I see victims of gun violence on the news all the time, but never thought one of them could be somebody I know.
That was until now.
My friend Reggis Washington was the latest Chicago Public Schools student to be killed as a result of gun violence. He became one of five victims of a bloody two day period, while Chicagoans enjoyed unseasonably warm temps for the beginning of April.
As a citizen journalist, I try to report about issues that a professional journalist might not have time to really research in depth (like the violence in Chicago's toughest neighborhoods). While CNN's Don Lemon brought this issue to international attention with his 2009 special, Chicago's Deadly Streets, the state of safety in disadvantaged areas is one that requires constant awareness.
I've known Reggis since he was about 6 or 7 years old. He was a bright, well mannered and athletic guy. Then at 13, he hit a growth spurt which took me (at 5 foot 9) from looking down towards him to looking up at him (he was about 6 foot 2 or taller). From what I knew, he mostly played baseball and basketball and just liked hanging out with his friends.
He moved to the next neighborhood, but stayed in touch with me. In fact, he surprised me with a call about this time last year. When I looked at the caller ID on my phone, I couldn't believe it. Up until then, the kids I offered to mentor almost never followed up. But Reggis wanted some advice about finding a summer job. He knew that I couldn't teach him sports - because of my athletic inability - but desired guidance from somebody he could respect.
I didn't take that respect lightly and gave him the best tips possible. However, I never imagined that my next conversation concerning him would involve tragedy.
Reggis was only 17. This July, I'll be 26. I wish that I could give him my years instead, so that he could see his 18th, 21st, and 25th birthdays (and beyond). Instead, I'll live my life as a tribute to Reggis.
He moved away again, but not just to heaven - he moved to my heart.
Janet Tavakoli: Third World America 2011: Forget "Fast Tracking to Anarchy" We've Arrived
But you need to face what happened. Your friend was killed by a person, who made a decision to kill. I don't know why you attribute his death to some vague and impersonal phenomenon of "gun violence." Does that make it easier to explain? To me, it makes it more senseless. It only makes sense in the light of the fact that your friend was killed by a thinking person ... almost certainly a misguided young black man.
I hope your sorrow quickly turns to anger, and that toward punishment and deterrence.
"I have never had any of my friends murdered"... EXACTLY!
I appreciate your condolences, but what I must object to is you reading between the lines of what I wrote. Anger SOLVES nothing. Anger killed my friend, because that EMOTION is what probably what drove the killer to do such a thing.
I'll never know what Reggis went through in his last moments, but I know that I must spend my life working AGAINST the forces of evil, instead of with them. I can't ask a shooter to put down a gun if I still have one in my back pocket.
And to think, I almost got angry with you for being so damn insensitive. But I'm not. I'm just numb from what's happened to him, his family, and countless others affected by this violence.
Thanks for the advice, but we need SOLDIERS- not critics.
We live in a world full of mentally unstable people who can barely handle the act of sex within marriage, to ensure that kids have some sort of stability. (Not saying that most marriages are stable)
That, in turn, can lead to bad parenting. (Not always)
Please keep your gun rights views OUT OF THIS DISCUSSION. If you're not helping, please go away.
if I was a black parent, no way would I live in the urban ghetto of America's cities. I would take my child to a farm.
the answer to all this violence is to ship our kids over to Africa for a summer. That will turn their heads and their mind. If you live in an uneducated, un-cultural environment, this is what happens. It's cyclical. And don't ask the "white" man to pass laws to try and stop it, they won't, because it's the "white" man getting rich off of selling guns.
Our kids need to get out of their environment into positive environments: and I nominate Ghana and Mali for summer outings.
I'm a little confused about sending "our" kids to Africa though as a fair number of those countries have violence rates light years ahead of Chicago's. Rwanda killed 800,000 of it's citizens, Darfur is up to what 2 million, Uganda killed 300,000 Christians and Hindus in the late 70's, half a dozen countries are in the midst of civil wars, others have epidemic levels of HIV/AIDS and grinding poverty that no one in this country sees. What exactly are they supposed to learn on this trip?
Actually Chicago politicians (most of them white) DID pass laws trying to stop gun sales. As a result, Chicago has had a handgun ban for since 1982, and not surprisingly it hasn't helped at all since most criminals don't use legal guns.
Thankfully, the useless handgun ban will soon be overturned and Chicago citizens will be able to enjoy the same 2A rights enjoyed by the rest of the nation.
I thought I'd pass along these videos made by Chicago high school students trying to use video production to curb gun violence. The first is an award-winning documentary made last year and the second link is to a youtube page with a collection of videos about Chicago gun violence.
http://www.ctvnetwork.org/shynot-productions.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRx0l-rg0A8&feature=PlayList&p=5A9820705D0DE208&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=3
What hasn't been done is the wholesale city planning which would make moving gang formations of any flavor a lot harder to assemble, supply and generally move around.
Successive roundabouts(British style) for instance can slow down a gateway car quite a bit. There are many ways to throw a wrench here. A lot of parents will have to be sidelined as they themselves are a part of the problem - unless they decide it's time to BE the change, as Gandhi said once. With the number of people at hand though this has to go 24/7 for years. You need to have at least one generation brought up in normal way in order just to establish a benchmark to be followed. That's 10-15 years. Then rinse and repeat. The same process normally happens throughout history but here it has to be deliberate or it will fail.