Are Uplift students causing the violence in Uptown?

Every morning, I get up at 5:45 A.M, wait for the bus, and take the red line to get to my high school - Uplift Community High School in Uptown. I get off at the Wilson stop, an area known for fights, violence and shootings. I used to ask myself - why do I still put up with this? I almost made myself transfer, but I always changed my mind before mailing the papers in.

A lot of people thik that kids from Uplift Community High School are responsible for the violence in Uptown, but that’s not true.  The violence is provoked by some community members affiliated with gang related activity.

My high school has a variety of students coming from all over Chicago. Many of them reside in more violent neighborhoods than Uptown. Their reason for taking the long commute is a simple one: they love Uplift, the atmosphere, their peers, and their teachers.

Few months ago, there was a shooting in Uptown where two Uplift basketball students were shot. One of them suffered a severe bladder wound and the other a scarring foot wound. In just three days in January, one person was killed and two others were wounded in the area. According to a Chicago Tribune article, about two dozen others have been shot in Uptown since last summer. Gun violence has tripled.

I talked to students at my school about the changes in the neighborhood. One student who lives nearby said, “I can walk to City Sports; [but now] I walk past there, and I’ll get my ass kicked, I walk past Lawrence, I’ll get my ass kicked”. This student walks to school everyday, passing different gang turfs every block he steps on. Fear is always a constant for this individual.

Listen: Uplift students talk about how the violence affects their lives. 

I asked a group of Uplift students if they’ve experienced the violence firsthand, and they aptly said yes. “I can no longer walk outside with a laptop, or else it'll get stolen,” said one student. The rest nodded in agreement.  Others shared that they've gotten robbed or beaten. During this conversation, there wasn't one mouth that stayed quiet; they all had a story with violence in Uptown. Uplift students are victims of the violence, not the cause of it.

In reality, Uplift students are risking their lives to attend school. Why do we think that they are the ones causing the problem?

Text written by Noe Gil

Audio by Terrance Rogers

Photo: Fuzzy Gerdes

Comments

[JP Paulus]

The condo owner residents of Uptown don't know the difference between good youth & bad youth. Very few of them interact with the kids who go to the schools, or even live a block away.

They just know 90% + of the kids are low income, and they assume those kids are trouble.

Many of those condo owners are now stuck in their homes, and can't flip them like previous residents. So now, they can either be as fearful as George Zimmerman, or organize and help kids BEFORE they become troublemakers.

Uptown was a dangerous place sin the 60's, 70's and 90's. Like the housing bubble, the increased perceived safety of the 00's is getting back to "normal" levels. It needs a HEALTHY way to become safer.

the Uptown Chicago Commission & its members & affiliates had been campaigning against Ald. Shiller for years. Now that they have the power, they need to be held accountable for their lack of involvement with the area's youth.

[Mary Jo Power]

On Thursday, April 12 from 5pm to 7pm at 900 W. Wilson, Uplift students are doing performances related to social justice.

Here's a chance to highlight their concerns about the injustice of gang violence, the injustice of drug dealing, the injustice of black-on-black crime, and the injustice of bullying. I look forward to hearing them speak about these matters that have such a profound effect on them.

[Dan]

JP Paulus. YOU and your lack of personal responibility are the problem, not hard working condo owners that decided to move to Uptown because of it's location to shopping and the lake. How can you compare Uptown Condo owners to George Zimmerman? Talk about race baiting.

Uptown Condo Owners are not responsible for the wild youth that run around Uptown. I live in Uptown, and I will NOT go outside when schools get let out. I've seen more kids chasing each other down and fighting, kids screaming swear words up and down the street, kids acting like complete morons from when they get out of school until they get home.

I've lived here for quite a few years, enough to know that you are either clueless or lying from your last comment. Go stand by the Target store between 2:30p and 4p and tell me what you see.

Uptown Condo owners do NOT have to interact with the wild youth that run up and down the streets. I rent from a Condo owner, and he has better things to do than deal with problem children who's parents haven't taught them how to behave in public. Just keep shifting the blame anywhere you can, but don't take all of us as clueless idiots that live in Uptown. And please don't compare anyone to George Zimmerman because we don't feel it necessary to help raise other people's children.

