As I arrive drive into Foster Park on the South Side of Chicago on a beautiful sunday afternoon it feels like any other day. There is a swim meet going on in the field house. Couples are sitting on park benches staring into each other’s eyes. Family’s are gathered together enjoying each other’s company and good food at the same time. The sky is blue and the mood is peaceful. It’s a stark contrast to the Foster Park of a few weeks ago when four people and an aspiring rapper by the name of Thugga was shot and killed while filming a music video at the park.
There is no lack of Chicago violence stories in the news. This has helped to paint a picture of fear and despair in many parts of the city. It’s understandable to hear someone who is not a Chicago native say they are afraid of the city and would never go to the South Side. However, we were curious about how Chicago natives feel about the rash of violence going on in the city. We were fortunate enough to speak with the McAfee and Martin families who were in the park enjoying some family time and we asked them a few questions.
When we asked what their feeling were with regard to the violence in Chicago Bionca McAfee Martin had this to say: “The violence is Chicago is going on because we have been taught that we are less than, therefore we treat ourselves and others as though we are less than. Our lives don’t matter to us and our lives don’t matter to anybody else.
Bionca’s father, Dwayne McAfee a resident of Chicago for the past 28 years had this to say and offered solutions,”It’s outrageous and it doesn’t make sense. Part of the problem is the Black men have failed and we have too many children raising children. We need everybody to stand up and be accountable. We have to do the right things, put yourself in the right situations and environment and hope that others can elevate themselves. We keep operating in a cesspool and we need to elevate this. We can’t make others care about our lives until we care about our own. We have to make our young boys understand at ages 7, 8 and 10 that their lives are important that by the time they get to be teenagers they [won’t] have a gun in their hand thinking that it’s some rite of passage.”
The shootings continue to rise and many are paralyzed by fear. It is important to keep pushing toward solutions to stop this violence. A family should feel safe no matter where they are.
