Comments

1. george d.sitgraves says:

   December 24, 2009 at 8:16 pm

   please consider a rental car parking permit for residents similar to the one for visitors.
2. AUDREY WALKER says:

   December 28, 2009 at 3:39 pm

   December 23, 2009

   Good morning!

   My name is Audrey Walker. I am a paraprofessional working at LaSalle Backus Elementary School located at 501 Riggs Road, in Washington DC. I teach a 5th/6th grade combination class. The children that I have been blessed to teach this year are very intelligent and in-touch with issues that kids face everyday, and are adamant about making a change for youth’s future all around the world.

   I am not sure if you aware about the youth gang-related violence that has plagued Chicago Illinois especially the Chicago public school system. Since September, 20 Chicago Public Schools students have been killed, 18 by gunfire. Last school year, 24 of the more than 30 students killed were shot to death, compared with between 10 and 15 fatal shootings in the years before. The loss of life that has taken among our young people in Chicago is devastating. According to a Chicago school district spokesman the gun nonsense has reached a crisis level.

   According to MSNBC the number of violent deaths involving students in the nation’s third-largest school district has increased so dramatically in the last two years that police are increasing school patrols and soon will be the first department in the country with live access to thousands of security cameras mounted outside — and inside — schools. Chicago Public Schools is one of the only urban districts to track how many students are killed by guns — though none of the slayings have occurred on school property. Nationally, homicide was the second-leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24 in 2004 and of those killed, 81 percent were killed with a firearm, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   The murders that do occur are hitting young people hard, frightening students and parents, and prompting everyone from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to activists to call for action.

   Are you also aware of the young man named Derrion Alberts who was beaten to death in front of his school in Chicago? By now, you have probably heard of the tragic beating death of Derrion Alberts, a Chicago honor student. A mob of young black gangbangers savagely beat him to death with wooden boards. His family believes he was beaten to death because he refused to join a street gang. The beating has galvanized a city, hopefully a nation, and has many people asking why and what can be done to stop the madness.

   I personally, believe the primary source of black on black youth violence is the anger these young men feel toward their fathers. An overwhelmingly amount of young black men grow up fatherless. This alone creates tremendous rage in their hearts toward their fathers and society. They very much needed their fathers growing up; but their fathers were painfully absent. Fortunately, not all black kids who grow up without their fathers become gangbangers but enough do that we must address the issue immediately.

   Another source of black on black youth violence is self-hatred. Black Americans have been indoctrinated since before slavery to believe that black life is worthless. For many years, this indoctrination was sanctioned and legalized by the government and other institutions. Today the indoctrination is subliminal and subtle but still present. Blacks are still reminded daily that the life of a young black man is not worth as much as a young white man. I can prove that. Suppose white kids were savagely shooting and beating themselves to death in the suburbs. Do you sincerely believe the response from city hall would be as indifferent as it is toward the death of young black kids? Of course not! Young black males killing themselves in the ghetto is an accepted dilemma but white kids dying in the suburbs would be intolerable. Hence, there is no deterrent to young black males killing each other.

   A lack of opportunities also contributes to black on black youth violence.
   The corporate discrimination that causes many of those companies to shun the southern sectors of Chicago and other large cities has created a vacuum for poverty, crime, gangs, drugs, failing schools, etc. It is a major cause of the concentrated poverty and subsequent crime we see in many black neighborhoods. If the decent and hardworking citizens in these neighborhoods were given the same opportunities to provide for their families that whites in other sectors enjoyed, the problem with crime and gangs would improve dramatically over time. This observation is not an effort to blame white racism for all the problems facing blacks. It is just a fact supported by a multitude of studies.

   One more contributing factor to black on black youth violence is the apathy in the black community. Apparently, many blacks believe their children are safe and removed from this problem. Nothing could be more false. Actually, that is precisely what the death of young Derrion Alberts teaches us. He was not a gangbanger. He was a good kid—a solid kid—an honor student. One of his teachers bragged that he was different from the gangbangers in that he respected and obeyed his teachers. Yet, violence claimed his young life. This confirms it could happen to any black kid who is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

   Lastly, there is a dangerous double standard in the black community that contributes to black on black youth crime. Let me explain. What happens when a white police officer kills a young black man without just cause? We react, sometimes angrily. We get activated, and rightfully so. Black civil rights leaders and some entertainers motivate the masses to hit the pavement. That is good—I have no problem with that. I applaud that. However, where are these same people when both the victim and perpetrator are young black males? Where is the marching, picketing or outrage when one black kid kills another black kid without just cause? The result is the same—a young black kid is dead. In fact, the result is worse with black on black youth crime because two young black males have perished from one act of violence. Again, this is a dangerous double standard. We should not tolerate either. We should be outraged anytime a young black kid is killed without cause regardless of who killed him.

   I pray Derrion Alberts’ death has the same affect on the black community and the nation that the murders of Emmitt Till and the four little girls in Birmingham, Al. had. I beg you lets make Derrion’s blood the most costly blood ever spilled due to senseless gang violence.

   I know this is lengthy letter but we need help from urban media companies that can help get this message out to the country and hopefully to Chicago native President Barrack Obama. We feel very passionately about this issue and will not stop until our voices are heard!

   We here at LaSalle Backus ECE are committed to advocating for all the lives lost to senseless black-on black youth violence in the country. We have written a collaborative poem expressing our sorrow for the loss of Derrion Alberts and all the youth who have been killed or injured due to gang-related gun violence. We have also composed a song that compliments our poem.

   We are planning a field trip to Capitol Hill to start lobbying for a bill that hold states responsible for the safety and lives of African-American youth all over the country. Enough is enough.

   This is where you come in. Could you please create space in your busy schedule to hear my students’ strong feelings about this issue? We would like to get our message on the radio, television and the internet so that we can be visible while spreading a message of change in lives of youth to the nation. My students feel that children should have the right to be safe in school and their neighborhoods, and our hurt that the people that run this country we call United States of America have turned their backs on this pressing issue. We must act now and quickly. Please do not turn your back on this issue. This epidemic is not going to cease unless we act now!!

   If you have the time and can create space in your heart to deal with this epidemic that our children are facing every day you may contact me at 202-629-3424 or 202-368-6241. I can also be reached at Lasalle-Backus ECE at 202-671-6340. My e-mail is lesego1978@hotmail.com

   This e-mail will be sent to media, television companies, congressmen, and even the President of the United States. Please consider our request. If you give my students a chance to make a difference in the world, the rewards will massive and affect many who have or will soon be affected by violence nation wide.

   Thank you!

   Happy Holiday’s
   Ms. Audrey Walker
   Paraprofessional, Mother of 2 children, life-long learner and an Advocate for all Children!

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