U.S. Attorney General Addresses Chicago Violence

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the right things during his visit to Chicago to discuss youth violence.

He promised more federal aid to attack the problem, specifically a $500,000 emergency grant to the high school that slain student Derrion Albert attended. He also noted that the Obama administration has requested $25 million for community-based crime-prevention programs in next year's budget.

Holder also made sure to note that the problem of youth violence isn't just a Chicago issue. Holder highlighted a study on youth violence by the Department of Justice that showed 60 percent of respondents had been exposed to violence in the past year, and nearly half had been assaulted at least once:

"Youth violence is not a Chicago problem any more than it is a black problem, a white problem or a Hispanic problem," Holder said. "It is an American problem."

Bravo. Bravo.

But none of this addresses the real problem that allowed Albert, a 16-year-old honors student, to be bashed in the head with a busted railroad tie and kicked and beaten while he lay on the ground: The lack of parental and adult intervention in young people's lives.Albert's mother said adults are now scared of children, and I think she's right. That's why I like the plan being put forward by Ron Huberman, the chief of Chicago Public Schools. The $60-million plan, to be financed by stimulus money, calls for analyzing 500 students shot over the past two years in an effort to identify the 10,000 students most at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. And then, according to an article in the New York Times, the goal is to begin "saturating them with adult attention, including giving each of them a paid job and a local advocate who would be on call for support 24 hours a day."

That's just another way of saying adult supervision and intervention.

If implemented properly, this plan could allow the adults in our community to finally step up. The plan would provide an easy avenue in to a child's life. If you're a parent with well-behaved kids, then you could take on another kid. If you're a parent who is losing control of your kids, then maybe this program can assist you. If you are a business owner, maybe you can have a kid work for you while influencing that child's life for the better.

As the New York Times article points out, it is an incredibly ambitious plan, but it is the type of risk that needs to be taken so there are no more Derrion Alberts.

Some Chicago parents are frustrated that the plan focuses on only 10,000 children.

"We're living a nightmare," Stacey Willis, a parent of a high school sophomore, told the New York Times, "and the community is very upset."

Well, the first step to end a nightmare is to wake up. Let's attack the most-at-risk kids who, in committing violent acts, can affect a kid like Derrion Albert. Parents can also wake up and provide the human resources to make sure the program is a success.

Chicago students said they appreciated Holder's visit.

"It's up to us to make a change," junior Shanequa Burgess, 17, told the Associated Press. "All of these adults are doing what they need to do to help us."

Shanequa has half of that right. Teens who are doing the right thing can serve as an influence on their peers, but adults, and parents in particular, can and must do more. So many young lives depend on us taking action. I think Eric Holder would agree with that.