I spent last Thursday evening speaking with some youth from the Chicago Freedom School (CFS) about juvenile justice issues for a focus group that I was leading. As usual, every time I speak to young leaders, I get so much energy and my hope is sustained.

It will not come as a surprise to anyone who works with youth of color or talks with them regularly that racial profiling by law enforcement is what they most wanted to discuss. Regular readers will recall that I am one of the founders of CFS. I have to admit that when I was conceiving of the Freedom school, I didn’t think that criminal legal issues would play such a central role in the concerns of the young people who would participate in our programming. Yet these issues are in fact at the forefront of the minds of most of the young people at CFS.

CFS Youth Getting On the EL - Chicago Tribune 6-12-11

Just today, some of the members of the CFS Youth Leadership Board (YLB) are featured on the front page of the Sunday Edition of the Chicago Tribune. Some of the concerns that we spoke about on Thursday evening find expression again in the article which is focused on young people’s responses to the so-called “Chicago youth mob attacks” that took place on the Gold Coast last weekend. Since this incident, Downtown Chicago has been crawling with police officers. This has obviously not gone unnoticed by young people in this city. Here are some wise words by Allie (who is a member of the YLB) about that matter from the article:

Alexandra “Allie” Pates, 17, lives in Hyde Park and said her parents started taking her downtown to the movie theaters, restaurants and stores when she was very young. She said that now she often takes the Metra train downtown with five or six friends, and they sometimes meet up with others, further swelling their ranks.

“People feel threatened by black teens and even more so since the (incidents) happened” last weekend, said Allie, who’s black. “It’s unfortunate because people will buy into the stereotypes even more.”

While she said she believes the police should help maintain safety for everyone, she’s concerned that groups of black teens will face greater scrutiny than others.

“The police seem to assume something negative is going to happen or that you’re up to no good, if you’re a bunch of black kids,” she said. “I’ve never been in trouble in my life, but you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.”

She said she realizes that groups of young people can be intimidating.

“But at the end of the day, we want what everyone wants: to get together and have a good time.”

Allie speaks to the complicated interplay between race, racism, and “suspect” identity. Her final words are instructive though: “we want what everyone wants.” This is wise beyond her 17 years. Then again, Allie is in fact brilliant and has an analysis of the world that eludes people twice her age.

In the next couple of weeks, I will release a report about juvenile arrests in Chicago with my friend and colleague Cait Patterson. The report is part of an ongoing effort to educate our community members about the scope of juvenile arrests in the city. Without hard numbers, too many adults feel that they can remain disengaged from the plight of youth who come into police custody. Just last year there were over 27,000 arrests of juveniles 17 and under in the city of Chicago. Flooding Downtown Chicago with police officers will not stop a small percentage of young people from attacking people. If they are determined to attack folks, they will simply move to an area with less police presence. Instead of putting more cops on the streets downtown, perhaps Mayor Rahm Emmanuel will secure some employment opportunities for the thousands of young people in this city who are without jobs. The youth unemployment rate in Chicago exceeds 50%. As long as this is the case, young people who feel hopeless and need critical resources will search for what they need by any means necessary. I have used this Frederick Douglass quote before but it is particularly appropriate in this context:

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where one class is made to feel that society is organized in a conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.