Shockingly put on the back-burner by most of the national media, the rough and tumble streets of Chicago continue to claim the lives of innocent city youth.
With 36 Chicago-area students killed in the current academic year, violence in the Windy City has reached epic proportions with seemingly no end in sight.
While school remains in session for another week, Chicago can already stake claim to the dubious distinction of having the highest youth homicide rate in the entire country. As guns and drugs ravage the working class sections of the city, the black community has suffered the greatest casualty rate by a two to one margin compared to whites. According to an article in The Washington Post, the murder issue is only a portion of the problem as nonfatal injuries occur nearly 100 times the homicide rate.
The details are gruesome.
Take Alex Arellano, for instance. From being beaten with baseball bats to eventually being shot and burned, the 15-year-old's body was discovered a few days after disappearing from his family's home. Gang-related or not, Arellano's life was cut short before he could even drive a car, go to prom or graduate from high school.
Sure the prospects of hosting the 2016 Olympics appear bright - not to mention being home to President Barack Obama, but the death of a child, one or 36, places an unavoidable blight on any city. Undeniably, efforts are being made, but the troubling statistics continue to speak volumes of an issue that isn't going away any time soon.
