CHICAGO (FinalCall.com)�After a two-week spree of gun violence in Chicago�s Black and Latino communities, resulting in 6 fatalities, two involving 12-year-olds, nearly 650 Blacks flocked to an emergency Black leadership summit at Chicago State University and homed in on the theme, �Divided We Die, United We Live.�

On July 10, Tsarina Powell, 12, was killed by a spray of bullets that entered her home while she lay in her bed. Nine days later, 12-year-old Miguel De LaRosa was gunned down, allegedly by gang crossfire. The assailants in both incidents have not been found. The two children joined a list of 28 other children who have fallen prey to gun violence in Chicago this year.

Spearheaded by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), whose own son was shot-to-death last year, the July 23 summit garnered the support of more than 25 Black leaders, including Chicago Police Supt. Terry Hillard, Rev. James Meeks, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), former Judge R. Eugene Pincham, public housing activist Paris Thomas, Chicago Housing Authority CEO Terry Peterson and a host of local aldermen, ministers and funeral home directors.

During the six-hour summit, leaders broke into small groups with community residents and grassroots organizations, to identify the problems surrounding Black on Black crime and compose strategies to eliminate the epidemic.

Those suggestions include plans for future summits and action committees, dealing head-on with problems between youth and adults, and embracing one another across differences.

While they convened, Mayor Richard M. Daley joined approximately 200 Latino leaders and activists in a march on the city�s North Side to call for an end to an alleged gang war and growing gun violence.

�Some said that we couldn�t do this, but we�ve been here all day working on viable, realistic solutions to the problems of guns, violence and powerlessness in our communities. Once we come up with our own self-solutions, then we can direct others who have a responsibility for the public good. Until today, we�ve allowed others to give us solutions to our own problems,� Rep. Rush said.

The congressman announced a rapid response and prevention team, composed of summit participants. They will gather more information from residents in troubled areas and report back within 30-45 days. At that time, he said, there will be �follow-ups on the follow-up.�

Some of the summit�s most powerful suggestions emerged from the Phenomenal Arts Program and Chicago Hip-Hop.com, two alternative �activism through positive music� organizations. Spokespersons Corinthia Federick and Diane Willis said that the hundreds of members have no political agenda, but want to see a change in their communities.

�Law enforcement ride past gang bangers and drug dealers all day long, but they want to stop me because I don�t have a city sticker. Community policing doesn�t begin with working with those in the blue uniforms, it begins with policing ourselves. It doesn�t mean our elders looking down upon the youth and becoming afraid, but talking to them. We are the ones living it every day and are feeling ignored by our own community,� Ms. Willis explained.

She also suggests more parental involvement and teaching young parents how to be better parents.

More education about guns and substance abuse are needed and religious institutions must counter the perception among youth that the gangs are the only leaders, said Ms. Frederick.

�We need to let our children know how important they are. If we don�t find it at home and we don�t find it in our religious institutions, we will look for it on the streets. Let�s get the governmental funds to enhance and expand our youth centers and get them to want to come to the youth centers,� she added.

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) praised Rep. Rush for his leadership and promised to take suggestions to Congress. On the morning of the summit, Rep. Davis said he attended two funerals�one for a 24-year-old Black male stabbed to death and one young man shot because he was a passenger in a car sprayed with bullets aimed at another passenger.

Rep. Davis said the violence is indicative of community feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. The community must come together and not turn on itself, he said.

Photo: Min. Ishmael Muhammad, Atty. Lawrence Kennon, Dorothy Williams, Rev. Paul Jakes.