Chicago’s gun violence deeply rooted in trauma and toxic stress

I was blessed to spend the Fourth of July surrounded by my wife, kids and grandkids. But sadly, for many in neighborhoods across Chicago, the promise of barbecues, parades and fireworks with family and friends has been clouded in recent years by the tragic toll of gun violence.

Unfortunately, this year was no exception. Sixty-eight people were shot, five fatally, over the holiday weekend. We cannot let this be the “new normal.”

I have for years supported commonsense gun safety reforms, investments in our neighborhood schools and increasing economic opportunity to bring more jobs that will uplift our communities.

But the violence and connected challenges we face do not follow a linear path of cause and effect. They are often rooted in a deeper, more complex challenge: trauma and toxic stress.

I’ve visited schools where nearly every hand was raised when I asked students if they knew somebody who had been shot. And during a visit to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, I learned that 92% of the youth there had something in common: they had been victims or witnesses of trauma.

A refrain I have heard often from community leaders is that “hurt people, hurt people.” It means that helping people cope with adversity and trauma is not just a healing tool, but a preventive one.

Childhood trauma can be much more than witnessing gun violence, and it’s not unique to Chicago. It can be the chaos of living with an abusive parent, the fear of deportation, the uncertainty of where the next meal will come from, or experiencing a family member’s drug addiction. All of these traumatic experiences can alter a child’s brain chemistry and harm development.

Without strong supports to shield children, the cumulative weight of trauma and constant toxic stress can cause emotional scars that follow a child for life and change the way they look at the world and react to things.

In fact, the Adverse Childhood Experiences study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the links between a child’s exposure to trauma, and its impact on school success, disease development, and even the cycle of violence.

Left unaddressed, studies show that individuals who experienced six or more adverse childhood experiences have a 20-year shorter average life expectancy. Those who have experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences are ten times more likely to use illicit narcotics and twelve times more likely to attempt suicide.

Thankfully, there is good news to this story.

With the right care and support systems, we can help to build resilience so that children, starting in early childhood, can cope with their experiences, and rise up from trauma to thrive.

Illinois is home to some of the world’s leaders in delivering “trauma-informed care,” whether in classrooms, health clinics, after-school programs or at church. I was pleased to play a role in bringing Sesame Street to work with local social service organizations and use the nurturing gifts of the Muppets to deliver trauma-informed programs to our youngest community members.

Two years ago, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and I teamed up to better identify and support children who have faced trauma. Davis is a committed partner and I am honored to work alongside someone with such a personal connection to this issue.

And despite the partisan divide in Washington, parts of our legislation were signed into law by the president last year — increasing mental health services in schools and establishing a federal agency task force to promote trauma-informed care across federal grants.

But our work is not done.

Last month, Davis and I joined with Senators Tammy Duckworth, Shelley Moore Capito and Lisa Murkowski to introduce a new, bipartisan bill, the RISE from Trauma Act, which expands upon our earlier efforts to support kids, families, and communities facing trauma.

Our legislation will create several new grant programs to bring more funding to communities like Chicago that have faced trauma and cracks down on the games played by insurance companies so that our children receive the health coverage and treatment services they need.

The bill also provides more tools, training, and funding for those on the front-lines — doctors, teachers, community mentors, religious leaders, and first responders — so they are equipped to recognize and provide help to kids coping with trauma.

The RISE from Trauma Act expands upon another effort I have launched called the Chicago HEAL Initiative, which brings together ten leading hospitals to reduce violence by investing in community health and economic opportunity.

There is a lot of hurt in our communities, but there is a lot of hope, too.

If we can help kids be resilient in the face of trauma and build that strong foundation they need, we can make serious progress at breaking the cycle of violence in Chicago and in communities across America.

Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois and a Democrat, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com.