Tyshawn Lee, it is a name you should know. He died at the age of nine, in an alley, in Chicago, suspected to have been assassinated as a gang related crime. His father, Pierre Stokes, is supposedly a gang member. A rival gang reportedly lured the little boy into the alley, and then shot him repeatedly in the back and head.
The "father", not cooperating with police. He is pretty sure, though, that his son was targetted, that is why so many shots to the head and back. Look, I would not get this low down, making up stuff to prove stereotypes right. It is too horrendous, it is unbelievable, unacceptable. It violates our faith and belief in the nation, and our fellow man.
Let's be honest, young men, American men, alley hunted the child of another young American man. This is not jihad, or some foreign foolishness. This is our backyard, our turf. It is beyond the pale. There is not a single thing here that commends itself, in the least, in any manner.
I don't want to pile on, it is a bad enough situation. However, where is the hue and cry about black lives mattering? When is the focus going to be on young black men killing other young black men, and children? It is hundreds of orders of magnitude more likely for young black people to be the victim of violence at the hand of young black men than police. It is much more likely for black anyone to be victimized by young black men, than any other group at any time, in any place.
This is not about race, other than the compartmentalization and still prevalent segregation of impoverished black people. I still believe that what drives all of this is the entrenched poverty that these "families" labor within, generation after generation. But, we won't face it, won't own it, won't do whatever it takes to cure it. We accepted that challenge to go to the moon, and made it. (If you are into the whole "faked moon landing" conspiracy, just let it go for this post.) Yet, we will not declare it our national intention to eradicate entrenched poverty in ten years.
Why? I don't believe that it has to do with race, with color. I belive that it does have to do with racism. Because as a white man, I am not supposed to say anything about this. I am not supposed to point out that we had our fellow citizens burn down an entire suburb of St Louis over a cop shooting a young black man, that we had some kind of crazed, out of body experience as a nation over that. But we ignore the horrible race crimes happening daily in the "hoods" all over the nation. Being white, I don't have any "cred" for that conversation. So, it cannot be my problem or my focus. Not allowed, so, I have to ignore it. After all, calling it what it is, is just labelled racism in this time.
We don't have Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Kevin Ellis, Obama, Carson, any of them making it their mission to impact the path of destruction that the majority of young black men are trying to avoid. We over incarcerate minority youth, but that harping from Bernie Sanders leaves out the real issue. The only economic reality we have allowed for these minority youth continues to flourish only in criminal activity. We think drug dealers and gangs are horrible, yet we wax nostalgic about moonshiners and bootleggers.
It is not because they were by and large white. It is because shine and bootlegging paid for a lot of college, a lot of education. Crack has not, and is not. Neither is pot. Neither is meth. It is just contributing to continued criminalization of the young and vulnerable. It is piling up deaths of innocents and the naieve. It is just continuing to victimize the same people it has victimized for FIFTY years. Since the 60's, this has not improved but only gotten worse.
I pray often that capable and informed leaders will stand up, will speak up and will work up. I pray often that men my age, of color, will band together to demand that their children and neighborhood will no longer be a cauldron of terror and crime. I pray often that this tragedy we continue to perpetrate on our citizens, begins to come to an end.
If black lives matter, (and in my humble opinion they most certainly do) then there should be a beginning from this tragic loss of this baby. There should be a real focus on addressing what actually is taking the majority of black, and Latino and white lives. It is not the police, but the lawless element that is born out of poverty and continued entitlement reliance. It is a disintegrated family unit among the impoverished, black, white, polka-dotted people. It is a growing divide between those plugged into and participating in the society and government, and those who have lost hope and vision.
Yes, it is criminal, what we have done with voting laws and districting. However, if it means you have to go get a damn ID card, do it. Stop accepting the impediment, and overcome them. How in the world did we beat segregation and pass voting rights and civil rights legislation, a mere fifty years ago, and yet today, we are defeated by speed bumps and inconvenience. There comes a point where you earn what you receive, especially as an adult. If you are unsatisfied, you have the obligation to do something about it.
I am tired of the wailing and moaning about what society is doing to this group and that group. Fix your own house, your own back yard. Get involved, call it what it is, refuse to accept the continued status quo. If you want to make certain black lives matter, quit letting drug dealing, gang banging and irresponsibility be the every day reality outside your front door. When the 9 year old got shot, the saddest thing is that it was the police that made the most decisive statements condemning this.
Yes, the same police that just like to shoot and lock up minorities. Yes, the same police that can't be trusted. Yes, the same police that no one cooperates with or respects. They are the ones that responded, that condemned it, that are moving heaven and earth to find those responsible for what they called the most callous and disturbing crime they had ever witnessed. I think that is wrong.
I think the worst thing out of this is the "father" that is unwilling to cooperate with the police and find who killed his son. That microcosm is the absolute illustration of what is wrong. And until those that are allowed to call it out, condemn it, refuse to accept it, and start teaching these fools and thugs how to be men, not assclowns, start doing it, it will remain horrific and sad. It will also remain what you are fricking earning because of the refusal to accept the challenge in front of you and act instead of hide.
It has nothing to do with skin color, just personal courage and integrity. And, I am sorry that is how it is, these kids ought to have been served better by the generations before them. But, the reality and prism that is created in these communities have eliminated any responsibility to be a father, a male role model. It has become expected to just be a baby daddy. That term ought to be outlawed. If all you are going to be is a sperm donor, that is what you should be called. If you want to be called daddy, you better be fulfilling some needed role in your children's life.
Makes me mad. Maybe I should not have some of these opinions. I do know that I will be ignored by many, because I am white. I offer up a son grown to manhood, employed and supporting himself and his family, as my bona fides as to my expertise. Those of you that do not agree with me, what are your credentials? I also have dozens of young men, of all nationalities, that I mentored in the military, nephews that are making their own way. None of these are perfect or have it all figured out, but they have the basis and a strong sense of what it means to be a man, a grown man. And, they have someone that will call them out, period, if they are not.
That is the saddest part. What is needed is free, does not require infrastructure, and is possible without the internet or technology. A decent male role model, a family connection, and someone to demand better from you, until you earn your way to better. That is what is required, what is missing and what is not being developed.
That is also my opinion. I want to hear yours. Somehow, we have to have this conversation start, so that we move beyond conversing and get into working. No government programs needed or wanted. No denominational commitments required. No collections or budgets. Just men trying to be men and demanding their children grow up into men.
GLYASDI
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