We come to you with a heavy heart today as we remember a young soul that was taking from this earth one year ago today. Young Derrion Albert, a Chicago honor student from Christian Fenger Academy High School, was the victim of a violent after school fight where things turned deadly and Derrion lost his life. Derrion’s death made national headlines and even made the Department of Justice take notice of the increasing youth violence that was plaguing, not only the Chicago streets, but the streets across America.
On October 7, 2009 Department of Justice, Attorney General, Eric Holder held a press conference in Chicago two weeks after Derrions beating death and promised:
“We need to have a sustained national effort to address youth violence. We simply cannot stand for an epidemic of violence that robs our youth of their childhood and perpetuates a cycle in which today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals,”
Sadly Mr. Holder you didn’t keep your promise, because a year since Derrion’s death more and more of our youth have lost their lives to senseless violence. Looking at the facts, in Chicago alone from 1/2/2010 to now, 284 homicides have occurred from gunshots, and out of those 284 of those homicides 101 were either 21 or under and overwhelmingly young people of color. These numbers are crazy and this is only Chicago, so can you imagine the numbers nationwide?
Since Derrion’s death we’ve informed our audience on many of the young people across our country who have died by the hands of violence. Today we remember that they have names.
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OCTOBER/2009
Kevin Miller, was gunned down Friday in Cambria Heights, a freshman at Humanities and the Arts Magnet High School, was shot in the head about 3 p.m. after he and a friend stumbled upon a fight near Campus Magnet High School Linden and Springfield Blvds.
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JANUARY/2010
Marquel Peters and his family were sitting in a smaller sanctuary with about 150 other people when a stray bullet killed the 4-year-old child while he was sitting in a Decatur church with his family.
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MAY/2010
Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was asleep on the living room sofa in her family’s apartment when Detroit police busted in with their guns blazing. They were looking for a homicide suspect who lived on the second floor of the house.
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JULY/2010
A young man by the name of Robert Freeman, a 13 year old from the 11500 block of South Perry Avenue in West Pullman who was doing what all 13 year old’s do, hanging out on hot summer night. But this night wasn’t your normal summer night hangout, this was the night young Robert
