One recent Sunday night, a mere two blocks from the University of Chicago Trauma Center, four people were shot in Washington Park. Tyshon Johnson, one of four victims, was killed. One news headline read in part: “18-Year-Old Man Among 4 People Killed in Shootings Across Chicago.” We both ceased reading immediately. We are both Black physicians and surgeons at the University of Chicago.
An “18-year-old man?” At 18, we were both dependents. Our parents were providing the roof over our heads and most of the clothes on our backs. At 18, one of us became our high school’s homecoming king. We didn’t know quite yet what we wanted to do with our lives, but we were 18, just teenagers. Neither of us were men, but we were on our way.
