Black people, is this what it has come to? God help us...
The video shows dozens of people punching, kicking and swinging planks in a melee in a lot next to the community center and the adjacent street. At one point, four or five males -- including one wielding a 2x4 -- can be seen beating and stomping another person, believed to be Albert, who had fallen to the ground.
As the attackers flee, the person with the camera and several others approached Albert and carried him into a nearby building.
"Derrion, get up!" a female voice pleads.
Officials and witnesses say the melee was a culmination of a simmering rivalry between two groups of Fenger students, one that lived near the school and the other from the Altgeld Gardens housing development. Neighbors said the feud has been building since August, spilling across Roseland streets and, some say, into Fenger.
Albert's family was squeamish about watching the video and not all of them were able to watch it in its entirety. But they said they don't have a problem with the public watching the graphic video as long as it helps identify who beat Derrion to death.
"It hurt to watch," said LaTonia Williams, the teen's aunt. "It's one thing to hear about it and come up with your own theory of what happened. To see it is another thing. It gave us a real clear picture of what happened. That video was crucial." [Source]
Warning: this video is graphic
Predictably, the knee-jerk response to this incident will be a month or two of increased police presence, perhaps a few meetings for people to air their frustrations, from there forgetfulness until the next tragedy. We are not really very interested in getting to the source of black on black violence. Namely, centuries of brutal oppression under racism/white supremacy and the resultant internalized violence that has plagued some segments of the black community.
A New York Times article, written in 2007, points out that the most abominable acts of white-on-black violence (e.g. burning victims alive and the mutilation of victims before throngs of white onlookers) have ended, but the long term effects are ongoing:
although the most heinous forms of lynching were halted long ago, many perceive its legacy today in the presumption of black criminality, the disproportionate incarceration of blacks in our nation's prisons and on death row, and police brutality and racial profiling, as well as parents' anxiety about their children's encounters with white authorities.
I would add that the twin pathologies of internalized racism and white indifference are equal, if not more crucial, consequences that have been insufficiently addressed at the national and local level. (the "heinous" forms of violence are now exported to foreign nations or hidden behind prison walls.). Until we take collective responsibility and the legacy of white brutality seriously, the cycle of senseless killings will continue unabated, rising and falling to its own internal rhythm.
Nadasia Thomas (cousin)
Rhea Albert (sister); Anjanette Albert (mother, background)
Anjanette Albert (mother)
Follow-up: This article explains how privatization of some Chicago schools has contributed to the instability of the learning environment.
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