Teen Beating Victim Organizes Anti-Violence Rally
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A mob on the West Side beat a teenager so severely, he needed facial surgery; but the boy isn't seeking revenge, he's taking action to bring peace to his community.
Parents in the Austin neighborhood take precautions to protect their children.
"I ask his dad not to let him walk home from school anytime," the boy's mother said.
But Mark Peek's parents made an exception on a sunny afternoon earlier this month. Their 14-year-old son, an honor student, was walking home from the basketball court at Austin Town Hall Park when he was jumped by 8 to 10 other teenagers who stole his basketball.
When Mark tried to get it back, he was thrown to the ground, and repeatedly kicked in the head.
"He has a fracture on his right side, and he had to have surgery Friday," his grandfather said.
Mark couldn't come up with the words to describe how he felt about the attack, but he's speaking another way. He organized an anti-violence rally around the corner from where he was attacked.
"Instead of acting out in violence or being bitter about this whole thing, he took all that energy, and brought his family together, and he put this together," said Jennifer Chang, president of Monster Education Foundation.
Mark's grandfather, Arnell Pugh, a retired Chicago firefighter, was lending a hand.
"Saved lives; now I'm trying to save a community," he said.
Dozens of volunteers were here, too.
"In 2008, I lost my little cousin. In 2010, I lost my oldest son. In 2012, I lost my nephew ... to gun violence. So I know how it feels to lose someone. I don't want anybody else to go through the pain that I went through," said George Bady Jr., president of Jehovah Jireh 1 Outreach Ministry.
Mark said he believes it's important to take action, "because if you don't take action, it's going to keep on repeating itself."
He'll be starting high school in the fall, and plans to continue his anti-violence campaign.
Police were still looking for his attackers as of Wednesday evening.
