If he had been late to school one day in 2022, Edgar Vilchez might not be here today. On Thursday night, he spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
In June 2022, when he was a junior at Intrinsic School, 4645 W. Belmont Ave in Belmont Cragin, Vilchez witnessed up close the shooting of a classmate in a drive-by near school grounds. The student survived, but the image of a blood-spattered sidewalk is ingrained in Vilchez’s memory.
“If I would’ve been late to school and walked on that same sidewalk, it could’ve been me,” he said.
Now a 19-year-old rising sophomore at Cornell University, he spoke Thursday night as part of “A Conversation on Gun Violence,” with U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., and activists Abbey Clements of Newtown, Connecticut; Kim Rubio of Uvalde, Texas; and Melody McFadden of Charleston, South Carolina.
The violent incident, “changed my story,” he told the audience during his brief remarks. “Instead of worrying about taking a test, I started worrying about living to take another test. They say schools are for learning, and I did learn a lot that day. I learned how to run, how to hide and drop, that what happens in the news can happen to me. But I learned something else, too — that we can write and must write a new story if we choose to.”
Following the incident, Vilchez became part of the Mayor’s Youth Commission, a formal advisory board of teens who represent their peers and advise Chicago’s top leaders. There, he learned of Project Unloaded, a gun violence prevention organization that he has now been a member of for two years.
According to a survey of 2,400 Chicagoans, 56% of Black respondents and 55.75% of Hispanic respondents saw someone shot by age 40, compared with 25.53% of white respondents.
It’s not lost on Vilchez that his hometown has often been characterized as the most dangerous city in the U.S . On Monday, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance called Chicago the “murder capital of the United States of America” at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, news conference.
While Chicago does have more killings than any other city, its murder rate is lower than many other cities.
Gun violence “is not just happening in Chicago,” Vilchez said. “When you really look at our communities, is it that dangerous? What is making it that dangerous? Looking at the root causes is so important.”
Now as an activist, he’s sharing his story to reach other young people like him.
“Youth are literally the backbone of [Project Unloaded], it’s so important to have that because we always hear the term, ‘Your generation is the future,’ but no, ‘We’re the now,’” said Vilchez.
The initiative models its strategies after the Truth Initiative, a longtime campaign that has helped curb teen cigarette use since 1998.
Since launching in 2022, the nonpartisan initiative has reached more than 3 million people with its SNUG (Safer Not Using Guns) and Guns Change the Story campaigns that aim to inform youth about gun violence with personal and factual narratives on social media.
Studies show that living in a house where a gun is present doubles the chance of dying by homicide and triples the deaths by suicide in the home. Homicide rates among Latino youth are twice as high when compared to white peers.
“We want to let you know that if you do decide to own a gun, this is what you might also contribute towards,” Vilchez said.
Project Unloaded founder and president Nina Vinik says she’s proud of Vilchez, who she notes, spent his first spring break in college helping with school programming on gun violence.
“He’s such an amazing young leader, and to see his leadership and his experience and his activism, to be recognized in this forum with this platform is just so incredible,” Vinik said.
He hopes people walk away from his speech Thursday feeling hope.
“Hope is what we need in the topics that we are advocating for,” he said.
Vilchez got the call that he would be speaking at the convention two weeks ago.
“My mom was not only crying tears of joy when she heard her son would be represented on stage but also speaking to millions across this country,” said Vilchez, who credits his mother as the force behind his activism.
“She inspires me to give back to my community,” he said.
Vilchez wants to continue advocating for issues around gun violence — and will possibly return to Chicago after his 2027 graduation.
“I want to do politics, whether that be at the federal or local level. It’s about serving my community.”
