On Death and All His Friends

On August 18th, my brother emailed me to inform that his childhood friend was robbed and killed in Dallas. Daniel Jones was 21 years old. Daniel and my brother have been friends since freshman year at Bronzeville Military Academy in Chicago. Daniel graduated from high school at sixteen and would have graduated from Howard University this year. Instead his life was ended by two young men who thought his material possessions were worth his life. For a moment after hearing the news, I realized I couldn't cry. Daniel's death hurt. It still hurts. I find myself angry. Not angry outwardly nor is my anger directed at any particulur entity. But when I think about what happened to him and the other "Daniels" in the city of Chicago I lose a little faith in humanity. Thinking about what happened to him makes me physically sick. For those who don't know, four classmates of mine died last school year, two from similar incidents as Daniel's. I think part of my anger comes from knowing that with each death I've become a little more desensitized, mostly a product of my own doing. I've always been the one to tend to other people's needs in crisis situations and worry about myself later so in that respect I mourn later and longer.

Another part of my anger comes from knowing that as I write this there will be another "Daniel" in the city of Chicago. For those not familiar with Chicago news, in the last four years Chicago Public School(CPS) a little over 100 students have been killed. This summer before I left it was up to 37 for the 2009 school year and undoubtedly the list only grew after I left. Arne Duncan(then the head of CPS, now Education head in the Obama cabinet) noted that it was the equivalent of 1 child a week. I feel as those I am living in a city that has become so desensitized by its crime that it doesn't even blink when a murder of a child is reported. It has become so commonplace that we accept it as a part of life, not as some perverse action that should be mobilized against. I have to give credit to the artists of Chicago. People always underestimate the power of art but I know for a fact that the administration within the city of Chicago did not acknowledge the problem until artists and poets started curating exhibits and shows centered around the subject. The major one being the Desk Project in which a artist filled a room with school desks to represent each child. It has only been within the last year that the city's administration has acknowledge what has been happening. I don't have any answers on how to solve this problem, I wish I did. It seems that the CPS deaths are infinitely higher than any other cities according to studies. But what I do know is that Chicago is going to need to take more action on this issue and furthermore we as a city are going to have to take a long hard look at ourselves. What is it about Chicago that provokes this intensified violence? I can go on about social inequities in our city but that is another post. What I'll leave you with is a poem that some friends of mine performed at the Brave New Voices Poetry Festival in Washington D.C in 2008. It says more than I ever can. It's called Lost Count