Its not always easy to put into words the experience of growing up in a rough neighborhood, one where drugs and crime have the upper hand. I remember being almost immune to the sound of gunshots because they were so common. I also remember, one morning on my way to get the bus for school, having to walk the sidewalk where a woman had been killed the night before. And then, there was the time when gunshots rang out, on my street, at 7:30 in the morning, hitting both intended and non-intended targets. I would have been amongst those gunned down had I not already been at school because of an early leadership class that year. Heavy experiences for youth and even heavier experiences for parents who desire to live and raise their children in peace and without fear of them taking a bullet that was meant for someone else.
Sadly, it was not much of a surprise when I saw the local news report of a 23 year old, pregnant, mother of 2 who was gunned down last week. Because, that’s just the kind of reputation the city of Richmond, CA has. Just this past Sunday, a small group of guys actually walked into a church in Richmond and opened fire. A church! Luckily, nobody died, but two people were hit. Its pure senseless madness in my hometown, and it has me wondering, what will come of us? Us as people who still live in neighborhoods like this. Us as people who want to go back to our neighborhoods bearing resources. Us as a people. Period. Do you have any idea how much of a challenge it is to rise above these kinds of conditions? Living in the middle of a war zone when every direction points in, instead of out? Knowing that the larger society frowns at the thought of projects, ghettos and hoods and the people in them? Things must change.
You see, the people who are overtaken by these conditions are not just casualties of the inner city, parts of the problem, but the ordinary and the extraordinary. And sometimes, the extraordinary are never discovered in these places because not enough people give a damn. I feel for the children of this slain woman. In a split second of blatant ignorance, a 5 year old little girl was not picked up from Kindergarten by her mother, a 4 year old little boy got to contribute the balloons that were suppose to be for his birthday party to his mother’s make-shift memorial outside of his great-grandfather’s house, and a baby will never get to take its first breath.
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