Tidings of Good Cheer

In the midst of planning holiday parties, family dinners and tidings of good cheer, the news in Chicago is still filled with death and violence.

Chicago Police are trying to stem the tide through the public relations release that the city recorded its lowest number of homicides in 2013, and programs such as teaching officers “police legitimacy”, a training based on research that suggests that when police treat citizens with respect, police receive more trust and compliance from citizens. No, I didn’t make that one up; I heard it on WBEZ this morning http://tinyurl.com/k2uuut7.

Whether you like him or not, Rev. Al Sharpton has come to town, moving into a temporary apartment in the Austin neighborhood in order to shine a spotlight on the problem. He says that this is part of his effort to call attention to the crisis of violence in cities. Rev. Sharpton has stated that he plans on offering some solutions to gun violence between now and January 20, 2014, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday http://tinyurl.com/le4rud7.

I believe that listening and talking to people is a good way to understand and create change to many situations but as Alderman Beale suggested, no one can come into Chicago for a couple of months and solve problems that we have been living with for years.

That being said, I am asking that you consider supporting a Kickstarter project http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1457784394/we-all-we-got. You don’t have to give more than a dollar but every dollar helps. Chicago photographer Carlos Javier Ortiz has been documenting youth violence in Chicago and other U.S. cities since 2006. The project was titled ‘Too Young To Die”. He has finally decided to publish this work in a book titled We All We Got, which collects his photographs, as well as essays and interviews with the victims, survivors, perpetrators, friends and families affected by youth violence. Ortiz, in an interview with CBS News, said he wanted to transform the perception that it isn’t about “those people” it’s just about people; people who aren’t a statistic, neighborhoods that aren’t just about victims but flesh and blood people; people who like all of us are celebrating the holidays, a time of love and peace and new beginnings.

At P3, we hope that friends and family surround you. We continue to work towards our goal of empowering young people, redeeming neighborhood jewels and creating opportunities for people to engage in real-world successes.