think that a main issue that folks are facing right now is teen
crime and the teens dying in the streets and everything. And that is a part of
the play, another layer of the play in which the main character loses her
brother to the streets. So, I think it is something that the teens who come to see the play will be able to relate to because so many of
them have lost friends to gang crime and all different
types of things.
So, I think that basically they’ll
get a lot of inspiration from the play because they’ll find that even when
you’re facing adversities such as teen crime and losing a friend and your loved
ones—there is a way to come out and you can do better for your life. This [play] is
definitely going to be an inspiration to many youth of Chicago and they are
facing similar situations as Yolanda.
What’s your ultimate dream as an actress?
You
know, I actually—I find myself wondering and thinking about that question more
so now because I hadn’t at first [given that] I’m a clinical psychology major. So
now I think my goal as an actress—I’ve always been a person who just wants to
inspire and touch as many people as I can. And I think that being an actress
and doing plays and such will allow me that outlet to reach many people and
just inspire them to do whatever they feel they would love to do—follow their
passion and their dreams. But I don’t want to do this only
to get accolades from my peers.
Tonys?
Oscars? Emmys?
I
think that receiving a Tony in the future will be amazing. An Oscar
or anything! But I would say my main goal is just to inspire lives. I think
that would be the greatest reward for me.
* * *
Crowns opens Saturday, June 30 and runs through Sunday, August 5 at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago, IL .
For tickets, call 1.312.443.3800 or visit the official Crowns website.
The Chicago Police Department has back up-- from all over the country--as world leaders meet in the city for the NATO Summit this weekend.
In every direction downtown, police officers are out in full force to keep order as protest marches take place and tourists venture out to explore the city. Yet, a lot of Chicago area residents feel that the city is giving preferential treatment to the global summit. They feel that security should be dispersed throughout the city during this busy weekend.
David D. Grace, a 53-year-old activist and filmmaker who lives in the western suburbs of Chicago, says that children in the city's toughest neighborhoods are being slighted this weekend. As temperatures warm up and the threat of violence increases, he wonders if officers preoccupied with NATO will have time to respond to local matters.
"It's amazing to me that we can protect heads of state from other countries with thousands of law enforcement personnel, but can't protect our own children in their neighborhoods," Grace pondered.
He and his cousin, Derek, co-produced the 2010 independent documentary, "On The Frontline: Taking Back Our Streets," which chronicled the work of community activists working to keep inner-city residents safe from violence.
Darnisha L. McGee agreed that resources should be spread evenly.
"I think the amount of money and manpower put in securing these dignitaries leaves much to be desired," the 28 year-old mother said. "What about the security of people that make sure Chicago exists by regularly paying taxes, working, living, and commuting around the city?"
According to the Chicago Tribune, 13 people were shot Friday night. One of the people, a 14-year-old boy, was fatally wounded in shootings across the city.
The NATO Summit continues in Chicago until Monday.
It is an anniversary that no parent wants to remember.
On May 10, 2007, Ronald Holt was at the store when he received a phone call that still seems surreal. His ex-wife, Annette, was on the other end of the line sharing some devastating news: their son, Blair, was shot on a public bus a short while before.
Hours later, the 16 year-old student died from his injuries.
In 2012, the pain still lingers for both of the young man's parents including Mr. Holt. It is the year that Blair was supposed to finish college at Clark Atlanta University. Instead, the 51 year-old police veteran finds ways to channel his pain into purpose. As a founding member of Purpose Over Pain, he works with parents of other slain young people to create opportunities within the community.
Today, he returned to Percy L. Julian High School--where Blair attended--for a Peace Day event. It was organized by television broadcast journalism teacher Kim Saunders and her eager group of students. During the event, special presentations were given--including a performance by the Julian High School marching band.
Mr. Holt gave a charge to the students who have lost friends to violence.
