Tired of loosing our babies.

Yesterday a young man lost his life he was 12 years old, a baby, really but someone murdered that young man shot him cold and left him to die all alone. This time it was a 12 year old boy. Last week it was a 7 year old girl and next week it may be a toddler. This happens so much that the community that these children reside in are shedding so many tears when we lose so many young people that its starting to destroy our community. 


So many people who live here are shell shocked and along with the sadness and heart break is anger and fear. When a neighbor across the street or next door to you is having a party you think to yourself "Will I get shot if someone starts shooting because they have beef with another party guest. 

Back in the day, gangs began to limit who got shot, because women and little kids brought heat to the gang and they were arrested or it interfered with the drug trade. Now the major gangs, like the CRIPs or BLOODS are not generally shooting each other. Small gangs and people who have an axe to grind or someone who lost a fight to someone else gets angry and shoots someone.  The little kids and women get killed because someone started shooting and can't shoot.  They may shoot up the house and a stray bullet kills them through their window.  


Most people that I know living in the hood has had their house shot up either because someone went to the wrong house or because the bullets went other places because the person couldn't shoot.


How do you explain to small children that a 7 year old girl was shot while sleeping in her bed? How do you explain to 12 year olds that the Quarterback on their football team was shot and killed while he was playing in the park?  Children in the hood are more familiar with homicide because most kids know someone in their family that got shot and killed. Its part of life that children do not even need adults to help them memorialize people who were killed in their neighborhoods this is something they see a lot especially in the Spring and Summer.

Our children are very resourceful but they are also afraid. The times, as a parent, that were the hardest is explaining to your teenager or pre teen why they had to live in a place where so many people were murdered.  I didn't have the answers then and I still do not have the answers. Now it is up to them to explain it to their kids and like me they do not have any answers.  The cycle of violence continues.