Thread: I can't go outside

'I can't go outside'
Many Chicago kids are scared to go to the store. Others avoid stepping off their block or going to the park. Fearing for their safety because of guns and gangs, they’ve lost the freedom to play.

August 6, 2008Recommend (4)

STORY BY STAFF REPORTERS ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB

Eleven-year-old Maria Rivera is afraid to play in front of her own home.

She spends much of her free time indoors, alone with her mom.

» Click to enlarge image Maria Rivera, 11, peers through the gate of her family’s Little Village home. She is afraid to play in front of her home because of all the violence.
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)

PHOTO GALLERY

Violence through children's eyes

RELATED STORIESKids have a right to play Interactive map: Mapping the killings Students' greatest fear: Getting shot How we surveyed Chicago students
How would your life be different in a city with no guns?
Some of the responses the Chicago Sun-Times received from nearly 500 first- through eighth-graders at three Chicago public schools, complete with misspellings:

* "If there was no gun in cities I will feel free to play outside." --third-grade boy, Talcott.

* "That would be great because you don't need to worry about your parents or relatives [being] shot or killed." -- fourth-grade girl, Talcott.

* "I will be able to go to the library by myself." -- fifth grade boy, Little Village Academy.

* "I would be happy to go outside .... I can ride my bike, go to the pool, and even yell and say Holalaya." -- sixth-grade boy, Sexton.

* "I wouldn't have to be scared and I can focus on my school work more." -- seventh-grade boy, Sexton.

* "It would be wonderful because I wouldn't have to go outside thinking I could get shot at any minute and there would be no more of me." -- seventh-grade girl, Sexton.

* "I wouldn't have to worry about getting shot just because I went to the store." -- eighth-grade girl, Sexton.

-* "Oh my god. If my community had no gangbangers, no guns, no dangers, it would be very cool. The reason is because we would be able to dress however we want. We will be able to play where ever we wanted. We would be free to do whatever. There would be more block parties without gunshots. No more people getting scared of letting their children go outside and play. There would be children out in the streets playing and laughing. You would see smiles and laughs and children all around." -- eighth-grade girl, Little Village Academy.

-- Rosalind Rossi

Fear of the guns and gangs that plague her Little Village neighborhood has left Maria virtually a prisoner in her own home -- an image she drew for a fifth-grade social studies project. Her artwork shows a little girl standing in front of a barred second-story window, looking down at gang-bangers, a drug deal and a shooting on the street below.

"I feel like a prisoner because I usually can't go outside,'' said Maria, who just completed fifth grade at Little Village Academy.

Maria's sharply constricted world is a stark warning that the fallout from city violence reaches far beyond the 36 Chicago Public School students killed since September.

In a Chicago Sun-Times survey taken in May, students were asked how their lives would be different in a city with no guns. A clear patttern emerged. Almost a third of fifth- through eighth-graders indicated that their everyday movements have been severely limited by the specter of gunfire.

Kids reported that they are afraid to go to the library or run to the store. Many indicated they have been robbed of one of the fundamental joys of childhood -- freedom to play.

Like Maria, other children also said in effect, that they feel trapped -- penned in -- by fear for their own lives. Violence has shrunk their world -- and, as a result, their life experiences.

Kids not only expressed those feelings in surveys; they drew them. In the social studies project on gang violence in Maria's school, a number of fifth-graders crafted images of children behind bars in their homes while gang members with guns fired shots on the street.

"They are saying in their own way that they are fearful and anxious and scared,'' said Frank Zenere, a national child crisis expert and school psychologist for the Miami-Dade County school system. "Their drawings speak volumes.''

'I can't go outside'
The Sun-Times survey of 500 first- through eighth-graders at three schools -- Sexton Elementary in Woodlawn; Little Village Academy on the Near Southwest Side, and Talcott Elementary in West Town -- offers a look at how students in three areas of the city have been affected by violence.

Hardest hit were fifth- through eighth-graders. Half know a friend or relative who has been shot at. And more than a third have lost a relative or friend to gun violence.

Experts warn such experiences can have academic, social, behavioral and emotional repercussions.

Talcott teacher Lilli Reyes has seen the impact in her classroom of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders, many recent arrivals to this country.

"My students are kept indoors to avoid problems with gang-bangers,'' Reyes said. As a result, many have "surface knowledge'' but not the "deep knowledge'' of the world outside that enhances reading comprehension, Reyes said.

"They can tell me what a squirrel is, but they can't tell me it buries nuts,'' Reyes said. "I had to explain what 'wade' was. They don't know because they have not gone swimming. They have to be kept in the house.''

Sexton teacher Corinne Madden said many of her second-grade students are "almost house-bound.'' In math class, Madden said, she's asked kids to measure a part of the outside their homes and "they say, 'I can't. I can't go outside.' "

'Double whammy'
At least 86 percent of the students in the three schools surveyed come from low-income homes. For such children, violence-ridden neighborhoods create a layer of risk that can be more damaging academically than poverty, said Michael Woolley, a University of Chicago assistant professor of social work.

"Research supports that the impact of violence is different than and separate from the impact of poverty,'' said Woolley, who analyzed both in a 2006 study.

"You can have poor, low-income neighborhoods that aren't necessarily places that are violent.'' But to have both is "a double whammy." Both can hurt kids, but violence carries the bigger academic drag, his study found.

"Kids who are exposed to violence in neighborhoods perform worse in school, they get worse grades, they have worse behaviors,'' Woolley said.

Sexton's Madden has observed the effects of violence ripple outward, like a stone thrown on a pond. She's made home visits to her students and not seen a single child playing on the street.

By cutting kids off from peers, violence "affects [kids] socially. They don't know how to interact with other children the appropriate way,'' Madden said.

