![]() ![]() "I had been to a basketball game at Christ The King where Isiah Thomas was there, but I had come early and he and I were talking," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "and he made the offer to me, it goes back to November, he says 'You know I want to do anything to help kids, you know, get off the street, and whatever I can do, we're going to do.'"Ī week or so later, Thomas and Emanuel met in the mayor's office and came up with an idea. Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who grew up on the city's West Side, helped organize two tournaments last summer that brought together members of rival gangs. The violence captured the attention of one of Chicago's most famous basketball sons. "It's a big concern, because I know like the stuff that goes on around here, I know it's like a war zone right now, different gangs and stuff like that," said Robert Milligan, 18, another King College student. A 6-month-old girl died on March 12 after a gunman ambushed her father while she was sitting in his lap in a minivan. ![]() Janay McFarlane, 18, was killed on the same February day that her 14-year-old sister attended a speech by Obama pushing for gun control legislation. 29 as she talked with friends after school in a park about a mile from Obama's Chicago home. ![]() There was a drop in February and March, but the drumbeat of heartache kept going. "We was actually in here playing basketball when she got killed."Ī torrent of gang violence pushed Chicago above 500 homicides last year for the first time since 2008, then 40 more people were killed in the city's deadliest January in more than a decade. It was sad," said Marcus Burks, 17, who attends King College Prep High School. A handful of players went to school with Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old drum majorette who performed at events surrounding President Barack Obama's second inauguration and was gunned down in a nearby park just two months ago. The bustling gym is, in fact, a sanctuary for some of them. Park Supervisor Renee Shepherd shuffles in and out, making sure everyone signs in on this chilly evening on Chicago's South Side.Ībout 80 teenagers are here as the games really get going. Duryea Wright, two years older, makes a couple of long 3-pointers despite the low ceiling, drawing a "You better guard him" comment from one of the boys waiting for a turn. Peorrie Celestine is among the first on the basketball court, and his father, Pierre, just loves to talk about his 13-year-old son's ability to dunk on an 8-foot rim. CHICAGO (AP) - It's Friday night in a dangerous Chicago neighborhood, and a steady stream of teenagers slip inside the gym at Kennicott Park. ![]()
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