Gang photo still missing (op-ed)
I waited a few weeks and the gang photo is still missing.
Last November I wrote an op-ed titled “The Missing Gang Photo”.
I described a photograph of rival gang members posing with members of the Nation of Islam during the Baltimore riots. It was promoted as a “gang truce”, some captions even read: Gang unity to provide safety and prevent looting. (A few months after the riot the murders in Baltimore rose to levels not seen in decades. The black mayor fired the black police chief. The mayor said, “Too many continue to die on our streets. We need a change.”)
Then I discussed the killing of a 9-year-old boy in Chicago.
Gang members lured the boy into an alley and shot him several times. He was targeted because he was a rival gang member’s son.
A local priest said the murder was a “new low … A baby was assassinated.” And the father of the boy told the press “He wanted to see justice” after he made it emphatically clear that he will not cooperate with the police.
I suggested that the neighborhood wanted to see a historic gang photo depicting young men departing from gang culture because targeting a child displayed a depth of depravity they couldn’t muster, but the photo op was missed.
Instead there were photos of Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, at a press conference where he announced, “Whoever killed this boy is not a human being.”
There were three involved in the murder, the police have two in custody, and last month they arrested the slain boy’s father.
After Cook county prosecutors revealed in court that the person accused of killing the father’s son considered torturing the boy by cutting off his ears and fingers the father shot the girlfriend of the accused and two others. (These victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries.) Chicago police spokesman stated the father was involved in a gang lifestyle and suffered an unspeakable loss with the execution of his son. But this wasn’t the act of a bereaved father it was a retaliatory response by a gang member insulted by the very notion of disrespect.
And once again there was no gang photo just a picture of the gunman with a caption that stated the boy “was captured and killed by a monster.” With the gang photo missing only the mayor’s “not a human being” statement echoes from Chicago to other mayors and police departments.
Back in Baltimore another father (43) and son (18) were recently shot and killed by the police. The two were believed to be affiliated with the Black Guerrilla Family gang. The men were armed with a pistol and semi-automatic rifle; they were in position to shoot a group across the street.
Baltimore’s Police Commissioner said, “If not for the Baltimore Police Department we could have had a mass shooting.” The father and son didn’t fire upon the police. The officer’s were commended for stopping them from shooting. The Commissioner added, “We don’t run from bad guys with guns. We engage them … We fired 56 rounds … Until this threat was eliminated.”
Sounds proactive until they make a mistake and one of the “bad guys” are killed but they’re unarmed, making a martyr out of a “monster”.
Then here come the protesters, the burning buildings, and the National Guard. And a picture will surface in the press featuring gang members, protesters, and community leaders posing with protest signs, peace signs, gang signs, and black fist in the air underneath headlines that promote unity and solidarity, but months later when the violence returns with a vengeance it will be because the gang photo is still missing.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 4/6/16
Last November I wrote an op-ed titled “The Missing Gang Photo”.
I described a photograph of rival gang members posing with members of the Nation of Islam during the Baltimore riots. It was promoted as a “gang truce”, some captions even read: Gang unity to provide safety and prevent looting. (A few months after the riot the murders in Baltimore rose to levels not seen in decades. The black mayor fired the black police chief. The mayor said, “Too many continue to die on our streets. We need a change.”)
Then I discussed the killing of a 9-year-old boy in Chicago.
Gang members lured the boy into an alley and shot him several times. He was targeted because he was a rival gang member’s son.
A local priest said the murder was a “new low … A baby was assassinated.” And the father of the boy told the press “He wanted to see justice” after he made it emphatically clear that he will not cooperate with the police.
I suggested that the neighborhood wanted to see a historic gang photo depicting young men departing from gang culture because targeting a child displayed a depth of depravity they couldn’t muster, but the photo op was missed.
Instead there were photos of Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, at a press conference where he announced, “Whoever killed this boy is not a human being.”
There were three involved in the murder, the police have two in custody, and last month they arrested the slain boy’s father.
After Cook county prosecutors revealed in court that the person accused of killing the father’s son considered torturing the boy by cutting off his ears and fingers the father shot the girlfriend of the accused and two others. (These victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries.) Chicago police spokesman stated the father was involved in a gang lifestyle and suffered an unspeakable loss with the execution of his son. But this wasn’t the act of a bereaved father it was a retaliatory response by a gang member insulted by the very notion of disrespect.
And once again there was no gang photo just a picture of the gunman with a caption that stated the boy “was captured and killed by a monster.” With the gang photo missing only the mayor’s “not a human being” statement echoes from Chicago to other mayors and police departments.
Back in Baltimore another father (43) and son (18) were recently shot and killed by the police. The two were believed to be affiliated with the Black Guerrilla Family gang. The men were armed with a pistol and semi-automatic rifle; they were in position to shoot a group across the street.
Baltimore’s Police Commissioner said, “If not for the Baltimore Police Department we could have had a mass shooting.” The father and son didn’t fire upon the police. The officer’s were commended for stopping them from shooting. The Commissioner added, “We don’t run from bad guys with guns. We engage them … We fired 56 rounds … Until this threat was eliminated.”
Sounds proactive until they make a mistake and one of the “bad guys” are killed but they’re unarmed, making a martyr out of a “monster”.
Then here come the protesters, the burning buildings, and the National Guard. And a picture will surface in the press featuring gang members, protesters, and community leaders posing with protest signs, peace signs, gang signs, and black fist in the air underneath headlines that promote unity and solidarity, but months later when the violence returns with a vengeance it will be because the gang photo is still missing.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 4/6/16
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