‘That’s all I’m trying to do’: Surviving Chicago’s epic gun violence

Growing up in dangerous neighborhoods stifles opportunity, making higher education a luxury for some

September 12, 2014 2:00PM ET

by Hashem Said @hash_said

“You never know what’s going to happen in Chicago,” said North Lawndale high school senior Maurice Massonburg. “You walk down the street, you’ll probably get shot.”

In a city plagued by gang warfare, over 80 percent of all murders are committed with a gun — the national average being 69 percent — and nearly all of those shootings involved handguns. Last year, 11 percent of murder victims in Chicago were under the age of 18.

Chicago — dubbed Chiraq by locals, with more people shot dead in 2013 than American soldiers killed in Iraq since Obama’s inauguration — leads the nation in murders. The city sees more annual homicides than New York City and Los Angeles, which both have significantly greater populations. However, the Windy City is still far from being the America's per capita murder capital.

Homicides in America's largest cities

Source: FBI, Chicago Police Department.

“What’s the point of doing better when any moment in Chicago can be your last?” asked Massonburg, who struggled with whether to become the first in his family to experience higher education.

According to Norman Livingston Kerr, director of violence prevention services for local anti-violence group UCAN, many young people are traumatized by violent environments. UCAN, which hopes to turn victims into leaders, annually reaches out to 10,000 youths and their families, hoping to build relationships and provide guidance.

“Young people who witness other people get shot or brutally beaten — it’s traumatic, and it affects them,” he said. “You have young people who won’t go to school because they may see violence on the way to school. Sometimes it takes place in school.”

Kerr said this can lead to poor academic performance. “When a teacher asks ‘What’s going on with you?’ this is what they’re experiencing,” he said.

Growing up in a poor neighborhood of a metropolis divided by class and race often contributes to alienation and frustration.

Maurice Massonburg has been grazed by a bullet.

Black males in the United States who have not completed high school are five times as likely to die from homicide than those with a college degree.

Gangs can contribute to dwindling career prospects, Kerr said. The legacy can even run in the family, becoming generational. “You have grandparents who were gang members or are still gang members, and this is the influence we see in some of the households,” he explained.

Compounding the effects of poverty, the violence afflicting some neighborhoods “takes it to the next level,” according to Kerr, weakening the educational infrastructure.

On average, university graduates earn over 60 percent more income than those who have only a high school diploma.

Nationally, only 52 percent of black males graduate from high school, compared with 78 percent of white males. Just 34 percent of black males enroll in college, as opposed to 38 percent of white males.

“If you don’t go to college, you’re going to be stuck here,” says Massonburg, who hesitated about continuing his education after one of his best friends was shot.

Kerr wasn’t surprised to hear of Massonburg’s dilemma, saying schoolwork and test taking can become secondary. “Their priority is how to keep themselves safe,” said Kerr.

Massonburg, who grew up in Chicago’s sixth-most-violent neighborhood, North Lawndale, also faces the challenge of coming from a single-parent household. Over half of black kids grow up without a father, putting them in a category of people more statistically likely to to do poorly in school, commit crimes and use drugs.

“If you don’t see anything different, there’s no way of seeing anything better,” Massonburg said of his neighborhood. “So I may as well become what I’m surrounded by.”

“We all live for the moment. That’s all I’m trying to do.”

Al Jazeera America presents an intimate look at the lives of teenagers at the crossroads of now and the future on “Edge of Eighteen.” Fifteen stories. One incredible journey. Tune in Sunday at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.