Racial Disparities Contributing to Chicago's Gun Violence
Areni Artinian
Artist's Statement:
For my final project, I wanted to explore racial disparities and their effect on Chicago's gun violence rates. Chicago is one of the top cities in the U.S., with the highest gun violence rates of any U.S. city. My research centered around looking at how race and socioeconomic class played a part in where and who is targeted by Chicago's gun violence. There is a lot of info and statistics on this topic, but for my project, I wanted to keep it in the simplest form and create a website with statistics and data that show that minorities are more affected by gun violence than white communities. These disparities lie in race, location, and socioeconomic class. I wanted the website to be as simple as possible because I believe there is so much info, and the most important tool is education. Having a simple website with basic but crucial information is important when wanting people to notice a problem. I didn't want to fill it with too much since the basic ideas are already covered in what the site entails. The first step is acknowledging there's a problem and educating oneself on what the issue is. The step that I hope to inspire is action. I didn't want to fill the website with personal opinions on what modes of action should be taken but rather wanted to lay out the information so that people could come to those conclusions on how to mobilize on their own. I felt that I was obligated to educate the public and raise awareness, which was my primary goal in creating the website. I also included a study that was done relating to minorities being affected the most by gun violence, which I believe puts into perspective for people how stark the comparisons are between who is exposed to and falls victim to the most gun violence. Including this in the website would be much more helpful than more data.
There is a need for acknowledgment and action regarding disparities in gun violence in Chicago. With a historically segregated city, it's important to be educated on how disproportionally Chicago residents are exposed to gun violence. There is a clear difference based on your race and zip code. That needs to change, and it starts with understanding the problem at hand and seeing that an issue is going unnoticed. This is the first step that we as members of society must take before we can move towards any concrete or effective action.