"For every friend that has lost their life, I want you to help fulfill their dreams," he said. "You reach back and you pull someone along with you." ~ Zack A. Isaacs
Asiaha (Ay-sha) Butler is a proud resident of Chicago's Englewood community.
The youthful, Afro-centric activist knows that her neighborhood receives more media attention for bad things-- like crime and foreclosures-- rather than the positive aspects of it which she feels many people overlook.
One of those things is her organization, the Residents Association of Greater Englewood--better known as RAGE. It is a "resident-led" and "resident-funded" cooperative consisting of people who work to change the perception of Englewood both internally and externally. Currently, the William Balfour trial--centering around the 2008 deaths of Jennifer Hudson's family members--has put an eerie spotlight on the poverty and despair that the neighborhood has dealt with for years. But RAGE members are looking to the highlights of the past to serve as a road map for the future.
40 years ago, Englewood was a vibrant neighborhood in Chicago which had the second largest shopping district in the city. At that time, it was a predominantly white area. As blacks moved in, whites moved out and so did the economic opportunities.
That was until 2006, when development resumed at the intersection of 63rd and Halsted--the place where all the shopping took places decades before. It would be the new location of Kennedy-King Community College and a point of revival for the area.
In an interview with public television host Marc Sims, Butler talks about how a feeling of unity must be revived as well. She feels that the downside of integration from the 1970s is that African-Americans have become "hyper-segregated" among one another, as well as from those of different ethnic backgrounds.
"We have the bourgeois individuals; we have the wealthy individuals and no one is connected to this underclass that is the headache of our entire race," the happily married 36 year-old mother said.
"If I had 4 or 5 people on my block like me, I wouldn't have problems over here."
Yet, hope is on the horizon.
Butler told 2CN that RAGE has helped "build social capital" and "exposes youth to residents who are committed to change." But she knows that there is more work to do. "I think that more positive stories [in the media] will give residents a better sense of hope," she suggested. "For our youth, showing them working class role models invested in their future will add value to the way they view Englewood."
For Butler, the hard part is getting those role models to realize that making a difference is easier than it looks. ~ Zack A. Isaacs
For years, bluetooth technology has given users a hands-free way to communicate.
Now, authorities say that thieves are using that same technology to get their hands on credit card numbers without physically touching the card.
In a special investigative report, Atlanta's WSB-TV reporter Tom Regan exposed how skimming devices are used to copy the magnetic strip of a credit card. After the strip has been duplicated, criminals are able to use the cards themselves or sell the numbers online.
According to Regan, Atlanta is one of the nation's top places for credit card and identity theft. Yet, identity theft appears to be a growing problem across the country. From the state of Washington on the west coast to New York out East, consumers are watching their wallets more than ever before.
In Chicago, six people were arrested last week in connection to a scheme which targeted patrons of well-known establishments and eateries.
According to CBS Chicago, 32 year-old Joseph Woods is accused of recruiting employees of Wrigley Field, McDonald's, and Ralph Lauren restaurant to obtain credit and debit card information from customers using a small credit-card reader. In that case, bluetooth technology was not used. However, the Illinois Attorney General warned consumers to be more aware of activity on their bank statements.
For Krystal Morris of Chicago, a vigilant attitude towards personal credit helped her to catch an identity thief who tried to order a new phone with her account number.
"Of course, I was on the phone with the loss prevention team; I fought it and I won," says Morris. "But that was one of the worst things to ever happen to me."
Florida State Attorney Lawson Lamar filed charges today against 13 members of a renown marching band involving the death of Robert Champion, according to CNN.
Champion, 26, was drum major for Florida A&M when he collapsed on a bus in Orlando after a performance last November. He later died, which led to an investigation of the band's fraternity--the Marching 100. His death was ruled a homicide by medical examiners who said that he died of "multiple blunt trauma blows." Among those charged, 11 face one count of third-degree felony hazing resulting in death and two counts of misdemeanor hazing. The other 2 face one count of misdemeanor first-degree hazing. ~ 2CN Staff Report
