Posted Nov. 19, 2008 -- BET News takes an inside look at the gun violence ravaging Chicago’s neighborhoods and the impact it has on the lives of Black youths. Narrated by Oscar-nominee Terrence Howard, this expose uses accounts of victims and those working to spark change, to give voice to everyday people struggling to stay safe and those working to save lives.
On an average day last year in Chicago, five people were shot. Overwhelmingly, statistics like these are concentrated in neighborhoods of color. Each shooting left many feeling hopeless and helpless. Though homicide rates and shootings have declined across the country, gunplay continues to plague economically struggling Black and Latino communities. Chicago is no exception. The nation’s attention zeroed in on the Windy City after a bloody April weekend that left 40 people shot and seven dead. “I’ve watched people get shot and killed,” says one youth. “And that’s nothing new.” If the numbers for the first seven months of this year continue, Chicago would finish with more than 500 murders for the first time since 2003.
With neighborhoods nicknamed “Terror-town” and the “Wild Hundreds,” the gunplay devastating inner-city Chicago is directly correlated to poverty, the escalation of gang violence, easy access to guns, drugs, and young men unafraid to die. More often than not, the victims of this violence are Black youths.
The traditional response to violence is more policing and longer prison sentences. Chicago police now utilize helicopters, employ SWAT teams, and they have increased the number of surveillance cameras monitoring neighborhoods with limited success. Some organizations are taking matters into their own hands, attacking crime with community-intervention programs focusing on the most vulnerable youths. Unfortunately, funding for these types of outreach programs were cut to the tune of $450 million last year.
Terrence Howard narrates HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO'S WAR ON VIOLENCE, in which the voices of the victims, those involved in the struggle and those working to change the situation, will share their stories and lessons learned. Employing a hyper-personalized approach, BET News reports from some of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago and gets to the root of the violence and explores the measures being taken to help save lives.