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Steve Harvey Tackles Chicago Gun Violence In Special With Valerie Jarrett

By Chicagoist_Guest in News on Feb 16, 2016 5:49PM

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Steve Harvey interviews Senior Advisor to President Obama, and Chicago native, Valerie Jarrett, via satellite from the White House (photo via NBCU).

By Jamie Nesbitt Golden

If you’ve ever attended or watched a town hall on Chicago gun violence, by now you know what to expect: impassioned testimonies from victims’ families, well-worn platitudes from community leaders and politicians, and a call for peace and unity at the end. Monday’s hour-long Steve Harvey Show special on Chicago gun violence offered more of the same, although with an unusual appearance from Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett.

Filmed in Chicago, in front of an audience of Chicagoans personally affected by the issue, the special was a hyperlocal affair. Even Harvey, best known as a comedian and host of Family Feud, lives in Chicago part time—and Jarrett, who appeared via satellite from Washington, spent years in Chicago politics; she has served as the commissioner of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, the chair of the Chicago Transit Authority board and director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

During her appearance, Jarrett announced President Barack Obama’s plan to “beef up” federal law enforcement agencies and allocate $500 million to address mental health issues. Jarrett also suggesting that guns with thumbprinting technology could aid in the war against violence, though if this CNET report is any indication, such guns won’t be catching on anytime soon.

Still, Jarrett's presence was refreshing. Rarely are the major power brokers present for these conversations—to wit, according to Harvey, several attempts to invite Chicago Police Department officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel went ignored. If anyone needs to look into the face of a grieving mother, though, it’s the person with the power to shape public policy—not Corey Brooks, the Gov. Bruce Rauner-approved clergyman who believes that absentee fathers are the crux of the matter. Indeed, much noise has been made about single parent households, regardless of how many sociologists come forth with evidence to the contrary.

The main issue remains an economic one, as St. Sabina Priest Father Michael Pfleger pointed out, “a perfect storm” of underfunded schools, high unemployment, and boarded-up houses has transformed large swaths of the South Side into what he described as “third world countries.”

“I can get them into GED classes, or program for the arts, but then what?” asked Pfleger, who has been advocating for a more holistic approach to the gun violence problem for decades. “There are no jobs, no opportunities. We’re forcing them into this life.”

With a teachers’ strike looming, Chicago State University teetering on the brink of closure, the Board of Education gutting special education programs, and more jobs disappearing from city limits, he isn’t wrong.

As debates about the role of government in saving black lives rage on, it is important to note that there are humans on both sides of the gun. Recognizing that humanity can be the difference between a one-time offense and a career of criminality.

“Anyone can change,” Harvey told his audience after a conversation with two former gang members who have left gang life behind them. “But we have to give them room.”

Though it humanized gang members, the special didn’t minimize the horror experienced by families that lose loved ones to shootings. At one point, a mother from the audience, who didn’t share her name, came forward to talk about the son gunned down on his grandmother’s porch five years ago. Her pain was palpable. It was as if the shooting had happened yesterday. For her son, it wasn’t a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a lack of parental involvement. She had done everything right, and it wasn’t enough.

It won’t be enough for as long as City Hall is, arguably, more apathetic about gun violence than Harvey. Towards the end of the hour, he pledged to help build a recreation center on Chicago’s South Side. It’s a small gesture, but still more than Rauner or Emanuel has offered to do.

Jamie Nesbitt Golden is a freelance journalist and native South-Sider.