A memorial for 47-year-old Denise Warfield is attached to a fence next to an abandoned church building on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Warfield was found stabbed to death inside the church on Saturday May 4. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A memorial for 47-year-old Denise Warfield is attached to a fence next to an abandoned church building (R) on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Warfield was found stabbed to death inside the church on Saturday May 4. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Roya Mitchell leaves a message on a memorial for her friend 16-year-old Tywon Jones near the spot where Jones was killed by police in front of the Greater Galilee Missionary Baptist Church on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. According to police Jones was killed May 5 after he fired a pistol at police who were trying to stop him as he rode a bicycle away after shooting at a crowd of people moments earlier. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A Chicago Police investigator tries to see the caliber of a shell casing left in the street at the scene of a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood on May 14, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy stands in front of a small display of guns, including a .22 cal. rifle (front), during a press conference in the Englewood neighborhood on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. McCarthy said Chicago police confiscate an average of more than 130 illegal guns each week. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy leaves a police station in the Englewood neighborhood following a press conference on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, center, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, left, and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, right, discuss gun violence at a news conference Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in Chicago. During the news conference McCarthy, Emanuel, and Alvarez said they will push for state legislation that increases the minimum sentences for those who violate the state's gun laws. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
A family member is consoled before six-month old Jonylah Watkins' funeral at New Beginnings Church in Chicago, Tuesday, March, 19, 2013. Jonylah's death was the latest to draw national attention to Chicago's struggle with gang violence and murder. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
This undated Watkins family photo shows Jonathan Watkins, 29, of Chicago, holding his 6-month-old daughter Jonylah Watkins. Funeral services were held Tuesday, March 19, 2013 for Jonylah who died Tuesday, March 12 after being shot the night before while sitting on her father's lap in a minivan when a gunman approached on foot and shot them both in Chicago. The father was seriously injured in the attack. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Watkins family)
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy points to a poster showing three offenders that committed murders while on parole for prior gun convictions during a news conference Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in Chicago. During the news conference McCarthy Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said they'll push for state legislation that increases the minimum sentences for those who violate the state's gun laws. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
This March 11, 2013 photo shows a Chicago police officer looking over a minivan on the city's South Side where 6-month-old Jonylah Watkins was shot while sitting on her father's lap. The child died the following day. Hundreds of Chicago police officers are hitting the streets on overtime every night in dangerous neighborhoods, the latest tactic by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration to reduce killings in a city dogged by its homicide rate and heartbreaking stories about honor students and small children caught in the crossfire. (AP Photo/Devlin Brown)
Danyia Bell, left, 16, and Artureana Terrell, 16, react as they read a program for the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton outside the Greater Harvest Missionary Baptist Church after the service, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, in Chicago. Hundreds of mourners and dignitaries including first lady Michelle Obama packed the funeral service Saturday for a Chicago teen whose killing catapulted her into the nation's debate over gun violence. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, right, offers the city's condolences to the Pendleton family, from left, Nathaniel Jr., Nathaniel Sr., and Cleopatra during a news conference seeking help from the public in solving the murder of Pendleton's daughter Hadiya Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Crime scene tape hangs on a light pole across from Noah Foods December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Nathaniel Jackson, believed to be the 500th murder victim of the year in Chicago, was shot in the head and killed outside the store on December 27. After news organizations began reporting about his murder, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A police vehicle sits outside Noah Foods December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Nathaniel Jackson, believed to be the 500th murder victim of the year in Chicago, was shot in the head and killed outside the store on December 27. After news organizations began reporting about his murder, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Candles burn in the alley near the spot where Federico Martinez was gunned down on December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Martinez was believed to be the 499th murder victim in Chicago when he was killed on Wednesday December 26. After news organizations began reporting about the city's 500th murder victim, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Graffiti is painted on a garage near the spot where Federico Martinez was gunned down two days ago on December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Martinez was believed to be the 499th murder victim of the year in Chicago when he was killed on December 26. After news organizations began reporting about the city's 500th murder victim, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a lone cross stands in a vacant lot on the corner of 79th and Loomis in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Up to 80 percent of Chicago's murders and shootings are gang-related, according to police. By one estimate, the city has almost 70,000 gang members. A police audit last spring identified 59 gangs and 625 factions; most are on the South and West sides. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this March 9, 2011 photo, Pam Bosley stands inside the Chicago's St. Sabina Catholic Church and poses with a photograph of her son, Terrell, who was gunned down in 2006. Bosley now works with kids 14 to 21 at the church, teaching them life and leadership skills and ways to reduce violence. Sometimes, she says, itÂ’s neglectful parents who are the problem; often itÂ’s gangs who just donÂ’t value life. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a note of condolence is taped to the window of connivence store where in November 2012, a clerk was killed in an apparent robbery on Chicago's South Side. ItÂ’s been a turbulent, bloody year in Chicago. A spike in murders and shootings, much of it gang-related, sent shock waves across the nation and spurred new crime-fighting strategies. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 photo, a man waits to cross 79th street as a school bus passes by in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, seen in the reflection of a window. ItÂ’s been a turbulent, bloody year in Chicago. A spike in murders and shootings, much of it gang-related, sent shock waves across the nation. Look closer and there are signs of distress and fear. Police cars watching kids board city buses at the end of the school day. Heavy security gates on barber shops and food marts. Thick partitions separating cash registers from customers. