Interestingly, they define “minors” as being between the ages of 11 and 19, as long as they have not been legally emancipated and live with them. The law also has provisions regarding divorced parents and who is responsible.

I’d like to see the Black members of the Illinois House take the lead in updating this law. Why? Because we have a number of young Black children out there committing carnage at disastrous levels. And one of the rarest things you ever hear out of Black lawmakers is anything about law and order.

There have been two incidents in less than a week involving 13-year-olds and cars. Stolen cars! The first incident was out of Robbins. Police noticed a Kia model automobile with a broken driver side window (the most obvious sign that these young criminals are in possession of a stolen vehicle). These kids have been watching that Tik-Tok video about using a USB to start the car, and they have put that knowledge into criminal action.

The driver of the alleged stolen Kia, driving at a high rate of speed, ended up hitting a man who was pulling out of a church parking lot. Reportedly, his car spun around several times, and he ended up dead in a ditch. The Kia collided with a tree. Inside the Kia, the alleged perpetrators were found to be 13 years old. Since the juvenile justice system was not designed to handle children that young being accused of such horrific crimes, and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx did not charge them as adults, the three alleged perpetrators were reportedly released to go home to the same “parents” who let them run the streets to begin with.

The second incident occurred this past weekend in North Lawndale. A 41-year-old man was robbed of his vehicle. The alleged perpetrators were a 13-year-old and two 15-year-olds. Twenty minutes later they were caught.

Why does the law need to be updated? Unfortunately, the law was created when children were shoplifting and not committing these heinous acts. There’s a limit of $20,000. Let’s up it to a million. And the repercussions to the parents should be substantial. I don’t care if they lose their food stamps, Section 8 and any other government benefits. They should be named and their pictures posted in the newspapers. Parents are getting money to raise these children, and some are abdicating that responsibility. Kids cannot raise themselves!

And let’s not stop with the state legislators. We need a federal law as well. We need an update to the unearned income tax credit so that if kids are caught up in any illegal activities, the unearned income credit has to be paid back. It makes no sense to award huge monetary refunds to those who don’t take the time to raise children they made.

Black legislators: city, county, state and federal… Get some cojones!