Monday
Sep282009
"This is NOT NORMAL" - The Death of Derrion Albert
Monday, September 28, 2009 at 10:19PM The Blogmother I stole this from Jack and Jill Politics because we need to hear this RIGHT NOW. Many of you saw the beating death of Derrion Albert and I've been reading comments all over the blogosphere about "kids these days." Its like we just accept savagery. When have we ever told these kids that this mess is NOT NORMAL? All they hear all day is dysfunction, dysfunction, dysfunction. The Radio glorifies dysfunction. The television glorifies dysfunction. We tell them its "hard out here on the streets" or whatever in the heck some record executive comes up with to market crappy music this week. We've got millionaire athletes that can't get away from their hood ways despite the fact that god gave them the talent to escape. They want to keep it reall. What's real?
Well here is a clip from Brick City, its a documentary about Newark, but you could just as easily apply this to Chicago. I'm sick of all of these prognostitutes and "community activists" finding an excuse for this kind of savagery. This is NOT normal. Its not acceptable! It. just. not! That's a lie and I rebuke it.
Baratunde said the following over at JJP:
The documentary website has more info (http://bit.ly/brickcity) and the series is available via Sundance Channel on demand, as well as iTunes (http://bit.ly/brickcityiTunes). It’s $9 for all five episodes. Cheaper than a movie, and far higher quality.
In terms of followup, I’m interested in a few things.
a) your thoughts on the scene. Does it reflect your experience? Is it completely foreign to you?
b) Other documentaries that shed intelligent light on the challenges of urban/black/lower income communities
c) Effective solutions to the situation depicted in the scene or similar ones, whether they be government policies, non-profit organizations, mentoring programs etc.
Y'all can chime in with your dire assessments of the Black community, but I will not now nor will I ever believe that savagery is "normal." I don't care how many rap music videos you watch, this brutality ain't normal. It ain't normal for Chicago to have kids getting the crap beaten out of them on the regular basis. Its not normal to have dozens of students shot in a single school year. This ain't NORMAL.
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Reader Comments (20)
So what do you mean by normal?
We must come the realization that some of 'us' cannot and will not do right by our families, upbringing and or communities.
The days of rationalizations, excuse giving, crying over 'my good boy/girl', blaming 'the man' are over.
We must also state in as clear a voice as possible that there are crimes that you don't get to come back from; murder, rape, molestation, and the like will get you the ultimate price.
There used to be standards, I grew up with do the crime, do the time. Now, it's do the crime, get scholarships and awards.
But alas, there is hope. A couple of punks tried to rob a woman, she shot both, killing one of them. You want to live, don't rob armed citizens. Another example, a punk breaks into a church and goes after the Pastor, not wanting to be a victim, the Pastor shoots the would be attacker.
The question should be why do we keep mixing those who want to better themselves with those parents are 106 & Park and other trash?
Off the soapbox.....for now.
I plan to see the documentary "The Providence Effect" which is a true story about a private school in Chicago whose student body has a 100% record of attending college.
http://theprovidenceeffect.com/synopsis.html
This is an example of defining what is "normal" in our communities.
This man says what I'm always thinking and saying. It ain't normal and it ain't right and I think we're sick of these kids dying in the streets over anything much less over foolishness.
True words...so sad. LAUSD is on the verge of turning many of the schools to Charter Schools, where parents are required to do 35 hours per school year of service to the school or the child will face expulsion.
I feel sad for the boy's family and greatful that they've caught 4 suspects already. But I'm not surprised at all by this incident. Incidents like this are commonplace in Black America. So by "our" standards it's quite normal, but you're correct in stating that it's not normal behavior for most ethnic groups.
What I'd like to know is how do you suggest Black people go about changing it? I mean, when dysfunction and anti-social behavior is the norm in the community (I use that word loosely) you can't expect people, not even children or teenagers, to behave normally.
I think at this point most AA's are well aware that substandard living conditions and racism are no exuse for the outright dysfunction that plagues most black neighborhoods. Yet, no one does anything about it because there's nothing any single person can do about it. I personally fault the civil rights movement for depriving black communities across America of exposure to normalcy.
Everyone knows that the Black community died AFTER the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, which allowed us 'decent', 'middle-class' (in other words, 'normal') AA's to move out of their communities and live in predominately white, or mixed-race areas. The result is that they left behind the worst elements in their communities. So now, what we have are generations of young men and women who've never been exposed to anything but self destructive behavior.
If and when Black leaders stop exusing violent crime as a by-product of poverty, and start teaching Black males to see themselves as men rather than victims, these types of incidents will go away or at least become far less frequent.
That can only happen if "normal" Black folks (of any income level or job title) return to these severely damaged communities to live and socialize in them, in significant numbers! Then perhaps the less fortunate members of our ethnicity will learn to value honesty, hard-work, and any other cliche adjective associated with normalcy. If this occurs, young black men will be less prone to violence and crime in general.
I doubt this will ever happen though. But I honestly believe that it's the only thing that will ever revive the Black community. I'm in my early 20's so I don't particularly feel at fault for these problems, it was the older generations who stood by and watched as their communities spiraled out of control. Nevertheless, from reading this blog I do feel compelled to do something, whether it's mentoring, working with community organizations or whatever. Just realize that these kinds of activities only serve a select few. No amount of public service or volunteer work will restore a sense of normalcy in Black ghettos.
