I feel that it all begins at home even though we can't be with our children every second of the day. As parents, we should know who our kids are hanging out with. If you have the type of child that's known for trouble, gets bad grades in school, continuously has altercations, is disrespectful at home to parents and siblings, then you need to get that under control. A child that has no parental involvement at home or with school issues, feels worthless. A life that's worthless is of no value. So, if one has no love for themselves, how can they honestly value the life of someone else? They think guns make them tough and they don't understand that a soft answer turns away wrath. You don't have to be loud or act out to be heart or get your point across. It takes someone in the group that has to have enough sense to know that a gun is not necessary. Words hurt once they're spoken but may soon be forgotten. Bruises heal after a while. But once a trigger is pulled and a life is taken, it's too late to say "I'm Sorry or I didn't mean to do it". Now you not only destroy a family by taking the life of their loved one, but you destroy yours as well because if you're not sentenced to death, you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars. Think About It!

Perhaps the illustrious Mayor Daley of the Peoples Republic of Chicago will now want to outlaw Baseball Bats..........just like he has so sucessfully stopped violence with handguns in Chicago(where only CRIMINALS can have handguns)..........oops, my bad, i keep forgetting........CRIMINALS don't follow the rules.
JUST REMEMBER... WHEN ITS A MATTER OF SECONDS...THE COPS ARE ONLY MINUTES AWAY!!!!!!!!

My OPINION is as COMMUNITY we are ALL responsible for our children STARTING @ HOME. I witnessed a fight this past Friday that had a crowd of approx. 50 grade school aged kids. I called the police before it escalated beyond a fist fight! Instead of sending a car or two out, I was drilled on the phone HOW MANY BOYS ARE THERE? WHERE IS THIS HAPPENING AT? HOW OLD ARE THE BOYS? I nevered stated that it was "just boys" , I gave the location 3-5 times, I cain't tell you exact ages of approx 50 children. Instead of givin concerned callers the run-around, CPD should be more than willing to help avoid this OUTBREAK of VBIOLENCE!!

My OPINION is as COMMUNITY we are ALL responsible for our children STARTING @ HOME. I witnessed a fight this past Friday that had a crowd of approx. 50 grade school aged kids. I called the police before it escalated beyond a fist fight! Instead of sending a car or two out, I was drilled on the phone HOW MANY BOYS ARE THERE? WHERE IS THIS HAPPENING AT? HOW OLD ARE THE BOYS? I nevered stated that it was "just boys" , I gave the location 3-5 times, I cain't tell you exact ages of approx 50 children. Instead of givin concerned callers the run-around, CPD should be more than willing to help avoid this OUTBREAK of VBIOLENCE!!

Taking kids out of school for political purposes won't solve anything. It is gangs and anti-social attitudes that encourage violence. I believe that a more responsible attitude on the part of "the community" regarding fatherhood and education is the path to peace in our cities.

So perhaps the CLTV crew will post archives of the program so that those who work until the evening can at least watch a re-run on their computer?

I am a teacher-librarian in a Chicago Public elementary School and I am terribly concerned with the increase in violence displayed by many of our students, both male and female, Preschool through 8th grade. It is as though it is a form of entertainment for them. They seem so distracted by their small worlds, resisting connection to the larger world around them. It is so easy to blame the parents. However that is a cope out unless we are willing to reach out to the parents, too. Many of the parents of my students were young teenage parents and also had a difficult time in school and consequently in their lives after school. Many of my students are products of parents or single parents who see the world through BET shows and violent rap music. I don't have any answers or solutions here and I must admit that I am confounded by the hopelessness of my students, but I refuse to give up. I will always be willing to talk about this...whether one to one or in an open forum. But we have to keep talking about. We have to keep putting solutions on the table. There is however one thing that needs to be accomplish to begin to quell the violence and that is GUN CONTROL. This of course will always be controversial because so many believe that gun ownership is protected by our US Constitution. So, I ask why have that fight...there is not end to that argument. So I propose something that comedian Chris Rock joked about in his show "Bigger and Blacker," BULLET CONTROL. No joke...California legislature is actually considering some form of BULLET
CONTROL. Here's the transcript of the Chris Rock show that I speak of...
Chris Rock: Everybody is talking about gun control. Got to control the guns...No, I think we need some bullet control. I think every bullet should cost five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars for a bullet. Know why? Cos if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, there'd be no more innocent by-standers. That'd be it. Some guy'd be shot you'd be all 'D***, he must've done something, he's got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his a**!' And people'd think before they shot someone 'Man I will blow your f***ing head off, if I could afford it. I'm gonna get me a second job, start saving up, and you a dead man. You'd better hope I don't get no bullets on lay-away!' And even if you get shot you wouldn't need to go to the emergency room. Whoever shot you'd take their bullet back. 'I believe you got my property?'...
Also if you Google 'Chris Rock bullet control' you'll get links to YouTube videos of that segment of the show. Essentially, if we make it very difficult to obtain bullets, gun violence will decrease.

As a concerned parent and concerned fellow human inhabitant on this planet, the fact that another human being feels the need to take the life of another fellow human being continues to elude any kind of reasoning that I can think of.

Also, as a still somewhat new citizen of this city [of only 2 years], I am wondering that as a parent of a young black male that I will EVER let him walk the streets of this city, which at present resembles an urban war zone, or perhaps more accurately, the 'wild west'...where the 'law' is the gun and where life is but a secondary thought.

Now, let's get to the heart of the matter. The facts are simple, the police cannot be everywhere, schools are for teaching and NOT policing, and since not everyone goes to church, religion has a minimal role in the mitigation of this epic crisis in the urban community.

Only 2 components in this city can adequately address this scourge and eradicate it once and for all and that is the parent and the community.

The parent MUST become more vigilant in all that their children do, in school and in their social life...and the community MUST police itself and take back their neighborhoods.

But, the community must go further and root out the negative element that has woven itself into the fabric of the community. The community KNOWS where the trouble spots are and they need to confront the scourge head on and properly utilize the police whose duty is to protect and serve. But again, it takes both sides to work together in order to accomplish anything positive. If the police are met with distrust and hostility and a mute public, then their hands are effectively tied and murderous thugs run free, amongst the citizenry & perhaps reside right next door to you!

But if the community is serious and wants real change, once and for all, then the time is NOW to put away the 'chips on the shoulder' and work together and do something NOW!

Only when the community is serious about ridding itself of the negative elements and work with city and law enforcement officials will positive changes become evident.

Look at it this way. In the current status of the urban environment, a gross disservice has been done to the lives of children who know nothing of the days when you and I could walk the streets without a care in the world.

Those days are long gone and at the current pace of the wanton & reckless violence that is destroying lives & families, our kids WILL NEVER walk the streets and play in their neighborhoods with the abandon that we all did has a young adolescents.

Remember, only parents and their community can prevent the unnecessary demise of our most precious commodity, the life of a child.

Bottom line, parents need to be responsible for their kids. Parents have to teach their kids morals. These kids don't fear anything, especially their parents.