The Genesis of a Mass Shooting
Yesterday was one of those sad days working in community. A young man who has already spent over a year in a juvenile remand centre, who used to carry a gun, who has been on the run from the police in the past, now desperatley trying to walk the legal pathway, find himself a job came to me in a very bitter mood. He had been walking around town trying to find a job in a supermarket. One enterprise asked him to bring in a resume (the poor youth had never even heard the word before), then they asked him to bring in a recommendation. I assisted him with getting both. Then they asked him to come for an interview and take with him a signed photogrpah by a notary public. This he got and went. He was practically interrogated and then summariuly dismissed simply on the basis of his home address. This after he literally begged and pleaded with the boss to give him the job.
Just because of where he lives he was sent home still jobless. He was fuming, he was so disappointed, I could see him fighting back the tears as he spoke to me. He said he felt like getting a gun (easy thing to find an inner city) and shooting up the supermarket. He said it makes no sense trying to earn a living the normal way, he feels like giving up and making his living by the gun. Now we know that some communties have lots of criminal elements but how can it be right to simply en masse stigmatize an entire neighborhood. Arent we breeding more criminals when we treat these young men that way?
Not every youth out there carrying a gun really wants to carry a gun. All their lives they have known little love, they have known little affection, they have been branded by the rest of society as rats and dogs and treated like roaches. The sense of hoplessness is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. When will we all realize that we have got to get out of our comfort zones and reach them or else if nothing else our comfort zones wont be comfrot zones for much longer. Reach them because we care, because a life matters, because it could be our son or daughter.
Just because of where he lives he was sent home still jobless. He was fuming, he was so disappointed, I could see him fighting back the tears as he spoke to me. He said he felt like getting a gun (easy thing to find an inner city) and shooting up the supermarket. He said it makes no sense trying to earn a living the normal way, he feels like giving up and making his living by the gun. Now we know that some communties have lots of criminal elements but how can it be right to simply en masse stigmatize an entire neighborhood. Arent we breeding more criminals when we treat these young men that way?
Not every youth out there carrying a gun really wants to carry a gun. All their lives they have known little love, they have known little affection, they have been branded by the rest of society as rats and dogs and treated like roaches. The sense of hoplessness is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. When will we all realize that we have got to get out of our comfort zones and reach them or else if nothing else our comfort zones wont be comfrot zones for much longer. Reach them because we care, because a life matters, because it could be our son or daughter.
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