TV REVIEW : ‘Not a Child’ a Look at Lives of Chicago’s Urban Youth

A young Chicago gang member tells the camera that he wishes he had never been born. A 17-year-old poet named Leon, attacked by gang members only hours before, tells the camera that he could have fought back with his fists, but that he’ll use his words instead.

The mosaic of faces, emotions and perspectives that comprise “Growin’ Up Not a Child,” the first installment of PBS’ “No Time to Be a Child” series, reveals the hidden, quiet, fearful and sometimes hopeful lives of Chicago’s urban youth. It is hard to distinguish the fear of a gangbanger from that of a girl like Samantha trying to survive in the tough Cabrini Green project. They’re all kids getting by from day to day in a place that can be fairly called a free-fire zone.

We never meet Terrell Collins, except through the devastating grieving of his family and friends after he was killed in that zone. Terrell had a high school scholarship, and many loved ones, and his death forces his mother and grandmother to wonder about their surviving kids’ future.

In one elegantly shot passage, some kids are seen taking hold of their future, doing expressive, ritual-based theater. Others have formed a charming bugle and drum corps--happily, brazenly marching through gang territory. Others, like Chris, 17, are deeply involved with their local church.

“Growin’ Up Not a Child” documents too much urban harshness to suggest that these acts alone will cure these ills. But because it is a video mosaic showing the good and the bad, the messages of hope are more forceful when spoken by young street survivors. There’s nary a wiseacre pundit in sight.

* “Growin’ Up Not a Child” airs at 10 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28.