 |
Shame! |
 |
Jessie Washington, age 17. Burned alive in Waco Texas while white people smile and laugh (May 1916). Update 12/6/2010. I have seen this pic many times and only now noticed that you can just make out 2- 4 men standing in a tree for a better view of the slaughter. Look just above the man lifting his hat. GI |
I understand that there is still racism that exist, but our young people are becoming murderers at such young ages and some parents aren't raising these children right. Recently, I experienced a loss in my family because of a gang initiation requiring two young men to kill two random people on the same night. Even before this recent incident, I noticed the downfall of some African American communities. Its only getting worse. Whats going on in our community and what should be done to stop all the violence and killings?
First we have to stop stereotyping black youth. Most black youth are not violent. I think we can acknowledge that violence is a problem in our communities while avoiding the promotion of stereotypes that do nothing to solve the problem. Second, some of us have grown more fearful of each other than we are of our oppressors. If you see a black youth who is out of order, talk to them and try to correct them.My position is that the criminal justice system has as its primary aim the control and oppression of African Americans because we have been and continue to be a constant threat to the status quo of white elite domination. Black gang violence is directly linked to the white government-sponsored assaults on the Black Freedom Movement of the late 60s.Thus we cannot adequately address violence in the black community until we have addressed violence in America--much of it sponsored by the United States government. We cannot address violence in the black community until we have addressed American belligerence abroad (imperialism)--all of it sponsored by the United States government. GI
 |
| An-Janette Albert, mother of Derion Albert |
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]
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.
