I teach children in one of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods. My day ends with security duty at a bus stop in territory dominated by a notorious GD set. I have broken up gang fights, taken blows and had a gun pointed at me during more than a decade of teaching.
Home is the north side of the city, the geographic mirror opposite my day ending supervision at the 69th street bus stop. I start the car and check my twitter feed as the car warms. Mass shooting near the appartment. Details varied but at least one person dead. Three to four shot. The location a McDonalds my wife and I frequent for coffee before morning walks to the lake with our hound.
It was in September of 2012, walking a calm early Saturday morning from home to the lake. We came across a sight that gave me pause. On the ground outside of Sullivan High School was a piece of lined paper. The paper covered with a depiction of a young man, large square diamond earings in each ear. Written above the drawing, “JoJo World! RIP”
Four teenagers shot, 17 year old Markeyo Carr covered by a sheet on frozen asphalt as my hound looked up forlornly with a frozen paw raised. I bent down, removed a glove and warmed the paw before a quick retreat home. Arriving at the comfort of home I retreated again to my twitter feed with a need to understand why.
It was only a matter of time before I saw Markeyo’s name suddenly populated by those who knew him, photos shared by camera phone and pulled from social media, felt the shock and saddness of those who knew Markeyo… so recently filled with life and energy. I compared the organic flood of primary sources to the slower moving secondary analysis of media.
Today I delivered a lesson to my Englewood students, many of whom understand the reach of violence in a rare way. The lesson looked like this…
Most students initially predicted the gang connection. The Chicago News Report confirmed their suspicion. A review of the first anonymous comment created an “a-ha!” moment where they doubted the near universal conviction that Markeyo died as consequence of gang conflict. This allowed us to talk about the interpretation of primary sources and the construction of secondary interpretations of past events that are both honest and just.
I teach a young man, often suspended and always off task. He called me over. “Mr. Ingleright… My sister knew him”. “I heard the GD’s set him up. The Kings shot him but only cause they had a contract.” Knowing that much of the far north Rogers Park violence rages amongst rival GD sets I paused… “We don’t know the answers yet _________, all we can do is build our skills and hope to understand this mess.” I didn’t know what else to say.
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