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 photo, Bobby McComb sits on the sofa with her 14 year-old daughter, Cerria, at their home in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. In the wrong place at the right time, Cerria and a friend were wounded when gunfire aimed at a reputed gang member struck them, with a bullet exploding in Cerria's right leg. "I'm angry," Mrs. McComb says. "I'm frustrated. I'm tired of them shooting our kids, killing our kids, thinking they can get away with it." (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 photo, Rev. Mike Pfleger of the St. Sabina Catholic Church, speaks with a young man during a weekly basketball tournament at the church gym where rival gangs can play in a 12-week basketball league instead of walking the streets in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. Pfleger says the games help players build relationships, see beyond gang affiliation and stop shooting each other, at least for now. "I have people tell me I'm naive, I'm stupid, I should be ashamed of myself working with these gangs," he says. "I could care less. We've demonized them so much we forget they're human beings." (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a young man enters a convenience store where earlier in November a clerk was killed in an apparent robbery on Chicago's South Side. Chicago's murder rate is approaching 500, compared with 435 in 2011. More than 2,400 shootings occurred (as of Dec. 21), an 11 percent increase over last year at the same time. Gang-related arrests are about 7,000 higher than in 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A child watches a residents participating in a peace vigil walk past her home in the Washington Park neighborhood on November 30, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. About 75 children, teachers, and parents were joined by area residents and religious leaders as they marched in the streets to draw attention to the violence that plagues their Southside neighborhood. Through the end of October 436 people were murdered in Chicago, surpassing the 435 murders for all of 2011. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Dolores Walker (L) is comforted by her mother Josephine at the funeral service for her son Joseph Briggs at New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Rahm Emanuel, Garry McCarthy
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy speaks during a news conference where he and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, rear, announced an initiative to prevent gang activity in and around vacant buildings on Monday, July 9, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)
Rahm Emanuel, Garry McCarthy
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, listens to Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy during a news conference where they announced an initiative to prevent gang activity in and around vacant buildings on Monday, July 9, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)
Chicago's Killing Fields
Chicago's murder rate has surged this year, yet no one is talking about it. How do we give a systemic problem a face?
Roosevelt Judkins watches as officials stand outside an abandoned house that they say is a haven for drug dealers and gang members, before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Drug paraphernalia is seen on the floor of an abandoned house that officials say was a haven for drug dealers and gang members, shortly before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Drug paraphernalia is seen on the floor of an abandoned house that officials say was a haven for drug dealers and gang members, shortly before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Family and friends watch as the remains of Joseph Briggs are lowered into a grave at Oak Woods Cemetery on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Family and friends say goodbye to Joseph Briggs during a funeral service at New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Pallbearers carry the remains of Joseph Briggs from New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church following a funeral service on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 11: Signatures cover a memorial to Joseph Briggs which has been constructed outside his home June 11, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who recently turned 16, was shot and killed while sitting on the stoop of his home in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood on Saturday. Briggs was one of at least 8 people killed and at least 43 wounded in shootings in Chicago this past weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In a June 9, 2012 photo, the Chicago Police gang enforcement unit stops a car with four suspected gang members and arrests one of them on a warrant. In Chicago, homicides are up over last year. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)
In Chicago, homicides are up markedly over last year. In some of the West and South side streets its guns, gangs and drugs. On a Saturday night this summer, residents strolled by as a young man was being arrested. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)
In a June 5 2012 photo, police arrest a suspect in Chicago. The CPD narcotics division has been conducting undercover investigations in order to move in on suspected drug dealers in parts of Chicago's South and West sides. In the fight against Chicago's gang and drug problem Chicago Police patrol the streets 24/7. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)
In a June 5, 2012 photo, Devon Wright, 23, is arrested and charged with delivery of a controlled substance, in Chicago. The Chicago Police Department is waging a strategic battle against gang members and drug dealers. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)
2. Statistics can be predicators of an opinion or stand on their own, they do not necessarily represent the opinion of a bigot.
3. You should not fear the truth but work with it i.e. offer opposing ideas on causal factors, if you wish. The minute you resort to angry name-calling, your opinion is dismissed.
I also ask you, how is it that other countries who also have high teen mom rates are able to control gun violence? Last year there were essentially the same number of gun deaths in Chicago as there were across Canada. Gangs can also only answer for so many people as the up and coming ganster is from middle class, 2 parent homes, at least here in Vancouver. The spatter of gang deaths here have been the middle class gangster wannabe's. Guns will always find there way into the violence but it seems that tougher regulations across Canada are doing the trick.
And your article is offensive to all the hard-working single mothers out there who raise wonderful children as Barrack Obama's mother did.
You know there are people out there that will blame the gun violence in Chicago on African Americans and make it a race issue. Do you think your position is really any better by blaming single mothers?
Perhaps instead you should look into why women end up becoming single mothers and what can be done to help them raise happy, healthy kid
In my experience, people only turn to violence and crime when they see no hope for a bright and positivie future.
Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, Al Pacino, Barbara Streisand, John Lennon, L.L Cool J, Alicia Keys, Jay Z, Jamie Foxx, are just a few examples of famous people who grew up without fathers. And we all personally know people who grew up without fathers, but thanks to their hard-working, dedicated mothers managed to grow up and become successful adults.
And why do so many relationships fail? Because we have created a shallow society addicted to instant gratification. We are pummelled by advertising telling us that we are not enough and never have enough despite living in a land of plenty. That constant sense of dissatisfaction has spilt into our relationships. Practicing gratitude and de-capitalizing our economy will both go along way to create more stable family units.
Then is is the inconvenient alternative that failed relationships (specifically within the family unit) leads to poverty, drug use, and other anti-social behavior.