Former resident on 'What changed at Dunbar Village?', other questions

C.B. Hanif for WAOD:

In previous video excerpts from a wide-ranging WAOD interview, Karen Stephens, who grew up in better times at Dunbar Village, spoke about what it was like then.

Stephens and Juanita Ealey (R) discussing Dunbar Village.

In these subsequent excerpts from her Karma Studio in West Palm Beach, on a Saturday (August 22) afternoon during the two-week (officially seven court days) trial, Stephens, an actor, director and business owner, shared her perspective on the  questions:

What changed at Dunbar Village?

Your understanding of what happened?

"Brother's keeper" neighbors?

'Children were failed.'

Law enforcement's performance?

All-white jury of their peers?

Comments

[RevMamaAfrika]

This sad case still has me glued to my computer.

Earlier today, I read an editorial (or op ed) by a Palm Beach Post reporter. She basically said she did not feel sorry for Avion Lawson, one of the teen terrorists that plead guilty and testified against Poindexter and Walker and I assume he will also testify against Jakaris Taylor.

I do indeed feel a bit sorry for him; he was 14 years old, child, when he committed a terrible, horrific crime against the humanity of the mother and son and thus that entire community. But given as people said earlier this week, that he probably had committed other rapes and it turned out he did, against who knows how many other girls/women, the pity I had for him and the rest has deliberately shrank to almost zero.

OH MY HOW FAR WE SLAVES HAVE COME. :( :(

[Faith]

Remember the ring leader of the Arizona rape of the Liberian immigrant was also 14. This is truly a situation where age is nothing but a number. These males are stone cold criminals by this time. They may not have been charged with anything or have a record until it's escalated to something horrific but it certainly didn't start there.

[iman]

I agree with her. When these types of crimes happen with young black kids, there are many people who don't try to figure out "why", as if it's just our nature. That is to our own detriment, because if these boys could find that many like minded individuals in that small of a radius, this problem is bigger that we realize. I can't imagine these kids all started out as criminals--what happened to make that change?

I remember when the Colombine shooting happened. It was a national emergency and everyone wanted to know why. Everyone analyzed what happened in the shooters life. Schools were put on a notice about identifying the signs and anti social behavior that lead up to the shooting. Students across the country were encouraged to talk about it in group settings. Counselors were prepared to deal to with students concerns. Parents were put on alert as were police. The news was consumed by this story. Somehow we collectively decided that this is not the way children act, and when they do, that means we are in a national state of emergency.

Well I feel the same about the DV case. In this case they weren't murderers, but they still committed an unthinkable crime. Just like Columbine, we need to ask why? Someone did fail these kids. It doesn't make them any less responsible for their crime, but there are children like them being failed as we speak that may need the proper outside interventions to ensure that they don't turn to a life a crime before they even finish highschool.

[RevMamaAfrika]

@ Iman, I agree with you, but that means many adults would have to deliberate and consciously become or be RESPONSIBLE ADULTS such as parents, schools, faith community, social services organizations, etc., and yes even the CRIC AND THE WOMEN MEMBERS IN THE CRIC WHO OBVIOUSLY DON'T THINK VAW ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT.

We adults would have to turn off the tv, violent video games, be all in the business of our own children, i.e., their homework, household chores, odd jobs, who their friends are, CURFEWS (a dirty word, yes I know), etc. Also as gem2001 as said many times, we must not, we cannot underestimate the psychological warfare against us everyday, all the time, such as all the violence in the media and negroes, CRIC or not, who have the nerve to talk some ying yang about their "free speech rights", etc., what we don't talk about as a people, as a community when it comes to sexism and misogyny, etc. It's a whole lot of things thrown at us, some subtle, some not, over a long period of time.

