http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...3ejPBA&usg=AFrqEzfXWcJSZrkEyUPjRJR_dsWNcQ_WjA
It doesn't sound like guns are the problem to me.By Carlos Sadovi | Tribune reporter
12:48 PM CDT, April 1, 2008
Addressing several hundred students at an anti-violence rally outside the Thompson Center on Tuesday, Mayor Richard Daley pointed to more than 20 empty desks surrounding the podium. Each one represents a Chicago Public Schools student murdered in this school year, he said.
He urged the students to tell authorities if someone has a firearm in their schools.
"Tell someone there is a gun," he said. "You will be protecting a child from being shot."
The demonstration, spurred by the murder of a student outside Simeon Career Academy on Saturday, was organized to urge state legislators to enact stiffer gun laws.
The protest comes in the wake of Saturday's slaying of Chavez Clarke, 18. On Monday two Dunbar Vocational Career Academy students who also had been taking Saturday classes at Simeon -- Samuel Hill, 17, and Ronald Little, 19 -- were charged with Clarke's killing.
Clarke is the 22nd Chicago Public Schools student killed since September, the 20th by gun violence, according to the district.
Addressing the students at the rally, political and religious leaders alike blasted state lawmakers for failing to come up with comprehensive statewide gun laws.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich encouraged the students at the demonstration to go to the state capital to push lawmakers to toughen up the gun laws. Referring to the numerous killings this school year, he said, "It's happened year after year and time after time."
Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan estimated that 800 to 1,000 students attended the demonstration.
They marched around the Thompson Center, holding banners and posters with the photographs and names of their murdered classmates on them.
"Stop the violence, save the children," they chanted in unison. Signs they carried stated "Pass common sense gun laws" and "Don't shoot. I want to grow up."
The concerned students called for an increase in school security and police efforts to take guns off the streets.
"In Chicago, getting the gun is as easy as going to a club with a fake ID," said Corine Minniefield, 18, a junior at Banner Linc Academy Alternative High School on the West Side.
"You can get a gun from your big brother or your big sister or your uncle," said Shardonen Thompson, 18, also a student at the academy, 5035 W. North Ave.
Simeon Principal Tamara Sterling said that after Clarke was killed, other students began to send her e-mails saying they wanted to go to city and state officials to tell them the killings are taking a toll on them.
Clarke was enrolled at Hyde Park Career Academy but was taking Saturday classes at Simeon to graduate in June, school officials said.
Clarke's slaying, like every other student killing this year, left Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan speaking about the need to get rid of guns and hold manufacturers accountable. Last year in CPS a record 34 students were killed during the school year.
Tuesday's rally will put more heat on lawmakers, Duncan said.
"This is a public health epidemic. We are struggling to find the cure for AIDS, we are struggling to find the cure for cancer; we know the cure for this public health epidemic -- getting rid of guns," said Duncan. "We need political courage."
