Lost

     I am saddened by many of the things that I’ve seen in the news lately.  The murder of a young man in New York by the police made me shake my head in disgust. This young man was apprehended for apparently selling loose cigarettes and he was put in a choke hold that ultimate killed him. The slaying of a 3 year little girl who was gunned down in the streets of Baltimore last week simply broke my heart. She didn’t even have a chance to find out what life was all about. Her parent’s dreams were shattered by a coward who decided to fire a gun in her direction one evening while she was playing outside. The slaying by police of a 22 year old young man in Ohio in Walmart while shopping for a toy gun for his son left me outraged. It was stated that the police thought that the young man was about to rob the store or shoot somebody. He told them that it was a toy and they killed him anyway. The killing of a 20 year old college student in Baltimore who was murdered while dropping off his lacrosse team mate after a game left me numb. It was said that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but at this point there is no right place. The murder on Saturday in Ferguson, Missouri of an unarmed, college bound teen by police at 2:15 in the afternoon while walking up the street to his grandmother’s house just made me ill. This young man would have been the first one in his family to attend college and he was awarded a scholarship. He was supposed to start classes today, but met an untimely death 2 days ago. The latest victim in Annapolis, MD was a 2 year old little girl. She was apparently struck by a stray bullet while inside her house. I feel like the streets have declared war on our children. They are not safe. The ones that are hired to protect and serve have become one of the main perpetrators of crime against our African American young men. The young man that was murdered on Saturday, along with Trayvon Martin are both silhouettes of my son who is about that age and college bound. The heartbreak of these families that have dreams for these kids is heart wrenching. The reality that a young person can be gunned down in the street like some kind of animal, and left uncovered for hours just proves that our lives and the lives of our children have absolutely no value.  These police officers are trying to make up a story to justify murdering an unarmed teen by shooting him 10 times, with 1 shot to the head, on a Saturday afternoon. It’s unacceptable. Many of these murders go unsolved. Unfortunately, living in Baltimore, murders of young people has become an all too familiar theme lately. It is unacceptable for our African American men that are my age to still perpetuate the image of a "dope boy" to these generations coming up behind them. Nobody should be selling drugs, but if you are still out here doing the same foolishness that you were doing when you were 20, there is a definite disconnect between your brain and your common sense. You are one of the main reasons why the image of African American men is so distorted. You are the fathers of these young men and you have done them a great disservice by not giving them a positive image to look up to or pattern themselves after. At what point do we break the generational curse over our families? When do we stop passing down legacies of hustling, murder, and mayhem? It’s not all men, because there are some phenomenal men in the community that are mentors and they absolutely do a great job with disseminating positive images for our young boys. Women, be very careful about the images that you allow into the lives of your children. We are grown and we cannot continue to make selfish choices. How can you want so many great things for your kids when you don’t show them examples of greatness? WE must lead by example and stop accepting and making excuses for the people around us. Bullets have no name and death can knock on anyone’s door. Don’t wait until your family becomes a victim of this senseless violence, scream and holler at the funeral, then all of a sudden, this foolishness is a problem. It’s a problem now and it’s been a problem for a while. There are many things in the community that are available for us all to get involved in. STOP watching fight videos and other foolishness of Facebook. Take some responsibility and DO SOMETHING!!!!!