"We have to teach them how to play,'' said Sexton Principal Ginger Bryant. Just getting kids to work together "is hard work,'' she said.

'Parents are in a dilemma'
Many children interviewed by the Sun-Times said that when they do play outside, they usually play close to home by themselves or with a few select playmates -- often siblings or close relatives.

At Talcott, one fourth-grader said she plays on her porch or under a front window, so someone can watch her. Friends rarely visit; she mostly sees them at school. "When I want to play, I tell my dad. We play checkers,'' she said.

When Little Village fifth-grader Maricruz Modesto goes outside, she often just kicks a ball against a wall of her house by herself for 30 minutes.

"There's kids on my block, but they really don't come outside,'' Maricruz said. "They are afraid of gunfire.''

Socializing beyond a child's immediate family in violence-prone neighborhoods can be complicated.

One girl said she is fearful of going to family outings because a relative is a gang "boss'' and he might draw violence. Another is reluctant to play with kids on her block because she doesn't know if their parents are "bad or in gangs.'' A third went to a block party, only to have kids scatter when they heard gunshots.

It's understandable that parents' top priority in violence-prone neighborhoods is keeping their children safe, said Steven Asher, a developmental psychologist at Duke University. For many, that means keeping them inside.

"Parents are in a dilemma here,'' Asher said. "It's a horrible way to have a childhood. At the same time, you can argue that families that are setting those boundaries for their kids are doing the best they can for those kids.''

'Trying to get over it'
Children who are even more directly affected by violence -- who have lost loved ones to violence or witnessed shootings -- can suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, experts warn.

They can act out behaviorally or pull inward. They can be easily agitated or aggravated, or be withdrawn and inattentive. Parents exposed to the same pressures can be more short-tempered with them.

Sometimes trauma victims even "regress backwards,'' into childlike behavior, Miami-Dade's Zenere said.

At Sexton, eighth-grader Ebonie Carter said her "godsister''-- a girl she used to talk to every day -- was shot six years ago, had to learn to talk again, and passed away in May. It was the third friend or relative Ebonie lost to gun violence. A week later, she still had problems concentrating at school and sleeping at home.

"Nobody talks to me the way she did,'' said Ebonie, 15. "It's hurting me. I'm trying to get over it, but I can't.''

When Ebonie hears gunshots, she runs into her bedroom and locks the door, said her mother, who asked not to be named. Sometimes "she'll come and get into bed with me."

"When she hears gun violence, it upsets her. She runs. She starts hollering like she's about to have a nervous breakdown,'' the mom said.

And then there's what experts have dubbed "the startle effect."

"People who have been through these situations are more easily startled, or they are hyper-vigilant to threats," Zenere said.

When firecrackers went off in the neighborhood around Sexton one day, one sixth-grader who has lost three friends or relatives to gun violence said he and four other students dove to the classroom floor. Everyone else stayed at their desks.

Bracing for walk to school
Although kids may feel safer in school than near their house, "whether they feel safe is another question,'' said Patrick Tolan, professor of psychiatry and director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

One Little Village Academy fifth-grader said that on the way to school every day, he walks by a makeshift memorial to a CPS student who was shot to death.

"He was just a kid,'' the 11-year-old said. "It makes me feel scared because one day, I might get shot.''

Violence can affect kids even if they haven't lost a loved one to it, experts say. The mere fear of violence can interfere with learning. Just walking to school can set kids on edge.

"You're supposed to come sit down [in class], but you will still be physiologically on alert, so it will be difficult to really focus on academics,'' Tolan said. "Let's say it's only for 45 minutes. . . . Then, 45 minutes before you get ready to go home, you have to start steeling yourself for taking that walk. Let's say that's another 45 minutes. That's enough to make a huge difference in what you can learn. That's essentially one less day of school a week.''

U. of C.'s Woolley said he was very concerned that half of the fifth- through eighth-graders surveyed said their "greatest fear'' was gun-related.

"A lot of these kids are walking around afraid,'' Woolley said. "It's disturbing -- and in some ways it's unacceptable.''

Contributing: Laura Castro

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/ ... 6.article#

Welcome to "Sanctuary City USA" where criminals can move around freely terrorizing citizens with the blessing of the local politicians!

As long as illegal aliens can "come out of the shadows", who cares if citizens are violated, right?

SHUT DOWN OUR SCHOOLS AND HOMESCHOOL

GIVE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM SOMETHING TO THINK OVER, WHO PAYS THEIR BILLS

Don't you just love the way that the article implies that if guns were banned everything would be just peachy? Guns are NOT the problem, and law breaking criminals are NOT going to surrender their guns. Only law abiding citizens will do that. And who will then be left with guns? Yep, the CRIMINALS. Sure, that will work.

Originally Posted by Disillusioned

Don't you just love the way that the article implies that if guns were banned everything would be just peachy? Guns are NOT the problem, and law breaking criminals are NOT going to surrender their guns. Only law abiding citizens will do that. And who will then be left with guns? Yep, the CRIMINALS. Sure, that will work.

Actually they currently have a ban in Chicago. They also have frequent drives where they pay the criminals to turn them in no questions asked.

It's not the guns its the IA sanctuary protected owners of the guns.

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A U.S. Supreme Court decision has been the talk of the nation on Thursday. A handgun ban in Washington, D.C. has been struck down by the high court.

As expected, strong reaction has been pouring in on both sides of this emotional issue.

Gun control advocates like Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley were outraged, while gun rights activists have already sued to overturn a similar ban in Chicago.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/supreme.co ... 57471.html

Chicago is just one more example of what the illegals are doing for our country....


Illegals must go to their home country now!