A young person loses his life at the hands of another.
For one, we weep and seem to accept it as part of life in that community.
For another, we protest and demand action.
In the end, the families and friends of both victims are forever broken.
We learned last week that 9-year-old Chicago resident Tyshawn Lee was lured away from the playground where he had stopped to swing on the way to his grandmother’s house. The suspect, a convicted felon and alleged gang member, has been charged with taking Tyshawn into an alley and firing five shots into him – one that severed his thumb in what they believe to an attempt to protect himself.
The 82-pound elementary school student was then shot execution style in the head. The police are alleging that the person charged with killing Tyshawn made a pledge to kill the family members of rival gangs for payback for the killing of his brother. One other suspect has been charged and other arrests are pending.
In the same week, the Chicago Police Department released a security tape which showed the 2014 police killing of 16-year-old Laquan McDonald. In October of last year, McDonald was observed by police to be demonstrating erratic behavior and using a knife to try to break into cars. The first officers on the scene made the decision to continue to follow and observe Laquan, even after he used the knife to puncture the tire of a police squad car.
As he started to run, other officers arrived including Jason Van Dyke. The video of officer Van Dyke’s actions can only be described as horrifying. Van Dyke proceeds to jump out of his car and seems to begin shooting at Laquan McDonald, the first shots knocking him to the ground. In the video, Van Dyke fires 16 times at the boy on the ground; the dust from the bullets hitting the black top is visible on the video. Officer Van Dyke has been charged with first degree murder. Laquan McDonald died on the way to the hospital. Toxicology reports indicated he had PCP in his system at the time of the incident.
In both of these incidents, a person has been charged with murder.
In response to the release of the Laquan McDonald video, the residents of Chicago have been largely peaceful in their protests in demand of action and accountability from the Chicago Police Department, a department that is notorious for corruption and cover up of incidents of police brutality.
The public response to the execution style murder of a child seems to be more one of resignation.
As I consider the parallels and the differences in these stories, I am reminded of the poem by Mary Lathrap entitled Judge Softly.
Just walk a mile in his moccasins
Before you abuse, criticize and accuse.
If just for one hour, you could find a way
To see through his eyes, instead of your own muse.
I believe you’d be surprised to see
That you’ve been blind and narrow minded, even unkind.
There are people on reservations and in the ghettos
Who have so little hope, and too much worry on their minds.
Brother, there but for the grace of God go you and I.
Just for a moment, slip into his mind and traditions
And see the world through his spirit and eyes
Before you cast a stone or falsely judge his conditions.
What is it like to live in a neighborhood where children are shot and gang activity is the norm and where feelings of hopelessness and anger are pervasive? How does it feel to not trust those in authority who are notorious in your city for being corrupt and abusive? How frightened and anxious are the police officers who are assigned to go into neighborhoods where there is distrust and hate?
According to the research, life expectancy, depending on the Chicago neighborhood in which one lives, can vary by as much as 14 years.
Those of us who live in the safety of Happy Valley have difficulty putting ourselves in the shoes of those communities on the South Side of Chicago. Can you imagine a child killed by an adult to avenge a gang death in State College? A police officer so out of control that he kills a teenager on College Avenue? Neighborhoods where crime and fear of threat from others is the way of life? We turn our heads when the news comes on because it’s not happening here.
The loss of the lives of two young people 600 miles away hit home for me last week. What can we do about it?
Americans should care about a teenager shot at the hands of what may be a rogue and troubled police officer. We should care about a little boy who is killed as a pawn in a gang war. We should care about those police officers who don’t misuse their authority and who work to keep us safe. We should care about neighborhood programs in which communities work together without fear of retribution and retaliation in their efforts to keep each other safe.
The killing of children should be an issue that brings us together to work as a community.
