South Side teens look inward to end gun violence

David Rojas dreams of going to college, but the high school sophomore is afraid to think that far ahead. Instead, he focuses on making it through each day alive.

"I live one day at a time," said Rojas, 17. "I can't step forward, because I don't know what's going to happen right the next day, or like in a few minutes . in my community, it's unpredictable."

It's the gang violence that makes each day a trial for teens in Little Village, Rojas' South Side neighborhood.

"The thing is that, gangs are always going to be there," Rojas said. "No matter if you do a march, if you do a parade, if you do any type of thing . gangs is one of the main factors; it's never going to end."

For Rojas, the recent influx of violence on Chicago's south and west sides is nothing new. Gang violence has been a way of life in his neighborhood.

A year ago his best friend was killed in a gang assault.

Early Wednesday morning, three of his neighbors were found shot to death in their home.

Although his friend was not in a gang, Rojas suspects it was gang members who singled him out simply because he was wearing his hat sideways.

These tragedies are a constant reality for Rojas and many of his friends who are members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago. On Wednesday night, the clubs came together at a teen town hall meeting to discuss their views on the escalating gun violence in their communities.

"The purpose of being here today," said club staff member Laraj Thomas, "Is you all, not us, coming up with the solutions."

Thomas, a club member for 11 years and a staff member for five, ran one of the group discussions, posing questions to the teen members such as: How safe do you feel in your neighborhood, school or club? What are the issues facing teens and how can we resolve them?

Ron Holt, the town hall's keynote speaker related to the teen members by sharing his story. The 17-year Chicago police veteran lost his 16-year-old son, Blair, last May to gun violence while riding home on the bus.

Now an activist against gun violence and the president of the nonprofit group, Purpose Over Pain, Holt's main message to teens is: "Education, not incarceration. Each one, teach one, reach one."

Holt believes that the solution to the gun violence doesn't lie only in the hands of the government, police or parents, but in the hands of the teens themselves.

"The young people here, who are not in trouble . they are the ones who can make the connection to the youth who are at risk out there on the streets. That is the actual street intervention," Holt said. "It's the youth who are really going to have to be motivated to reach out to that at-risk group of young people. I think that was critically important today."

As for Rojas, he believes that it will take a city-wide effort in order to stop the violence.

"We gotta tell the cops that they gotta get their stuff together, and we gotta get our stuff together." Rojas said. "We gotta do this, not just the community, but the whole city. Cause we lost 24 kids already, and one out of those 24 kids, was my best friend."