State of Emergency- Fallen brown and black young men
I can't stop crying at work today. How can I focus on raising money when four young men were shot or stabbed this past weekend? As I returned from my weekend trip I was bombarded with news that a childhood brother was gunned down. I went to school with his sisters. I remember Cory Johnson, handsome, clean, quiet, and polite, always had a smile, loved life and lived well. How could this happen? Why not? My young black and brown brothers are gunned down like slaughtered animals each and every week as it appears and it continues. This is a state of emergency yet there is no panic, no one running out into the streets yelling evacuate, stay inside, this city is on lockdown. HOW when two 14 year olds have been murdered within in a month of each other, they will never get their driver's permit, never go to high school, the prom, college, get married or have children. They were more than just homicide victims, they were people with dreams, plans, personalities, feelings, families, children and futures.
How do their families grieve? Parents are either on the side of the victim or victimizer but they are both grieving. Buried before their time or in jail for life is what these parents have to experience. Aren't children supposed to bury their parents not the other way around? I don't have kids but I have a heart. I care about my community. I'd care if this happened in Wellesley, Brookline or Newton but because this happens in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan it's not an emergency. I'm outraged when I remember a suburban town was shut down because a gunman was on the lose for killing an elderly. Why hasn't Boston been shut down, why don't I see swat teams and army officials walking the streets to help our community. WHY hasn't the city reacted this way to the slaying of our kids?
I weep for Cory, Nicholas, Jewon and all our fallen soldiers. There have been 27 murders since January, all young men and women under 30. Shame on you if you are not outraged and ready to stand up for what you know is injustice, shame on you for not being apart of the solution, shame on you for not weeping, shame on you for not calling local organizers, elected officials and police to help this problem, shame on you for not checking your kids rooms for guns, shame on you for not hugging your kids or sending them to counselor when you know they are angry and need love, shame on you for not marching for justice, for peace for safety and shame on you for not caring because it's not in your community or your "hood", not your child. The city will continue to be filled with memorials of candles, teddy bears, baseball hats, bottles of liquor and anything else that reminds the community of the their loved ones. WE should be naming buildings, community centers and more after our children to celebrate their success NOT holding vigil to street memorials.
We need to pray for our city, for our children and for each other to stop this bloodshed, it could have been you. It could have been me, and until this stops it may be you and it may be me, and it doesn't have to be.
There will be a benefit Wednesday at Verve (811 Massachusetts Ave) at 9pm. Funds raised at the benefit will go to support Cory's family and funeral costs. You can contact me with questions about the benefit and leave memories of Cory or other thoughts via comments below.
Our Community
Alicia and Just A Thought. I thank you for the word's of wisdom. Mentally I have never recovered from the violence in Boston. When I was 13 years old. I can remember the 90s wanting to save someone anyone especially our boys. So as a teen girl, I did everything I could think of that was positive to be a good friend, to make them laugh and forget about being hardcore, in the streets, or known. I remember crying everytime someone was killed in Codman Square/Ashmont area (where I grew up). I remember how my heart used to feel ripped out. Everytime this happens it is the same feeling. Now that I am 30 years old and have a 14 year old son...I feel like I am reserving for tragedy some days. I really thank you for the words of encouragement today. My son left the house at 7:00am today and somehow, I have to go and pick him up early from school because I have to make a difference today. I have to be more vigilant as a parent so that he does not become a victim or victimizer.
I am really thanking you for these powerful messages. God Bless You for helping me see that the same girl who was 13 years old and used to go out her way for the sons of other women--is now a woman and mother herself and I need to go out my way for my own child even when she I am feeling tired, some days defeated and weak.
Words of truth, not folly
Alicia, you so eloquently express the sorrow and tragedy of these murders. Why the Mayor and Police Commissioner can not *admit* the failure of our institutions to protect our youth is beyond me. Instead, they point to statistics of decreased crime. We are indeed living in a time of emergency on our own streets, not those of the distant countries we protect.
Thank you for your words of truth.
Just a thought
Speaking as a Lifelong resident of Dorchester & someone who is considerably older than you: Sadly this City has seen this tragedy unfold for quite some time now.....We are past being outraged and now sit passively numb…..
We were outraged in 1988 when a twelve-year-old Tiffany Moore was murdered while sitting on her front steps….with the slayings of 11-year-old Charles Copney and 15-year-old Korey Grant in 1991 as the two kids played front of Copney's house. We were outraged in 1993 when high school sophomore, Louis Brown on his way to a meeting for the group "Teens against Gang Violence," was shot and killed in Dorchester. We were outraged in 2003 when Kai Leigh Harriott, then 3 years old, sat on her third-floor porch of her house with an older sister, when a gunman’s bullet shattered her spine, permanently paralyzing her from the chest down.
The impacted communities need to stop looking for outside help and realize the solution lies within !!! The community needs to be outraged, the community needs to demand more of themselves and stop looking for answers from City Hall and start looking in the mirror. The only way this will stop is the Parents of these troubled children need to start taking ownership and responsibility for their actions and the actions of their children.
My outrage and my neighbor’s outrage will not amount to a hill of beans if parents are parenting. Asking questions…demanding answers….searching drawers…punishing bad behavior….. Government can’t legislate good behavior, Government can’t keep kids off the street….Being a responsible parent can. Money isn’t going to fix this…Time will !! Take time to be a parent, a mentor, an activist……
The impacted communities have lost the attention of the greater Boston public….folks don’t care anymore, they are desensitized and immune to the day to day mayhem. The only way fix the problem is from within….Call the police when something is wrong….don’t allow problems to fester. Get involved with your community, start a crime watch, join a civic association…. Don’t ask what I am doing to solve the problem, ask yourself, what are you doing?
Lastly….we are weep for the lives of these lost children, it breaks our hearts.
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