The bullet lodged in the 15-year-old's left ankle is a permanent reminder of how close he came to death—how close he came to joining 28 Chicago Public Schools students who were killed so far this school year.
"I do feel lucky," Kenneth said.
As school officials acknowledged last week, Chicago already has eclipsed in 2008-09 the number of public school students killed all of last school year. And there are still three months to go until summer break.
Yet the narrow prism through which that data is viewed ignores a larger problem of violence against youth, the officials say.
The accounting doesn't include all the youths who, if not for poor aim or good luck, could have joined the death list. The tally also doesn't include kids who have dropped out, may have been truant and not actively enrolled, or killed during the summer months.
The problem expands far beyond just public school students, none of whom have been killed in recent years on school property during school hours, police and school officials said.
"I think every youth who is killed in this city is tragic. This is not just an issue of Chicago Public Schools kids," said Ron Huberman, the public schools' chief executive officer. "The numbers always diminish the tragedy. There is a human story that surrounds every one of those that leaves the family in mourning, that leaves the community shattered."
Police attribute much of the violence to gangs as well as the drug trade and the proliferation of guns.
That's kind of funny. Out here in Redville, there's a gun in every house in my neighborhood, yet were not shootin' the place up like Yosemite Sam.
What's so "progressive" about using kids for target practice?
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