Hiding the Violence: 'Silver Bullet' on the streets of Chicago

The Rev. Michael Pfleger has ordered the American flag at St. Sabina Church hung upside-down - a historic sign of distress - to symbolize the growing death toll among the city's youngsters.

So far this school year, 36 children and teens have been murdered -- more than one a week -- and Pfleger is among a chorus of weary Chicagoans who say the slayings aren't getting the attention they deserve.

Had 36 kids died of swine flu this year, "there would be this great influx of resources that say, 'Let's stop this, lets deal with this,' " Pfleger said.

Instead, because violence is driving the epidemic, "We're hiding it. We're ignoring it. We're denying the problems," he said.

Duncan, who now serves as President Obama's secretary of education, said "all hell would break loose" if these killings took place in one of the metro area's upscale enclaves.

"If that happened to one of Chicago's wealthiest suburbs -- and God forbid it ever did -- if it was a child being shot dead every two weeks in Hinsdale or Winnetka or Barrington, do you think the status quo would remain? There's no way it would," he said.

Yet the problem has only worsened since Duncan publicly shared his observation. With about a month left in the school year, Chicago's public schools have topped the number of students slain in the 2007-2008 and 2006-2007 school years -- 27 and 31, respectively.

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said scuffles among youth have become more violent and a conflict that 20 years ago would have warranted a pushing or wrestling match now sometimes results in gunfire.

"There's simply too many gangs, too many guns and too many drugs on the streets," he said. "We've got a problem with some of our young people are resorting to use of weapons and violence to solve any type of conflicts they may have."

Weis said he concurred with Duncan's remarks from two years ago and bemoaned that society had become desensitized, almost to the point of acceptance, by the violence in some of America's major cities.

"That is a very sad state of affairs," he said.

Mayor Richard Daley said the numbers appear worse in his city because the public school system considers teenagers students even after they drop out.

"The rest of America doesn't count them. You're a dropout forever. We don't think they're dropouts. They're students," he said.

He further said Chicago's problems are no worse than those in any other American city.

"It's all over, the same thing," he said. "You go to a large city or small city, it's all over America. It's not unique to one community or one city."

Despite Daley's remarks, CNN has learned that none of the city's 36 victims this year was a dropout.

Also, Daley's statistics on the number of youths killed in other cities don't appear to match reports from American cities.

Los Angeles, California, notorious for its gang problems, is larger than Chicago. It has reported only 23 child slayings this school year. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is about half the size of Chicago, but it has witnessed only a ninth of the child slayings: four this school year.