Everyone knows that the Black community died AFTER the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, which allowed us ‘decent’, ‘middle-class’ (in other words, ‘normal’) AA’s to move out of their communities and live in predominately white, or mixed-race areas.
That - which "everyone knows" is a very reductive, inaccurate view of the CRM (not to be confused with the CRIC) that has taken on mythic proportions. CR gains were used (anti-redlining, access to capital, basic human dignity) for the benefit of black communities (and arguably America as a whole).
That can only happen if “normal” Black folks (of any income level or job title) return to these severely damaged communities to live and socialize in them, in significant numbers!
***
The result is that they left behind the worst elements in their communities.
***
No amount of public service or volunteer work will restore a sense of normalcy in Black ghettos.
So, who in their right mind, would want to move into the ghetto? Consider that folks moved NOT because they were chasing white folks, but because (1) their hoods weren't the mythical Shangri-La and (2) they wanted to get away from the violence.
This is so overwhelming. How do you solve this kind of problem when there is absolutely no regard for human life? I agree with another poster who said that no amount of public service or volunteer work will restore a sense of normalcy to black ghettos.
How do you create kids like this? I have left the black community and will not return.
I saw a couple of episodes of Brick City and I noticed at one of the community meetings some loud woman was shouting at the police commissioner about him not doing his job and being overpaid, but none of these folks ever looked in the mirror to see what they are doing wrong. These monsters came from the community, they didn't come from another city or state
and drive over to Newark to shoot kids.
And when are black baby boomers are gonna be called out. Not all of them but many of them smoked crack and had the nerve to keep having children. As well as the teens and young women who thought a welfare check and section 8, gave 16 years olds the right to start families w/o reliable partners
People act as if this stuff just started happening. It's been a problem for YEARS and especially in Chicago. While Jesse was out impregnating his employee and cheating on his wife, this was happening. As a matter of fact, when I was in high school, Chi-town grabbed the cover of TIME magazine because of the murder of a 10 year old, "Yummy" Sandifer who was killed by a 13/14 year old. Chicago became a national symbol of children killing children and the alarm was ringly loudly then... in 1994.
What's different 15 years later? Why haven't things changed? Black on black youth violence was just as virulent at that time as it is now, especially in Chicago. No it's not normal for a 16 year old to be beaten to death, but I can't see what anyone in Chicago has done in the past 15 years to change anything.
It may not be normal for Chicagoans, but it is certainly their reality.
Statements from some of the suspects parents. It's a mixed bag.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/derrion-albert-vigil-and-march-postponed.html
@ Marlo-
You may subject yourself, your family, and your children to these folks as much as you'd like. I, for one, will never sacrafice me and mine for these folks.
Peace
Why do the defendent's mothers always believe everything is self-defense when it comes to their criminal sons??? Like honor-roll students go around beating up thugs, geez.
To LaJane and A Princess,
I'm not suggesting that anyone subject themselves to these folks. I totally understand why you wouldn't want to live in the 'hood. I certainly wouldn't.
I'm just pointing out the obvious, that social norms for black youth will not change in the absence of a community with a specific set of informal rules that define appropriate behavior.
I couldn't even watch it. Couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm already in the midst of a family emergency, so to see this right now or EVER..... :-|
Savagery.
Uhhhh... yeah... Silvonus' mother is out of her mind if she believes that her son "would never do anything like this". Ma'am, it's on the tape (which i can't bring myself to watch). He HAS done something like this. :-|
*APPLAUSE* Principal Baraka. I'm posting that on Facebook.
@ Marlo
Since we try to focus on solutions, I tried to think of a few that might be practical for what you stated should happen. I have failed to think of any practical application for what you proposed that would not require those with the "model behavior/rules" to sacrifice themselves or the ones they love.
The only thing that I can think of that might even remotely approach a solution under your criteria would be a "military-esque" environment for troubled kids who above all lack structure, consistency, and support in their lives. No, it's not perfect, but is any solution ever?
As a former middle school teacher in an urban school, my heart goes out to the principal and staff at that school and the countless others like it everyday. To think that they have the willpower to get up, get dressed and drive back to those schools. I've never been incarcerated but I can tell you that when those school doors shut and you need a buzzer to get into the building, there is something eery and disconcerting spending time in close quarters with some of these violent and troubled kids.
My heart goes out to those who can't get out now even if they want to. . .the students who live, breathe and die in these neighborhoods.
Hmm, I have actually heard cases of some communities who did manage to clean themselves up. Parents, preachers, and anyone else willing in the neighborhood just kind of overwhelmed the streets. There was ALWAYS a "group" of responsible adults present on the streets. They really did have to almost physically take back their neighborhoods. People leave because they can...some of these people couldn't and just got fed up. So, drug deals stopped going down, too many witnesses. Kids stop hanging out...too many adults.
I'll have to hunt up those articles. They were doing neighborhood watches, walking up and down the streets in groups and everything else. I'm not sure something like that works with a heavy gang presence. But, when its just a bunch of young men running rogue...you never know. I guess that's why...even as a Christian, I shake my head at the knowledge that many of these AWFUL neighborhoods are FULL of churches with preachers...running out to their cars after the service.
And, just like everyone else...as soon as they can rub two nickels together, the churches move out of the neighborhoods. I guess they leave for the same reason everyone else does. 1) Because they can; and 2) They'd like to live.