The prevalence of mass youth gatherings, known as teen takeovers, often increases with the temperature as the trend becomes more popular in summer months. So far this year, at least four major events have taken place in Chicago.
Over Memorial Day weekend, five Chicago Police Department officers were struck by a teen driver while attempting to break up a group on the Near West Side. The following day, 53 people were arrested at a gathering in Hyde Park. Just over this past weekend, seven young people were shot in Bronzeville. “There have been too many unauthorized, unsupervised, and unreasonable gatherings of large groups of young people, which too often now lead to fights and shootings among young people,” Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), who represents Bronzeville, said in a statement. “We need to ask ourselves as the adults in the community: Where are their parents? Where are the role models? Why are children out at night when, quite honestly, they should be home and in bed? How are we failing our youth?" Possible solutions: In the renewed debate over how to effectively address teen takeovers, there are a number of proposed solutions. Some local officials, like Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward), continue to voice support for a snap curfew, while some advocate for something more penal like repercussions for the participants or even their guardians. Others, like Mayor Brandon Johnson, are pushing for more youth-focused resources and activities that can serve as alternatives to takeovers. On Monday, Chicago launched free YMCA memberships for teens throughout the summer, giving them access to the resources and programs available at their local facilities.
History repeating: Large, at times unruly, youth gatherings aren’t new.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, media outlets frequently used the term “wilding” to describe groups of mostly Black and Latino young men congregating in cities. Critics later argued the term carried pejorative racial stereotypes and contributed to fears about urban youth. “You can go back to the 1960s when a lot was going on in the world, identical in a lot of ways to what’s happening now, socially, politically, economically,” Bradly Johnson said. “There were riots, there were all types of things happening. What happened was the city organized youth outreach, street outreach, programs, activities, employment. What they didn’t have and what we’re adding now is mental health support services.”
