Chicago, Illinois is one of the most popular and soulful cities in the U.S. Now I’ve never been to the chi, but I would love to visit this great city one day. Being a city boy from New York City, I can understand why I want to visit Chicago. The city life is a great life. Cities like Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami have been viewed as dangerous. That was back in the day though, now Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. My question is why? Why is there so much anger coming from such a great city? I just don’t get it, people are killing each other for no apparent reason. In my eyes, I think this anger is coming from the economic crisis that we’re all experiencing. Some might agree with me, while others might disagree with me. The other problem is the school system in Chicago. This isn’t just a problem in the Chi, it’s a problem all over the U.S. Kids are dropping out of school or shooting up a school. For example the death of Derrion Albert, which was uncalled for. It’s just outrageous how the youth gets caught up in this mess. The youth are in trouble and the ‘Windy City’ is in a state of emergency.
So what can we do to help? For one the police needs to get tougher. A few months ago I was looking at the FBI’s 25 most deadliest Cities list. To be honest I was expecting Chicago to be number one. To my surprise it was actually number fifteen. As I looked at the comments I was disgusted. The most ignorant comments were written. Some people were actually glad their city was on this despicable list. One thing that I was happy but surprised about was that, New York wasn’t on the list. Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Harlem, and so on. I couldn’t believe it, I was so proud of my home turf. I know why New York wasn’t on the list, our police got tougher. Something Chicago cops need to do. New York is so strict on people carrying guns. Just look at some famous people who got sentenced for carrying a gun in New York. Plaxico Burress and Lil’ Wayne are two great examples. Chicago needs to step it up extremely fast.
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Hip-Hop has been a great help to the tragedies of Chicago. Very few rappers have tried to encourage the youth in Chicago to stop the violence. Nas, David Banner, Common, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and many more. In my opinion we need more, this is a serious issue. Most rappers are way too worried about their money, cars, and ‘swag’. I think those necessities are useless. Yes I know it’s not a rappers’ job to care about social issues. But alot of rappers’ say they rep the hood. What about the ghettos in Chicago. Shouldn’t they atleast be inspired and motivated to do right not wrong? Their environment has absolutely nothing to do with their actions. I grew up in the projects for most of my sixteen year old life. How did I turn out so far? Well I’m an honor student in my freshman year of high school. I don’t hang with the gangters’ or the drug dealers. I want a positive future for not only myself, but my future family.
Now I now I’m only fifteen, but I saying something meaningful. Something most people my age don’t care about. I hope that one day people will just care about these tragic issues. But more importantly, I hope that the youth in this country can just stop the violence once and for all. I know it is very unlikely, but like President Obama believed, hope, is what we need. Hope is what will help not only Chicago, but the whole world…
-William Munnerlyn
