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Chicago Teens: 'Fighting Is What We Do'

Neighborhood rivalry blamed for teen's beating death

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 6, 2009 4:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – 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.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Nadashia Thomas, 6, a cousin of beating victim Derrion Albert, holds a sign beside a poster of Derrion Albert at Fenger High School in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

This image from video shows a person swinging a wooden two-by-four during a fatal fight on Chicago's South Side last month. (AP Photo/WFLD Fox Chicago)

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CNN reports on the fatal beating of Chicago teen Derrion Albert, with graphic footage from a video showing the attack. (CNN Video)

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I object to the notion that these kids are somehow disturbed or abnormal. Street fights between rival groups are not new to Chicago or any other part of the
United States.
- Dewey Cornell, director of a youth violence project at the University of Virginia

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 15 comments

Cat-Lover

Oct 7, 2009 12:58 PM CDT

Hey! Who said anything about drugs? What a leap to a racist conclusion! Drugs were not mentioned in any of the articles dealing with the Chicago teen violence. It's all about neighborhood alliances -- sort of like the school rivalries in days of old -- but with 2nd Amendment authorized/apporved weapons!

Cat-Lover

Oct 7, 2009 12:53 PM CDT

WHAT?????????

PhillytoWinnetka

Oct 7, 2009 9:28 AM CDT

Did someone seriously bring up "no child left behind" as the reason that these kids are acting like savages? Ok...you know why these communities are in tatters? B/c the adults don't give a sh-t. If you really want to point blame...cast it on the extensive welfare acts of the 60's that inserted the gov't as "provider & father", rather than the individuals themselves acting on their on behalf. It's much easier to collect a check than to be self sufficient. This has led to a widescale degradation that has decimated generations of families and communities. The savagery is the final result. Thank God for video...otherwise it would be business as usual and no one would even notice.

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Chicago Tribune (Source Grid »)

Crime & Courts • US

Chicago • high school students • beatings • videotaped beating • Derrion Albert • Eugene Riley • Eric Carson

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Chicago Teens: 'Fighting Is What We Do'