Mark_Allen's Blog

  Police & School Leaders Arrogance & Swollen Egos Will Get Kids Killed  

Contact Mark S. Allen @ 773-392-0165  

The new safety initiatives for Chicago Public Schools reflects the swollen egos and arrogance of police and school officials not to use exiting programs that worked successfully versus continually trying to prove that they can prevent more school violence and killings without going back to the program that worked. Programs that used to have the active and systematic public support of the Mayor, Cardinal George, former Chicago Police Chiefs Cline and Starks, and the majority of major media outlets. Despite many personal and public appeals to these officials to return to support the programs and relationships that worked, they continue to try to do it without them while our children CONTINUE to die!!. How or why do we allow the arrogance and swollen egos of these officials to take precedent over the lives of our children? Let our children continue to be killed while police and school officials continue to try new initiatives and absolutely REFUSE to go back and embrace the partnerships that used to work when shootings and violent crimes WERE DOWN !!  

A visit to the website of Ceasefire (www.ceasefireillinois.org) clearly verifies how school violence and killings were down when this group and others were fully funded to provide crime prevention and intervention in EVERY area where Chicago Public School students have been victims of killings and other violent crimes. With this kind of public documentation, the Mayor, school, new police chief have done everything BUT go back and help restore those former partnerships. The Mayor has raised more money for the future Olympics versus "right now" monies for helping to restore successful crime intervention and prevention of the group Ceasefire and others. Then they unfairly place the funding blame on the State alone when these kids are being hurt and killed in multiple legislative jurisdictions. While the Governor has tried to restore some levels of funding from the State, there has been no new funding from the City, State, County, Federal levels of government and other private funding outlets including major media charities.  

 It was irresponsible for the police Chief to allow a public school student to be publicly displayed for all to see as an official point person (AND target) for when someone is turned in to police with this new text messaging project, as if the recent downfall of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick did not make it clear that there is no such thing as confidential text messaging. When crime was down, school kids and others had ongoing relationships with "Violence Interrupters" who were street-wise individuals from these high crime neighborhoods who were then able to use their connections to actively mediate conflicts and prevent shootings and other acts of violence. Why now put kids in harms way by having their faces shown on all major media outlets. God forbid that something harmful should happen to the students publicly identified, but the City has out itself in line for a major lawsuit if any threats or harm comes to any student they allowed to be publicly shown as a source of whomever may be turned in through this new text messaging process to police.  

The former major media editorials, the former public partnerships and participation of the Mayor and former Police Chiefs Cline and Starks and their public testimonies and the lives of our children are ALL reasons why groups like Ceasefire and others MUST have their full time intervention and prevention efforts immediately restored in all the areas where they used to successfully help prevent acts of violence and killings. Unfortunately, these groups have almost been relegated to organizing marches and vigils after acts of violence and deaths versus their hands-on abilities to mediate conflicts and prevent violence and killings.  

School and Police officials are going to have to explain to the next victims of violence and shootings why these deaths are in part their "own fault" for CONTINUING NOT to work to restore the existing and new funding for groups like Ceasefire and others,again, who used to successfully stop the violence and killings in EVERY area where Chicago Public School students are currently being hurt and killed. While it may not stop EVERY death, restoring the former relationship and partnership with Ceasefire and others will certainly save more of our children's lives than these current efforts of schools and police are doing now. And didn't Arne Duncan and other just get through saying how NOT to use students in these "Adult" responsibilities and then allow students to be in a press conference that clearly makes them a target? *******************************************************

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Recently included in the 2007-08 edition of Who's Who In Black Chicago, and listed in Who's Who Among African Americans.  Mark S. Allen is a veteran community/political activist with over 32 years of public service on local, state, and national levels, including 7 years as a national staff member to the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Allen is a former talk show host on the legendary news/talk station WVON-AM. He is currently the Associate Editor of The South Street Journal Newspaper.