Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

“We have become the target of whomever these shooters are”

Posted in:

Illinois

The usually bustling corner of Stewart Avenue and 75th Street seems emptier now without Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire.

The two mothers were familiar faces at the Englewood intersection, where the group Mothers Against Senseless Killings has camped out every day during the summer since 2015 — hoping to break the cycle of violence in the neighborhood by transforming a corner with a history of bloodshed into a lively hangout for mothers and their children.

Just before 10 p.m. Friday, Grant and Stoudemire were standing at the corner when a blue SUV passed by and someone opened fire, according to Chicago police. Both women were shot several times in the chest and died at University of Chicago Medical Center. A man was hit in the arm and was stabilized at St. Bernard Hospital.

Police had no motive and have made no arrests.

MASK founder Tamar Manasseh called the shooting “one of the saddest nights of my life.”

* Kelly Bauer at Block Club Chicago…

Tamar Manasseh, the founder of the group, held a press conference at the corner Sunday. Manasseh’s work has led to investment in the area, including the creation of Block Academy, a community resource center that will give teens and young adults the opportunity to finish their high school education. […]

“Andrea and Chantell were the second and third women to be shot out here in a month,” [Manasseh] said. “I take that as a personal threat. When you come for one of us, you better believe they came for all of us.” […]

“The murder of a woman brought us to that corner, so there’s no way we’re going to let the murder of another drive us away.”

* The group has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for information about the killings…

In the past month 3 young women, mothers, have been shot within a hundred feet of where MASKChicago/ Mothers & Men Against Senseless Killilng hang out, where our children come to play and eat dinner every night, where we have worked and invested in building a school and community resource center. On July 26th at 10 pm two of them died.

They weren’t in gangs, associating with the wrong people, in the wrong place at the wrong time, or any of the other things they tell us so we blame the victims instead of the shooters who no one seems to be able to catch.

They were just women, just like me, like you, and we have become the target of whomever these shooters are.

LET ME BE CLEAR: MAKING EVEN ONE OF US A TARGET MAKES ALL OF US, EVERYWHERE, TARGETS!

At this point, I don’t know if I’m more afraid for my life or what we are giving the children, our block and the entire community over to if our fear convinces us to leave our corner, abandon our mission, our school, and our people. Therefore, WE AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE.

The murder of a woman brought us to that corner, so there’s no way we’re going to let the murder of another drive us away.

We deserve to live without fear and the young women, Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire who were torn from their children and families on July 26th at the bus stop across from their homes on 75tb and Stewart, deserve justice.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:15 am

Comments

Tattoo it on your forehead: Civilians don’t need military weapons. We can do nothing and watch more of these or we can confront our sick obsession with mass murder weapons.

Comment by Anon E Moose Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:18 am
These horrific problems have very deep roots, like segregation, and are very tough to solve. Why aren’t people in more-affluent areas shooting people like this?

If we have a trillion dollars or more to give away in tax cuts, especially to those who need it least, and we have money and personnel to fight abroad, shame on us that we don’t invest in these communities. The president attacks legislators of color for such deep-rooted problems to keep the GOP base ginned up instead of being the leader we all need to tackle our toughest problems. What a shame.

Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:37 am
Moose the genie is out of the bottle. Unless you are going door to door to take them back that ship has sailed. And even then you would never get them all. What these women on that corner need is armed guard. Call in the Army at this point. Homicide clearance rate demands it. And, no I don’t believe that criminalizes everyone, it would be shocking to see for sure but why is the violence allowed to continue

Comment by D Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:38 am
You’re never going to completely eliminate crime either, but we still work on it. The fact that is it a monumental challenge is not a reason to not do it. Rise to the occasion.

Comment by Anon E Moose Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:42 am
If anything breaks the ‘no snitching’ rule, this is it.

What’s sad is the mothers trying to stop the violence are being stymied by the mothers of the shooters.

Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:48 am
this is just a gut punch. if you don’t believe that people can be evil, this should change that for you.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 11:58 am
A pod camera at the intersection (all of them for that matter) would help.

Comment by Rutro Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:03 pm
Possibly the most complex problem we face in large urban cities across the nation. Not a Republican or Democrat thing. The prior administration had 8 years and raised taxes, and Chicago gang violence was worse then.

Maybe it isn’t possible to solve it. Awful that families have to live in such an environment.

Comment by Jack be quick Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:22 pm
We’re seeing parallel paths of terrorism. One path are primarily urban gang members, acting in concert. The other path are primarily rural loners or loosely affiliated egged on remotely by hatred. The results are the same, dead and wounded, with the goal of power through gun usage, whether for a few minutes or for permanent control. This requires a trans-partisan response which will require many to get out of their ideological comfort zones.

Comment by VerySmallRocks Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:27 pm
No motive? Really?

Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:32 pm
Capitalism is a rapacious and cannibalistic system… a system that is clearly failing…to protect the same people it exploits.

Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:50 pm
Godspeed and Good Luck to these Mothers. As brave and patriotic as anyone serving their community and country today.

Comment by qv3r8- Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 12:55 pm
Issues like this need real solutions - not simple slogans like ban guns. Neither guns nor gun ownership cause this behavior. Better parenting, better policing (including that term broadly to include sentencing), more accountability, and maybe more cameras would make some big dents.

Comment by logic not emotion Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 1:57 pm
Ms. Moose: Please tattoo it on your own forehead. Very few civilians have military weapons. I do know lots of people with AR15s and the like (which some ill-informed people incorrectly label military weapons). Not one has ever hurt anyone. The guns aren’t the problem. The problem is some bad individuals doing bad things. The problem is compounded by misinformed people who advocate for more gun control and lax sentencing for criminals instead of less gun control and stricter sentencing.

Comment by logic not emotion Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 2:07 pm
Ms Moose: Unless we hear differently, assume the shooters used a common handgun. Not a rifle, not a military rifle, not a rifle designed to look like a military rifle, not a long arm of any kind.

They use handguns. The shootings with a rifle are highly publicized, but rare.

FBI keeps stats on this kind of thing. Yes, there are 10,000 deaths a year from firearms that are not suicides. However, “hands and feet” as weapons account for more deaths than all long guns combined, not just semi-auto rifles.

Comment by Shall not be infringed Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 3:07 pm
Seen this?

https://features.propublica.org/aggression-detector/the-unproven-invasive-surveillance-technology-schools-are-using-to-monitor-students/

Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 3:24 pm
Too bad our problems are so complex and unsolvable here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence#/media/File:2010_gun_homicide_rates_in_high-income_countries.png

Comment by fedup Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 4:40 pm
===The shootings with a rifle are highly publicized, but rare. ===

Rare enough to be in the news on a fairly frequent basis

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190730/gilberts-man-charged-with-shooting-ak-47-into-air-near-tollway

Comment by Kentucky Bluegrass x Featherbed Bent x Northern California Sinsemilla Tuesday, Jul 30, 19 @ 6:56 pm