This story was co-produced in partnership with The TRiiBE.
Teens are often absent from conversations that concern them. Not because they don’t have insight to add to these conversations, but because adults believe they know what’s best.
This summer, as in previous years, the adults are trying to decide what to do with large teen hangouts called “trends.” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) has proposed a revised curfew ordinance that would give the Chicago police superintendent and city’s top community safety leader the power to declare a curfew in response to a teen trend, or gathering of twenty or more. If the ordinance passes out of the Public Safety Committee (which meets on Tuesday) it could get a vote by the full City Council on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, officials, business owners and community-based violence prevention workers have been discussing how they currently respond to large teen gatherings. A series of recommendations from each meeting will be incorporated into a possible long-term plan that includes input from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Mayor’s Office, as well as community-based organizations, business owners, teenagers and residents.
On May 8, Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood hosted a roundtable discussion and field trip for about 100 adults. They visited multiple teen trend hotspots in Streeterville, including the AMC Theatre and Target on Illinois Street and Ogden Plaza Park. The goal of the trip was for attendees to brainstorm, collaborate and build out an intervention and prevention response for large-scale teen gatherings.
Teens were noticeably absent because it was held during school hours.
On May 10, police and violence prevention workers prepared for an expected teen trend to take place at 31st Street Beach. There were about fifty officers stationed at different beach entrances, as well as sixteen violence prevention workers. The trend ended up not materializing.
“We can’t stop the kids from coming, but we can stop conflicts from arising when they do come,” said James Mitchell, field manager for Metropolitan Peace Initiatives’ Crisis Prevention and Response Unit (CPRU). “We want our young people to get out, experience the city, and do things. So we’re always going to welcome them. Our goal is to make sure that they do it safely and responsibly.”
The trends, and the teens involved, are often perceived as violent and dangerous, but that’s not a fair characterization, according to CPRU associate director Rodney Phillips.
“We always talking about the kids, but you don’t hire them. You tell them what you feel they should have and how they should think, and right there is where we go wrong,” Phillips said. “How you going to dissect or solve a problem without the people you deem the cause of it? So you have to have them in a room.”
I spoke with eight Black teenagers from the South and West Sides to understand their experiences. They spoke about the challenges of meeting up with friends, the lack of neighborhood spaces to gather in majority-Black communities, and their thoughts on the city’s proposed revised youth curfew policy. Here are their stories, as told to TRiiBE systemic reporter Tonia Hill.
Sania Belanger, nineteen, Garfield Park
Sania Belanger is a Lincoln Park High School graduate who is currently attending Howard University. She began going to teen trend events as a middle-school student before 2020.
They were nice trends. We mostly bonded over the internet now, but I feel like then it was more likely for us to get up and get outside. I didn’t really go to many trends downtown because sometimes teens would be doing things that weren’t good. I feel like now you can’t go to a trend without any type of violence. Before, it was controllable, but now it’s not really controllable. My mom would allow me to attend a teen trend event if they were in a set place. She didn’t like me wandering around. There would usually be more than 100 kids. Sometimes we’d meet at the Roosevelt Icon Theatre, the MLK Jr. Roller Skating Rink or the skating rink in Markham. When it was warm, we’d meet at North Avenue Beach or 31st Street Beach.
Hanging out with friends always involves spending money. There weren’t many spaces that I could go to in my neighborhood that were free.
I feel like alders are missing the fact that teens need a space, a space that is welcoming and a space that doesn’t really limit them. There are rules everywhere, but I feel like there should be a space where teens can meet up and not be watched by 100 policemen. Community centers are needed everywhere for teens to hang out. I still think about the trend events at Markham Skating Rink. It was a treasure because it was a party room for kids, and we could go skating.
You could do whatever. But I feel like that’s what Chicago lacks right now. I feel like there’s no place for teens to meet. Curfews should be enforced, but if it’s applied unfairly, it could lead to things going wrong and some kids may not even be doing anything wrong.
Nevaeh Beard, seventeen, Englewood
Nevaeh Beard is a senior at Gary Comer College Prep. She avoids attending teen trends because of what happened to sixteen-year-old Seandell Holliday, who was fatally shot during a teen meetup at Millennium Park in 2022. They met in eighth grade through mutual friends at Curtis Elementary School.
