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Derrion Albert; what are we going to do
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The Rev. Michael Pfleger : “What kind of person, what kind of individual, has such rage and such anger and such madness. We’ve got to get to the hearts of our children, because nothing, nothing, excuses or justifies the actions of an individual who would beat another individual. Nothing justifies that in this society. It’s time for guns, and it’s time for two-by-fours to stop being the way we treat each other.”
Another young black man is dead and it feels like such commonplace that we might watch the video, we might not. We might get upset, we might not, because this destruction has become the norm for our communities. There were 4 teen murders in Chicago last week and countless other young men died on the streets and their story is untold.
I watched the video of young Derrion Albert being beaten to death and it was heart-breaking. I've been in those same street brawls, acted with that mob mentality. I heard the voices of the children around the violence, they were excited by it! Rather than outrage, it was more like WWF, because it's common to watch young black males behave like savages and kill one another.
It's like that Philly PSA, it's starts with me, it starts with you. We can no longer think that if we raise or kids right that they will skirt by these types of situations. Derrion was an honor student, on Tuesday you could find him in bible study and on Sunday you could find him in the church. And where is he now, dead; dead like the brother who was pitching raw, dead like the brother who was living by the gun and died by the gun. It can happen to any one of us because this culture of violence and our acceptance of it has become far too common.
We all know the problems, it's time for some solutions. I think we need mount a campaign against youth violence and use our resources across the country to be heard. If you think you don't have time, that's ok, but remember the life you help save today may one day be your own, or someone close to you. Let's use this website as a place for some ideas on what a campaign like that would look like. How can we become effective stewards in our communities promoting anti-violence?
Mentoring is one avenue definitely. But a large reason young men act like this is simply because they have nothing to do. No community centers, or after school programs to keep them occupied. No programs for job creation or even skill building programs to help brothers and sisters be eqipped with the necessary tools for a job if it came knocking on their doors tomorrow. My bother Darian and I started Make It Happen for this very reason, and though we've been quiet for some time, prepare to see that voice rejuvenated and we need your support. LET THE IDEAS BEGIN TO FLOW!
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