Bob CollinsIt’s another summer of killing in Chicago.
“Do you think it’s too much for a city to let its parents see their kids graduate?” Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked at the funeral of one young man on Saturday.
To its surprise, a PBS NewsHour crew asked for — and received — permission to attend the funeral of Vonzell Banks, because someone’s got to tell the story, and someone else has to care what’s happening.
Producer Dan Morris provides some behind-the-scenes notes about the production.
When our crew of four arrived at the church that Saturday morning, we were well aware of our status as outsiders – members of the media at an ostensibly private event, each of us white, amongst a congregation nearly 100 percent black. We were determined to be as respectful and unobtrusive as possible, knowing that resentment towards our presence would be understandable.
And yet there was none. We experienced nothing but warmth and welcome from a community confronting yet another outrageous murder of one of its young.
