I've watched the heartbreaking stories on CNN and via Social Media and held my kids closer at night thinking, "That couldn't be my child." That was until last week, a 15 year old Honors student named Hadiya Pendleton was brutally shot in the back while trying to seek shelter from the rain. Hadiya could have been one of my kids. She was seemingly doing everything right (she was … [Read more...]
As Homicides Continue Chicago Leaders Ask President Obama to Reach Out to His Hometown
In the wake of the great heartbreak and tragedy that has plagued our nation with regards to gun violence, we the people cry out. While gun violence has transpired throughout our country, it is the violence in Chicago which seems to be taking up much of the media coverage. The homicide rate is skyrocketing as stories such as Shirley Chambers the mother who lost a fourth child to … [Read more...]
Chicago Youth Killed One Week After Participating in the Presidential Inauguration Events
A little over a week ago many of us sat on our living room couches with our eyes fixated on the television as the Inauguration took place. Others, while in Washington D.C., stood outside bundled up watching it happen in person. Of the thousands of people who were there that Monday morning Hadiya Pendleton was one of them. She had gone to perform at the “inaugural events with … [Read more...]
Saying Goodbye Again: Gun Violence Kills Chicago Woman’s Fourth Child
Imagine living your worst nightmare over and over. As parents no image is more horrific than that of your child, once full of life, now lifeless before you. If the world worked the way it was “supposed to” a parent would never out live their child. Children would grow up to become adults and then they would grow old. Sadly things don’t always turn out the way they are supposed … [Read more...]
Chicago Reaches 500th Homicide in 2012; They Need Our Prayers
It chills my spirit just to type that headline. Unfortunately, it is a grim reality that all of us Chicagoans have had to come to terms with. It’s almost as though we are numb to the violence. Whenever I turn on the news, I immediately speculate on how many people were shot the night before. I never ponder whether or not there was a shooting, but simply how many innocent lives … [Read more...]