[AVD]

For JP: Sorry you bought a condo hoping to "flip" it in a neighborhood known for its dangerous past. I would suggest you take up arms in fear like George Zimmerman, continue to racial profile, and take law enforcement into your own hands so you can turn a profit in a neighborhood you have no interest in. Shoot first right? Good luck getting your property value back, if you don't end up murdering an innocent victim and spend the rest of your life in jail first. Maybe learn how to invest first?

[Pete]

This piece was a great way for some of us to get the perspective from a young person who attends school in the area and his and others' fears about Uptown. Those of us in Uptown who do not have personal connections to young people are not getting to hear their stories, thoughts, and feelings about the area and get a perspective that is not our own.
And this, in a larger sense, is the biggest problem we face in trying to address issues in Uptown. To borrow a phrase, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Though we all live in the same area, we don't often have a chance to interact with our neighbors who may disagree with us, and when we do, we resort to name-calling, personal attacks, and inflammatory rhetoric. I hope that this and other sites can help to bridge the gaps within the neighborhood.
I can't communicate how frustrated I am with discussions I see online and hear in person. I am tired of the fact that we dismiss the concerns of others as not valid. It upsets me that we thoughtlessly throw around both racialized language and accusations of racism are (making it difficult to call-out when it is in order). Finally, I am saddened that the energies of people who are, at heart, well-meaning, community-spirited get diverted into such counter-productive endeavors.

[MZ]

My good friend was assaulted by students from uplift high school while walking to the red line, in broad day light. Every day I see students from the high school throwing trash on the street like they own it (empty bottles, Mc Donald's bag, etc.) and with no regard for the community that they live in or the environment. So while they may be the "VICTIMS" of violence they are also the perpatrators.

[Rob Ross]

Thanks for this article! I'm so glad to see students practicing journalism at Uplift! Keep writing and reporting Terrance and Noe - the more good material you produce, the better you'll get. Maybe do a series of articles highlighting the various interactions between area teens and local residents, condo and otherwise??!! I'd love to read that.

As to whether teens are violent... sure, teens are jerks. It's part of being a teenager. I was a jerk when I was young, and my parents were jerks when they were young. That said, the overwhelming evidence is that teen violence is less serious today than it was in the previous three decades, when many Uptown condo owners were teens themselves.

Also, just because teen violence is more visible in the city, doesn't mean that there is more of it. Indeed, much of the violence in the country/suburbs goes unreported. As a consequence, at least a dozen teenagers kills themselves by stepping in front of a Metra train every year.

My point is this: blaming the kids gets you nowhere. Neither does blaming the parents. You might, however, ask yourself what you personally have done to address the situation. Blog comments don't count.

[apartmentdweller]

Condo owners are just suburbanites who think they're propertied city folk now. But, while you can call a turd a raisin, you can still taste the difference.

Dear condo owners,

You purchased an apartment; calling yourself a "property owner" is borderline misrepresentation. You don't own the land, nor do you have full authority over the capital. All you own is this little space inside a building, and many of you can't even modify the space as you please. You've bought into a quasi-socialist living arrangement with near-complete strangers, and you borrowed money to do so. In net total, you'll be lucky to break even in terms of lifetime expenses. Also, just because you pay property taxes directly, doesn't mean you pay more property taxes than renters do. You just get to see how much you pay, and that knowledge allows you to be an unbelievable bore. If there was a biggest sucker contest in the world, a condo owner would win.

Hey, I have this pencil. It's a fantastic investment, in an up-and-coming desk drawer. I've got a lot of interest already, so it won't last. Asking price is $175,000, no money down. Any condo owners interested?

Sincerely,
Not a suburban sucker with a middle management job and a 42'' flat screen.

[Jen s]

I think we all do a good job of trying to blame a specific set of people for Uptown's woes but it won't work. We want to blame the high school kids, or the low income housing, or the homeless people, or the raging liberals who perpetuate, or the callous condo owners, but the truth is that there are good and bad people in every group. There is no purpose to blaming..only purpose in doing.

