At least 65 people were shot, 13 fatally Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-6) which is generally a time that most notably marks the winding down of summer fun before students head back to school. Victims varied and included teenagers, young adults and an 80-year-old man. Last year, Labor Day weekend saw 46 wounded and nine killed. At Final Call presstime there were a reported 2,959 people shot in Chicago so far this year compared to 2,988 for all of 2015.
Several grassroots organizations and community groups worked tirelessly with little to no money and resources to try and quell potential violence during the weekend as part of the Chicago Community Peace Surge. Their efforts were also in response to a memo released earlier in the summer from the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police urging its members to avoid working mandatory overtime during that weekend.
The objective, explained surge organizers was to concentrate on preventative efforts in 10 high crime areas of the city where residents and volunteers would engage in community outreach by picking up trash, engaging in positive activities with youth, talking with local business owners and residents and cooking food to give away. Men, women, young adults and children participated.
Jeffrey Muhammad, co-chair of the Chicago Justice or Else Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and a peace surge coordinator said groups with a proven track record and history of implementing effective programs and engaging in transformative, redemptive and educational community work should be allocated the necessary and available resources to do what needs to be done.
“If the citizens of Chicago, the city government of Chicago and those with proper resources in Chicago would distribute and allocate those resources to organizations … then what we were able to accomplish with the permission of God, if given more help we could help to stem the murder and crime rate in Chicago,” said Mr. Muhammad.