Chicago Welfare Living Negro communities brace for expected violence during July 4 weekend as BLACK VIOLENCE AND LAWLESSNESS SOARS

Yolanda Stevenson remembers standing in front of her grandmother's Englewood neighborhood home, greeting guests for a small gathering on the Fourth of July last year.

She was chatting with friends when shots rang out.

The 35-year-old mother tried to stay calm, taking deep breaths, as an ambulance rushed her to a hospital. She had been shot in the right leg, another innocent victim of gang violence.

"I was like, 'God, I need you right now,'" she recalled recently. "I was in a lot of pain so I kept asking, 'Are we there yet?'"

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