Normally, my friends and I go to public places, like an arcade or Sky Zone in Schererville, Indiana. We do that because sometimes there are people around who tend to have a certain type of animosity.
I don’t really know about any cheap or free hangout spots in Englewood, but there’s always something going on, like fights or stuff with other kids that leads to violence. After school, my friends and I go to the library in Grand Crossing and help librarians with the community garden or any other activities that they’re hosting. In the summertime, I go to the beach or pool with my friends at community parks like Rowan Park.
When I was a freshman, one of my close friends [Seandell Holliday] had went to a downtown trend in Millennium Park, and he ended up getting shot and killed. So, learning about what happened, I never wanted to attend any big trends, parties or just anything that involves being around a large group. I would rather be in a smaller, closed space where I feel protected.
Before what happened to Seandell, I didn’t feel welcome at Millennium Park. It feels like we have to stay inside or only go to certain neighborhoods and places to enjoy ourselves. It’s sad to say, but mostly the places that aren’t in our neighborhoods are the best places in the city. I feel like that’s where we have to go to have fun.
Aniya Winters, fifteen, Avalon Park
Aniya Winters is a student at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy High School. She said she doesn’t feel that there are enough dedicated youth spaces in the neighborhood.
I typically go to museums or aquariums in Chicago when they have free days. I also like to go to the park or the mall, even if I don’t buy anything. Window shopping is very fun. I don’t typically do anything in Avalon Park because there isn’t much else to do other than the park district. The park is green and always open to teenagers.
But other than that, there’s nothing too interesting in my neighborhood. Avalon Park is not really like a neighborhood that’s intended for children. It’s a lot of businesses, and it’s nothing for the youth to do other than go to the Avalon Park itself. But it does get boring if that’s somewhere you’re constantly going and it’s the only thing in your neighborhood for you. I have been to the Loop with friends, and I do feel like it’s welcoming for all age groups. Downtown is so busy, and it’s just fun; it’s a nice place to be.
I feel like a curfew should be encouraged, but I don’t know if this should really be mandatory, because Chicago is not the safest city to be living in, especially for somebody under the age of eighteen. So, a reasonable curfew should be encouraged, but if it’s mandatory, it might feel like too many restrictions on a teenager living in the neighborhood.
Dereon Boone, seventeen, Roseland
Dereon Boone is a student at Butler College Prep. She enjoys expressing herself through art and hanging out with friends in Chinatown.
As a busy person, I make time as much as I can with my friends. I’m an introvert, so I’ve made most of my friends from my school and through an After School Matters, visual arts program at Gately Park Stadium. Not only have I created lots of good paintings, but I’ve also made some great friends.
My friends and I mostly go to Chinatown, so there’s this underground food court that we always go to. On the outside, it may look like an abandoned building, but once you go inside, it’s all colorful, and there are many restaurants and stores.
Our only transportation is either the bus or the train, so that’s the only time I want to make sure that I have money so I can go home and get there safely. We also skate, so we sometimes go to skate parks. Movies are cool, but sometimes the movies we want to see are rated R.
In some other places, like Navy Pier, we can’t get inside because we’re not old enough. So far, those were like the only places I’ve been, like, downtown. Chinatown is very nice, but there could be some more, like, chill hangout spots, indoors for all ages, not just until you have an ID and stuff like that. Because, I mean, Chicago, it’s very nice. There are lots of places to go to, but you either have to have an adult with you or be eighteen. I haven’t heard of teen trends before, but I have tried going to Millennium Park with friends. We couldn’t get inside alone because we needed a parent.
Elijah Burkaklter, sixteen, West Pullman
Elijah Burkaklter is a student at Butler College Prep. He wants his neighborhood to be more inclusive for children so they can meet there instead of traveling outside their neighborhood.
We either go to the park, go to an amusement park sometimes, or hang out in other movies. We’re in the suburbs when we go to amusement parks or movies. If we want to go somewhere fancy, we all put our money together and go downtown to Millennium Park or Chinatown. Where I live, there are not many kids around, so it’s hard to really make friends in that area. But other than that, the people there are nice and cool.
I want my alderman to know that I’d like a safer community, because I believe my community is pretty safe, but a better community where more kids would want to come to hang out, more places for us to hang out with, instead of going so far, going down to Chinatown.
