Monday, August 08, 2011

A Fool's Code

Sometimes watching the news is more than a little depressing. Sometimes it makes you question the sea of humanity that surrounds you. To have a short synopsis of the people that you live around is often times too much for your brain to comprehend. You see these people that share your city and feel a sense of sadness. Sadness that their conscience allows them to do some of the most unthinkable deeds.

All of the newscasts that I watched for the past 24 hours led with the death of Arianna Gibson. You know what she was doing when she died? She was sleeping on her grandmother's couch. At 6 in the morning a young criminal- some low life thug- climbed the stairs of her grandmother's house, stood on her porch and fired into the front windows of her house. He struck two teenagers and fatally shot Arianna in the chest. She was supposed to start school today. She was 6 years old.
The story goes on. Faces come across the screen shouting of injustice around the city, begging for someone- anyone- to come forward, pinpoint the shooter, tell what they know. References are made to the 13 year old who was playing basketball on a school playground four days ago when he was shot and killed in a driveby. Another young, unintended victim of the ghetto lifestyle.

The neighbors seem cold on tv, even though I know first hand that is not the case. Mothers are begging, crying on tv for their children. Asking over and over again for the neighborhood to stop this code of silence and tell the police what they know. It never happens. Why is that? How could anyone know the identity of a person who killed a sleeping six year old and not say SOMEthing? How do people think that there is honor in letting a coward roam the streets, enabling them to do this again, to make parents weep for their children- again; to make our community miss out on the potential of another dead young person- again?

Momma Mox always used to tell me "if you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything." We need to stand up for our children; our neighborhoods. We need to stand up for the safety of our elders, our blocks. You do no one any favors by remaining silent. You don't ensure your own safety or the safety of your family. The only thing that being quiet does is make sure- without question- that violence will happen again in your neighborhood, that once again a life will end too soon, that the tears of another mother will flow in the streets of Chicago.
RIP in those affected by street violence in Chicago, may all your families find solace.


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