The windy, cold air didn’t stop about 40 South Side children from marching through the Woodlawn community Saturday asking for adults to step up and be responsible.
Holding signs high that read “Stop the Violence” and chanting “Down with dope, up with hope,” students from area schools, including a few parents and a baby in a stroller, marched from 61st Street and Eberhart Avenue to King Drive demanding that the adults in the neighborhood do more to look out for the children and stop showing them bad examples.
“Don’t be cruel, don’t be no fool. Stop the violence and break the silence,” Deandre Edwards said as he rallied down King Drive.
The 14-year-old student at Foster Park School said all he wants is to see peace in his neighborhood, and hopefully it will spread to other areas.
“This nonsense needs to stop. I want to be able to play outside and not worry about getting hurt,” the 7th grade student said.
Jeane Clark, president of the 61st Street and Rhodes Avenue block club, said there is just too much crime in that neighborhood, and the kids really can’t move around like they should.
“They don’t want to be held hostage like they are prisoners. We all need to be supportive of them and what they are trying to do. They want the adults to step up and be more accountable. They need to urge their parents to be more cooperative with the police,” Clark said while marching with the youth, as the children could be heard in the background saying, “I want my mommy, I want my daddy, I want my sister, I want my brother.”
A 12-year-old girl from Emmett Till Math and Science Academy said she would rather spend her Saturday afternoon helping to spread the message about stopping the violence than hearing about another child being killed.
“The kids have to step up and let the adults know that they need to step up. It’s more of their job to help stop the mess than us. We’re just kids,” said Garical Green, a 7th grader at Emmett Till.
Marching with Clark and the students was Chicago police Grand Crossing District Cmdr. Lillian Crump-Hales.
“The kids deemed it necessary to bring the awareness and let the parents know it’s their responsibility also to tackle this issue. The police department will support the kids in all of their efforts. We are in their corner,” said Crump-Hales.
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