Lastly, we must take back what it mean to be a Black person, an African person. We must not tolerate this attitude of young people being smart in school as "acting White." WTH did that come from and why is that attitude allowed to still be among us? Why do we encourage it? I'm 52 years old and that nonsense was said to me when I was 11, 12, 13 years old, etc. Look at how we still ignore young boys who are smart in school, but we cheer all day long the boys who are good in sports. Look at how we go on and on about a young girl who is "pretty" or "has a nice shape", etc., but do we also praise the young girls who are good in school, especially those good in math and science? This is what makes me the most angry about some of us adults, some of so-called "conscious sisters and brothers." And we just need to flat out tell these kids (and sadly their parents as well) that criminal behavior is wrong, PERIOD. :(

[Yme]

Is there any reason we can't lock up these rapists (remember they're not murderers because AFTER they poured the fluids on the mother and son they couldn't find the matches) AND ask why at the same time?

And, is there any real doubt that the reason "why" in this incident is that these individuals had free reign to roam the streets and wreck havoc. They did these things because they could.

There are people of all complexions, from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds, from dysfunctional families that would bring tears to our eyes THAT WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THESE DEEDS. I don't think you can realistically link it to any one contributing factor that we could later go and proclaim

"AHA, we've found the reason. Now, we can build a government program around it."

("Well, me personally...I'd say they need Jesus. But that would start a war.")

I think we're complicating this.

I think it is okay to hold these individuals responsible for what they did. If anything, I think its our knee jerk response of trying to rationalize bad behavior that is part of the problem.

There was no "reason" (def. a rational motive for a belief or action) here.

Because a crime like this is so foreign to us...we want to define the nature of the assailant. What if it's already been defined, but we just don't like the answer.

By the way, check out a definition for a sociopath?
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

[Duane]

This may come off as somewhat simplistic, but it’s often the liberal, progressive types who want to know “why” someone does something evil or breaks the law. They believe there must always be some cause and effect as to why someone became a rapist or mass murderer.

I on the other hand believe there are people in this world who are just plain evil. Perhaps some are even born evil. No explanation is really necessary.

There are parents out there who did everything under the sun for their children, only to watch them later turn into monsters. Jeffery Dahmer and the BTK killer Dennis Radar are examples. There really wasn’t anything about their parental upbringing that was odd or abnormal, except both Dahmer and Radar both liked to unnecessarily kill animals for some reason. Maybe it was some sort of mental deficiency, where they lacked the ability to feel empathy towards others.

Failure to come down hard on violent criminals will only encourage them to inflict more violence on the innocent. I’m tired of trying to understand why people are criminals. I’m now more concerned with making sure they are locked away in prison for good.

[RevMamaAfrika]

I'd say no human being is born a monster; this society literally breeds them. That's only an explanation of sorts, but certainly not an excuse. Just as there was these, more are around us. In the city where I live, we had a similar case back in 1984 or 1985. Five or six teen age boys and one teen age girl, beat, robbed and raped a 40 something woman in an alley. She was raped with a broom stick, the woman died. The teen age girl was the lookout; they stole the woman's gold ring and the teen girl got it as a "reward." They all went to jail and may still be in jail. :(

Does anyone know if any of the four (or six) DV teen terrorists were in school at the time of the crime? I'm just curious what some of their teachers, other school staff and classmates have to say.

[MabiliO]

@yme and Duane

there is no need to bash thoughtful people who want to look at the big picture. Conservatives have sung that simplistic punishment argument for years. It is intelligent to want to understand to sociology of a society. The DV attackers did not just become tortuous criminals in a vacuum. Lena makes an excellent point, please go back and study her words. Many great thinkers have coined phrases designed to understand "why". We may not have the answer but please don't do away with that question. It is the most important question of all time. The impulse to just rely on prisons, or the death penalty, is short-sighted. After all of the executions throughout history it has failed to deterr crime and prison continue to fail to rehabilitate. Why? possibly because that was not the reason for execution which I think was meant to exact revenge. often stats have executed the wrong person in its haste to seek revenge. Prison fail because rehabilitation is not the overarching motive in practice but rather enslavement therefore turning out ex-cons who are more dangerous than when they went into prison. We need a new dynamic and that begins with understanding.

peace