I will never be able to understand how this happens and how people have such little regard for life. She was 17... 17... you remember 17.. thinking about prom and college and all the promise that tomorrow had. There is no tomorrow for this young lady..
I don't know.. maybe I'm getting older and more frustrated or maybe my desensitization of city living is wearing thin but it seems as if every murder of a young person cuts like it was my own niece, nephew, or little brother or sister. We need a commitment from strong, brilliant young people to be mentors, community workers, teachers, and policy changers to alter what's happening in our community.
I read the words on ChicagoTribune.com of someone who commented about this story. He said, "I can't wait to move from this neighborhood." I can't blame him because if I had a wife and children to worry about I don't think i would subject them to the chance of violence our city streets have these days... but for those of us who have the opportunity to act. Let's do it...
I ask you to work through your church, local outreach center, or Big Brothers Big Sisters program to find these young people and give them another option. Let's open our condo, apartment, and home doors to show someone who may never see young people like us. Let's show them that there there are choices out there. I urge you to run for office and change the political machine that is stagnant and stalled on making policy that actually helps people. Finally, I encourage you to continue to climb corporate ladders to gain leadership positions in companies who believe in and contribute to the communal good.
I remember some years back I saw promise in a young man in my neighborhood. I didn't know him very well. He was my neighbor's son and he had always been the young fella on
the block who just played outside. From our conversations I could tell he was smart. I was just graduating from college when he was a high school senior and we talked about his plans. He said he wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do but he was either going to stay local and go to a tech school or work a while and then try and go to school. I found out he had a great ACT score and very good grades and I encouraged him to just apply to a couple of schools. I told him about my wonderful college experience and that he needed to go to get away from the old friends and trap of the neighborhood. I am so proud to say he did and graduated this past spring.
It only took 2 or 3 conversations and some encouraging words through the years to motivate him to make college happen for himself. That's it! It may not always be that easy and it may not always work but it's worth a try. I'm starting with the young men around me.. I'm picking my 16 year old cousin up to spend the day with him Saturday and taking one of the lil' brothers to lunch to talk about school on Tuesday.. It's time.. Our young people have hope and promise.. I know they do..
Jeff Beckham....
IF I TAGGED YOU IN THIS NOTE IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE OUTSTANDING NATURE TO CHANGE SOMEONE'S LIFE... YOU MAY ALREADY BE DOING IT>> PASS THIS ON PLEASE..
17-year-old girl shot to death on CTA bus
October 6, 2008 at 8:10 AM
Police said this morning that a 17-year-old girl may have been the unintended victim of a fatal shooting into a CTA bus on the South Side Sunday night.
Paramedics took Kiyanna Salters (right), of the 11300 block of South Racine Avenue, to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 10:32 p.m., according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Salters was a student at Julian High School on the South Side, according to WGN-Ch. 9, the same school as 16-year-old Blair Holt, who was similarly shot to death on a CTA bus in May 2007. Holt was the son of a Chicago police sargeant. Two teens have been charged in connection with his slaying.
The shooting happened around 10 p.m. at Cottage Grove and 71st Street on a No. 71 bus that runs from 69th and 112th streets, said Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Sheila Gregory.
Police said a man on the bus got into an argument with another person, then got off and fired back into the vehicle before running in an unknown direction.
It was unclear if victim was the gunman's intended target, police said.
No one else on the bus was injured, officials said. Calumet Area detectives are still investigating the incident.
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