silverlance
Member
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334790,00.html
Often on this board and others, I see a disturbing mentality, one supported regrettably by both our own fears and the all too willing accomodation of "the gun community". It is in posts that complain about "every kid who gets killed just happens to be an honor student", posts that scoff at reports that "the boy was not a gang member", and members who loudly proclaim that the entire inner city ought to be purged in a hail of righteous brimstone, because it is nothing but a cesspool of criminality and rot.
Jamiel was one of my kids, one of my students. He was not a straight A student. He could've benefitted from reading a bit more. But he was a good kid, one who made use of his intelligence and worked hard at what he was good at -football - in an environment where both temptations and obstacles abound.
According to his closest friends, Jamiel was walking home March 1st while talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. A car suddenly pulled alongside, and two hispanics got out. They asked him, while he was still on the phone: "Where are you from?"
Jamiel has always been a rather quiet and reserved guy. His teachers appreciated his tendency to remain calm in the classroom, despite the antics of other students. Perhaps this may be why he did not answer immediately. Whatever the reason, one of the two gangsters - rumored to be from 18th Street - then shot him in the arm, and then the head. They left him on the sidewalk and took off in their car.
Jamiel was so close to home that his father was able to hear the shots, and ran outside in time to hold his son as he died.
Jamiel was black.
He lived in the inner city.
He was not a gang member.
He was not a criminal.
His parents are good people. His mother had be released from duty in Iraq - to bury her son.
Jamiel was a good kid.
So the next time you read a report about yet another black, hispanic, or whatever kid shot... give the kid the benefit of doubt. Don't let the news, hollywood, and our own zealousness toward the RKBA demonize the other and encourage us to indentify ourselves apart from our fellow man.
That's all.
Often on this board and others, I see a disturbing mentality, one supported regrettably by both our own fears and the all too willing accomodation of "the gun community". It is in posts that complain about "every kid who gets killed just happens to be an honor student", posts that scoff at reports that "the boy was not a gang member", and members who loudly proclaim that the entire inner city ought to be purged in a hail of righteous brimstone, because it is nothing but a cesspool of criminality and rot.
Jamiel was one of my kids, one of my students. He was not a straight A student. He could've benefitted from reading a bit more. But he was a good kid, one who made use of his intelligence and worked hard at what he was good at -football - in an environment where both temptations and obstacles abound.
According to his closest friends, Jamiel was walking home March 1st while talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. A car suddenly pulled alongside, and two hispanics got out. They asked him, while he was still on the phone: "Where are you from?"
Jamiel has always been a rather quiet and reserved guy. His teachers appreciated his tendency to remain calm in the classroom, despite the antics of other students. Perhaps this may be why he did not answer immediately. Whatever the reason, one of the two gangsters - rumored to be from 18th Street - then shot him in the arm, and then the head. They left him on the sidewalk and took off in their car.
Jamiel was so close to home that his father was able to hear the shots, and ran outside in time to hold his son as he died.
Jamiel was black.
He lived in the inner city.
He was not a gang member.
He was not a criminal.
His parents are good people. His mother had be released from duty in Iraq - to bury her son.
Jamiel was a good kid.
So the next time you read a report about yet another black, hispanic, or whatever kid shot... give the kid the benefit of doubt. Don't let the news, hollywood, and our own zealousness toward the RKBA demonize the other and encourage us to indentify ourselves apart from our fellow man.
That's all.
