Derrion Albert revisited
Im sorry yall this took me a couple of days to really get to a point where writing about this was not an angry impassioned rant.
But as we all know Derrion Albert was brutally beaten to death and had his future taken away from him. I have heard there are several reasons why B/c he wouldnt join the gang, he was trying to break up a fight, or jumped simply b/c he was an honor student.
Two things that are truly disturbing are the excuses made by the accused parents and the fact there were enough people to videotape this situation (there is a rumor of a squad car watching the fight so i hear) but no body moved to help. The best way to get gangs out of your community is to break its recruitment but that requires people to get into harms way. Derrion Albert and every other child is worth it.
Like Nas Said the kids are fighting the wrong war
Which brings me to my next point...It wasnt as though Derrion wasnt from the neighborhood what would have caused them to kill em. Personally as a former honor student i know the teachers and school give the honor students preferential treatment. Could that have been the issue?
Could this tragedy been a expression of the hopelessness on the side of the attackers. Could Derrion Albert's attackers in some way wanted to show him that he was just like they were, without hope for a future or success?
I know i've been treated with contempt for being successful by close friends in high school. Its hard to look at someone making it when you haven't lived up to your potential. And in our communities because of the legacies and continual attacks of white supremacy many of our youth are viewing their lives as hopeless and risking their lives for the tiniest things. So if they think their lives are w/o hope and you look like them then chances are they associate those same feelings w/ you and thus taking you from this earth isn't really that big of a deal particularly when death is something you deal with on regular basis.
This is just my take on it. Let our heavy hearts be our motivation to fix it and become involved and show these youths another way.
5 comments:
Hello Isaac,
I really can't make a blog about this because I too am angry and disgusted... but I've been reading other peoples' blogs and I'm kind of upset about the focus on most of them.
...now, I know that YOU are trying to compose a solution to the problem and already know what I'm about to mention. But I know a lot of readers, as well as a lot of people PERIOD are trying to figure out the same thing: "Why?"
Honestly, does it really matter WHY he's dead now? I don't think the focus should be on, "Oh they're picking on the smart kid who stays out of trouble". Gangs are violent period. They will shoot a four year old if they're in the way of the intended target. There's no "why". I mean, there are so many ways to die! I think that just about everybody can agree that not one of them are acceptable for a sixteen year old honor student. Not gang violence, not illness, not a car accident.
We know that it's due to gang violence, and honestly, that's all that we NEED to know. We all know how gangs typically operate. We know already that gangs kill with no remorse, and from watching the video and reading somewhere that his memorial was BURNED!
I don't even care WHY the boy was killed. It angers me that he was killed... by gang members. It angers me that it's common, and right now, it's still happening. Whether somebody is getting robbed, some one was targeted specifically, or somebody was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
but see when you say wrong place at the wrong time that puts the blame on the victim. That doesn't make sense to me.
Gang are an issue. but getting rid of a gang isnt as simple as taking out the members. Gang exist for a reason. U take away that reason the gangs go away. So it is necessary to ask that why. Its a complex issue. But gangs and violence in general are responses to several distinct stimuli. end those stimuli you end the Gang.
I don't think "wrong place at the wrong time" puts blame on the victim. I think of it more statistically... a bullet could fly through my window right now and depending on where I'm sitting, it could hit me and send me to the ER, it could completely miss me (and I could tweet about it LOL) or, if I'm sitting in the right (or rather, "wrong") spot, it could get me square between the eyes and kill me. That's not my fault. I think the context you're thinking I meant was, "He shouldn't have been there anyway." ...that's not what I was saying. From the knowledge I gathered, he was walking home from school when this happened.
BUT I do get what you're saying about taking away the CAUSE of the gang violence. But I just don't think that saying, "He got killed because he's a good kid." justifies their actions. If anything, it felt like you were saying that you can't be smart "in the hood" or you'll get punished. To me, that's what drives these kids into gangs in the first place.
I've tutored plenty of kids who were failing in school, and felt like I was wasting my time. They knew the material. They would sit there and do the homework with me.. but they either a) wouldn't turn it on or b) wouldn't pass the test.
I was/am an honors student too, and I know that "friends" of mine know how to make it seem like it's a rare or "weird" thing to get good grades, or study instead of go out on Friday night... but to say that that's why he died is unacceptable to me.
To me the issue is simpler. The issue is genoice. The solution is self-love.
Any1 who has worked with youth can see the accumulation of abandon, anger, neglect and hate in a child. It will manifest itself in violence either emotional or physical - always.
The boys were simply releasing their anger through violence. It was a normal reaction for them. That's why they (& even their parents) have the visceral reactions ppl expect.
Violence is the norm.
Check out my triolet about this incident at http://yesterdayspoem.blogspot.com/2009/09/strike-straight-for-derrion-albert.html
You make some excellent points in this post. I agree with you. Maybe they viewed him as someone who thought he was better than them because he didn't run with them. Or because he valued his education and had goals of doing more with his life. I have seen that many times. It's the attitude of if I'm not going to succeed then you ain't going to succeed either.
Either way this is a horrible tragedy whatever the reason and this is just one of many. This is the one of many that made national attention because it was caught on tape.
The streets are covered with the blood of our youth. My heart goes out to all involved and the future victims because even with all the attention Derrion's case gets somewhere right now as I am posting this comment another young man or woman is losing his/her life to violence.
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