I moved to Uptown last year and watched a kid bleed all over the sidewalk in front of my house while I watered flowers..

It's time to do something.. a lunch shift at the shelter, an hour of tutoring, a smile on the way to the red line..anything..

occupydoorstep.blogspot.com

[jim]

You all are nuts. Parents of these kids need to take time off of work. Yes I said it, watch your kids come home. I mean watch them don't let them know you are watching. Then disciplin your offspring. whoop on their ass. then watch again on a different day take names and video tape it and give to police and let them ticket those kids parents. Make the parents pay. kids remember you do not own anything. Those people who live in those condo's are paying for your school. You owe them respect that's right YOU owe us not the other way around. Personally you all need a good ass whooping and mouth washed out with soaop and slapped acroos the mouth for the way you disrespect everyone.

[Nicole B]

The hostility alone in this comment section is enough to make me keel over. Let's get some perspective here... It isn't about who owns what or what economic group or race when it comes down to it.

It is about responsibility to be a good citizen, to be a good person.

Rob Ross is right. Teens are jerks. I was too. It's part of becoming an adult. The biggest of my concerns is where are the adults in this mix of violence? Where are the people helping these teens shape who they are going to become? It only takes a rotten few to spoil the whole bunch and with out good role models and set expectations for behavior this is what we get.

I will not be chased off a street or feel like I need to stay inside my home for fear of what could happen. I have been outside the Target with my two small children after school let's out and guess what... we more than survived. I have walked up and down Wilson, Lawrence, and I take the red line. I have spoken up out of fear when I feel a situation is escalating, but never will anyone chase me out of my neighborhood.

I applaud you Noe for sticking with your school despite feeling scared because running away from situations doesn't make change. Demanding more and expecting more and setting the bar high will help us all make a change.

[Dan]

@Nicole B-

"I have been outside the Target with my two small children after school let's out and guess what... we more than survived."

I didn't say I was killed. I said it's a nuisance. It's a pain. And it's the kids getting out of school in the neighborhood between 2:30p and 4p.

I'm over caring about it. I work hard, and I made enough money to make a few small changes in my life. I left Kenmore and I moved as close to the lake as possible in Uptown, I moved as high up as I could, I got my parking downtown and at my apartment, so really I don't have to deal with it anymore. ApartmentDweller can keep on blaming Condo owners for being idiots and you can keep talking about how great the kids are when they get out of school and you can keep the neighborhood just how you like it. Enjoy!

[Edgewater]

I live near Senn and we have all kinds of problems with some of the students. Fighting in the alley, graf on private property. Kids trying to get into people's buildings. Trespassing. There are also the clouds of marijuana smoke, the little empty baggies, the all-around anti-social behavior. I know that many of the kids who go to Senn are good kids, but I also know that most of the crime that happens in my area during any given week comes from the smaller number of dirtbags that attend the school. Just look up the crime stats ... the assaults, drug possession, weapon violations ... all come from the same address. When the cops go after some of these kids, they have no problem climbing fences and running through backyards to escape. It's like they've done it a hundred times.

By the way, pay no attention to JP. He has been trolling about Uptown for at least a decade, even though he moved away years ago. He dislikes white people. You know how that goes. We are all supposed to embrace the poor children smoking blunts in our gangway and yelling motherfucker at each other as they trash the neighborhood on their way to and from school.

[FGFM]

I went to Truman College so I could make enough money to move out of Uptown. Am I a bad guy? Class warfare rules!

[new era españa]

Thak Sie für den Austausch mit uns, ich glaube, das ist die Zeit zum Lesen Es ist so schön mit Ihnen zu teilen, so schön article.i meinen Freunden empfehlen wird....

[abercrombie madrid]

Il mio punto è questo: dare la colpa ai bambini si ottiene da nessuna parte. Né dare la colpa ai genitori. Si potrebbe, tuttavia, chiedetevi quello che personalmente ho fatto per affrontare la situazione. Commenti sul blog non contano.

[tee shirt pas cher]

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