Millennium Park DRAMA!! #nokidsallowed
Welcome to my first action project of my senior year! This is for my fall term journalism class. In this Unit we have been looking at different types of media bias, news literacy, and headlines. We have also talked about the core values of journalism like accuracy, independence, and impartiality. Along with that we looked into fake news and how to find out if a news story is accurate. Although it may not seem like it Journalism can be a very dangerous job. For this Action project we were given the task to write our own news story. This news story is about a current event that is happening in our neighborhood/city or just a neighborhood you are familiar with. I decided to talk about the new curfew for unaccompanied minors in Millennium park which you can read more about down below!
Mayor Lori Lightfooots office announced that as of May 16, 2022 no unaccompanied minors will be allowed in Millennium Park after 6pm, Thursday through Sunday. According to Lightfoot's office, anyone under the age of 18 is "welcome at the park during evening hours as long as they are accompanied by at least one responsible adult." This curfew was put in place after an altercation at the park that happened Saturday, May 14th around 7:30pm. It ended with the fatal shooting of 16 year old Seandell Holliday near "the bean." 17 year old Marion Richardson is facing charges of second degree murder and aggravated murder with a firearm in connection with Holliday's death.
According to WGNTV, "the famous bean inside Millennium park is one of the most recognized attractions and hangout spots for tourists and residents." This is why this curfew is very controversial. KH is a fellow classmate of mine and she disagrees with the curfew. She said “closing millennium park is negatively impacting lots of people and the people who face the harshest repercussions of having it closed so early are the people with difficult home lives and just needing a place to get out.” She also said “it's just further segregating people and it’s not giving space for community.”
(Lund, "Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millenium Park, Chicago, Illinois,2013)
There are some people who support the curfew 100 percent like AA who is a parent of a teenager that goes to school in the Loop. She herself does not want to go downtown most of the time because of all the crimes and acts of violence that are being committed daily. She stated that "anyone under the age of 18 should not be allowed to be out at all hours of the night." She believes that because of all the robberies and killings that have been happening recently, minors should not be allowed out and about, especially since some of these crimes have been committed by the minors themselves.
The American Civil Liberties union is a non profit union organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". They spoke out against both the curfew and the new restrictions imposed on Millennium Park and the curfew, saying there is no evidence to support the claim that curfews cut down on crime, and that, just like in the past, this will be applied disproportionately on Black teens. The director of communications and policy for ACLU Illinois said "This is targeted at the very people who don't have places to go in their own community. This will be applied to people who have always been the subject of police targeting. And that's just the wrong way to go about this."
Lori Lightfoot should reconsider this curfew. She should keep in mind the other views on this situation. Overall, I enjoyed this project, I liked seeing the different perspectives on this topic. I learned how to interview people and how to not be bias. I'm excited for the rest of this year and future AP's along with interviewing more people.
Work cited:
Hillery, Jewell, and Erik Runge. “Millennium Park Unaccompanied Minor Curfew Garners Mixed Reaction.” WGN, WGN-TV, 17 May 2022, https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/millennium-park-unaccompanied-minor-curfew-garners-mixed-reaction/.
“A New Millennium Park Curfew for Unaccompanied Minors Is Now in Effect. How Will It Be Enforced?” NBC Chicago, NBC Chicago, 19 May 2022, https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/lightfoots-millennium-park-curfew-for-unaccompanied-minors-goes-into-effect-thursday-how-will-it-be-enforced/2836582/.
“Chicago Curfew for Minors Goes into Effect; ACLU Pushes Back.” ABC7 Chicago, 18 May 2022, https://abc7chicago.com/lori-lightfoot-curfew-chicago-for-minors-in-illinois-millennium-park/11863887/.
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