I’d like people or adults in my community to talk to kids more, so they can help us out with certain problems, because some teenagers do go through things that they might not want to talk about. So, I feel like if teens have more places to go to and talk to, my community would be better.
Calvin Kidd, seventeen, Bronzeville
Calvin Kidd is a student at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy. Kidd hasn’t ever been to a teen trend; he’s heard they can be dangerous, but he does meet up with friends at Millennium Park or at his parents’ house.
My friends come to my studio at my parents’ house, which is cheap and free; they’ll come over, and we make music sometimes. So outside-wise, we’re probably somewhere, like downtown. You can just walk around and that’s cheap. I don’t think there are spaces in my neighborhood to come to. I wish there were more spaces like Gately Stadium Park in the neighborhood.
You have to walk around, which can be a vibe, and sometimes we walk towards the museum campus or Millennium Park. I learned about trends in school, but I’ve never been. They get dangerous. So I try to keep myself out of stuff like that. I do feel welcome when I’m downtown with friends. People speak. I do feel more comfortable as long as I see people who look like me. I want my alderman to help us keep the neighborhood clean and make sure everybody has what they need.
Damarion Spann, sixteen, North Lawndale
Damarion Spann is a student at The Collins Academy High School. A member of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Youth Commission and My Block, My Hood, My City’s explorer program, Spann spends the majority of his time at school during the weekdays because it’s open daily from 6am to 8pm. He would like to see more youth-centered spaces for teenagers in North Lawndale.
My school is really the hangout spot. We have an open gym and we have workouts together. It’s free of charge. So that’s really like the main place we go. If it’s not that, we’ll usually go to the movie theater in Melrose Park. I go downtown often, a lot, because I work in the Mayor’s Office, as a youth commissioner. My friends and I went downtown together just this year, two, three times to the Navy Pier, and we always attend the My Block, My Hood, My City downtown day.
I’ve been to one teen trend at 31st Street Beach, and it wasn’t like that negative experience. It was really like that exposure of Black culture. There were dancers and speakers. It felt like it was unified where I was, but like, throughout downtown, there were more teens and like, violence may occur, but where I was, it wasn’t like that. What youth need in general is safe spaces. We need spaces where we can gather in our community. We shouldn’t have to be downtown.
As a Black teenager downtown, it does not seem like a person like me, who has dreadlocks and is African American, is welcomed downtown. It feels like you’re invading someone’s space, but the space exists for everyone. I totally disagree with the new curfew. I feel like it treats all youth like we’re criminals or troublemakers. They’re basing this on small events that have happened up north. They’re making a mass movement on all youth.
I feel like it’s racism. It strips our freedom to go out and explore and enjoy these public spaces that Chicago brags about and says they have to offer, but they’re so quick to take it away. It just gives me a sense of punishment. It gives me a sense [that] some people want to only protect downtown, because why don’t we make these rules in our neighborhoods, do we not care about them? If we don’t want the violence downtown, we’re pushing it into our neighborhoods but not addressing the real issue.
Olasheni Giwa, seventeen, South Shore
Olasheni Giwa is a senior at Kenwood Academy High School. She said she feels young people don’t have places to go in South Shore. When she does go downtown with friends, she doesn’t feel welcome.
There are no places for us to just be free. The only thing that you can do for real is walk to the store, get some snacks and then go back home. I want my alderman to convince the mayor, or somebody who has enough money, to build a space where teenagers can eat, hang out, and have fun without all these restrictions making us feel like children. There’s really no other solution to these teen takeovers.
Most of my friends are from Kenwood; sometimes we go to the movies or gather at one another’s homes. I don’t really go to youth trends much because, honestly, when they get too crowded, they start getting broken up. It’s not fun anymore because the police are there and they’re annoying.
It’s not safe to hang out in local parks in South Shore because shootings happen. When I do go downtown with friends, I feel like I’m being racially profiled. I could be walking in the store downtown and they’re already following me. It’s just so uncomfortable.
It’s just like this feeling, like you don’t really belong there, because you don’t see as many people who look like you.
Tonia Hill is The TRiiBE’s systemic racism reporter. Her work focuses on the intersections between criminal justice, policing, politics and grassroots organizing.
