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Chicago Teens: 'Fighting Is What We Do'
Neighborhood rivalry blamed for teen's beating death
By Rob Quinn
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Posted Oct 6, 09 4:46 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Fighting is a way of life in the impoverished Chicago neighborhood where 16-year-old Derrion Albert was beaten to death in a videotaped brawl two weeks ago, local students say. "How many times you want me to walk away?" asked one teen whose brother was charged with murder after the incident. He says students, like himself, who are bused in to his high school are constantly targeted by teens who live in the area. "We've been running for so long and I'm tired of running," he tells the Chicago Tribune.
"It's the neighborhood we're from, who we are, how we act, what we do," said another teen, who has been suspended from school though he denies being one of the 50 teens who took part in the brawl. "As far as I know, they don't like us, and we don't like them," he said of the rival students. The teens say that Albert, who never claimed loyalty to either side, inexplicably ended up being targeted by both groups during the fight.