In the same city, the same windy city, where young Barry Obama walked through the streets to organize a community…the same city where Walter needed a Refrigerator to win a Super Bowl…the same city that in ‘68 made students run for their lives…the same city that needed Common Sense to understand the Twisted rhymes of a rapper…a city whose doors were opened up by Mr. West…a windy, cold city that we call “The Chi.” In this same city, Chi-Town, The Windy, The Chi, Chicago — this same city…has been brought to her knees…and we fall right there with her.

My body shakes. My skin tightens. My head aches. My eyes tear. My heart hurts. Because on the streets of the Chi, we witnessed hope lost. We witnessed the result of a heavyweight championship match. Ali vs. Frazier. This was no “Thrilla In Manila” or “Rumble In The Jungle” – this was a defeat that pains every bone in the body. A defeat of humanity. A defeat of our people. A defeat of our nation. A defeat of our hope.

I remember sitting on the steps of an abandoned house in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2002, having a conversation with Leifel Jackson, better known on the streets as “OG” aka Original Gangster. I was there to produce a film for HBO about the 10-year street war between the Bloods and Crips in Little Rock, which at one point had a higher murder rate (per capita) than LA and New York. Leifel, the leader of the Crips and who had a federal number for 10 years, was back in the hood, trying to uplift his people in a positive way. And during that conversation, he said to me (and I will never forget it), “a hopeless kid in America is the most dangerous kid in the world.”

And now I wonder, after watching that video – what happened to the hope from Obama? I look at these young people running around the streets and beating each other up, and I see a reflection of myself. I feel I am as much at fault as they are in the tragic killing of Derrion Albert. What have I done to contribute to young people in this country having NO HOPE? I read yesterday that the unemployment rate for 16-24 years old (not in school) is 52%. FIFTY TWO PERCENT. And with that knowledge, how do we even question this type of behavior. If you have no hope, then what do you live for?

After only 8 months in office, are we already running out of hope? Is that all it took? Or did ever really have it? Maybe it was just about rockin a t-shirt or throwin a poster on your wall? Whatever hope we thought we had, WE OFF THAT.

However, I am going to take this moment to look deep inside myself and ask myself whether I really want to help make our future better. This is not about one man, in one office, in one house. This about is our generation taking control of that four letter word, and creating real opportunities for all. We know when we watch that video, that that is not the America we dream of. That is not the America we fought for. That is not the America we built with our bare hands. That is not the America we are proud of. That is not the America that we want to be.

I ask you, what America do you want? And are you ready to do something about it?

-Michael Skolnik

We gotta do better yall. This was a senseless act of violence and my heart breaks for the mother, family, and friends that had to watch their loved one get killed.

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