Hi Jim: I hear you. I regrettably don't recall the incident at the SA, but I do recall feeling very saddened over the death of Abdullah Simmons this summer in Folwell. People I knew were dismissive, saying what did Simmons expect, given the gang that he was hanging out with.
I was saddened because 15-year-old boys think they're 10 feet tall and bulletproof. In some communities, when a boy makes a mistake the worst thing that happens is he gets grounded. In other communities, when a boy makes a mistake he pays with his life. I think it's a case of the deserving dead vs. the undeserving dead. Kids like Tyesha Edwards are the undeserving dead. Kids like Abdullah Simmons and Tycel Nelson--well, if they're not deserving dead, they're the unmissed dead. A letter writer to the Detroit Free Press recently responded to an article entitled "Another good kid shot dead." That letter is relevant to Minneapolis as well. My heartfelt wishes for a peaceful holiday for all, especially if there is an empty seat at your table. Susan Maricle formerly of Folwell Bruno MN >From the Detroit Free Press www.freep.com 'Good' kid? Let's mourn losses equally, and not judge December 11, 2002 It was with great sadness that I read your Dec. 2 story on Mario Smith, the latest young man killed in Detroit. My sadness was twofold. The event is a tragedy, and should give every one of us reason to step back to reevaluate how we live our own lives, and how we treat the people in them. But I was also deeply disappointed by the headline: "Another good kid shot dead in Detroit." Another "good" kid? Why make such a distinction? Is it easier when kids who are not "good" get shot? Who are those kids? Why are they bad, and how do they get that way? We hear all about the violent crimes individuals perpetrate against one another, but what about the systemic crimes perpetrated against many children in Detroit every day? The children who grow up in poverty, living in substandard housing or, for that matter, on the streets, without adequate nutrition, and attending underfunded schools? The children living in environments characterized by crime, violence and abuse? I would argue that these are the factors that turn children against themselves and one another, that lead them to devalue themselves and each other as much as society devalues them. The media, and society at large, should challenge the establishment to ameliorate these conditions before we begin passing judgment on which kids are "good" and which are not, which kids are more or less deserving of being shot in the street. Any child we lose is a tragedy. Many of them, however, are lost in spirit long before the bullets claim their lives. We should mourn these losses equally and work to ensure that no more children are taken from us, in body or in spirit, before their time. Katherine Root Ann Arbor > >______________________________________--- JIM GRAHAM <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: In April a poster notified the list that a fifteen-year-old child had been assassinated at the Super America on 25th and Bloomington, seemingly in a gang shooting. The poster asked for similar information to the "MPLS Pedestrian killed" post. NO ONE responded with any outrage what so ever! > > It was a black child who apparently had been engaged in drug trafficking, and it was an execution that occured in a poor neighborhood where such things apparently are not unexpected. However it was still a child and the child of some family. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
