An insightful question from this mornings local papers letters to ed: Where are justice marches for gang-violence victims? Letters POSTED: 11/27/14, 9:56 AM PST | Where are justice marches for gang-violence victims? This Sunday will mark one month that our 26-year-old son, Christopher Richard Walker, was murdered in the streets of Altadena. Yet, there has not been one phone call or letter of condolence from one Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton “community” type. The local NAACP has been quite silent as well. There have been no marches, no yelling concerns that “they’re killing our children” — no protests of any kind. Instead, our family (me, Christopher’s mother; his dad; two sisters; his two daughters; his girlfriend) and all who loved him are supposed to simply go on with business as usual. For the record, Christopher had left his marketing job in downtown L.A. for the day and had stopped at an Altadena burger stand for a quick bite to eat before picking up his 5-year-old daughter from her aftercare school program. He was not causing any trouble, nor had he been in trouble — yet he was cowardly gunned down by someone from behind. He was an innocent victim, a contributor to society who was cut down before he really had a chance to live his life. For the past several weeks the media has focused strictly on the Michael Brown police shooting in Ferguson, Mo. We have seen nothing but rioting in the streets and millions of dollars in property damage as businesses are thoughtlessly destroyed. A St. Louis woman even accidentally killed herself with the gun that she had purchased for her own protection during the city’s unrest. All told, we may never know the lives and businesses negatively affected as a result of the constant violent protests to the grand jury’s decision. American police have killed over 5,000 civilians since 2001. However, my search for murders committed under the heading of gang violence (you know, mostly black-on-black or brown-on-brown) for 2011 alone rendered a daunting number of 12,664 — people who were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. Though it was a terribly unfortunate situation that seemingly Mr. Brown had brought upon himself, the Ferguson protesters continue to focus their time and energy in destroying their own community in the name of justice. But where is the justice for Christopher Walker and others in his situation, who have been struck down by the numerous acts of gang violence so thoughtlessly perpetrated over the years? How long do our loved ones have to cry from the grave before we stop the insanity? Where are the marches for justice for these? Are they any less important or any less dead since they were actually killed by their own kind? When will we address the problem in our own back yard? — Ursula Walker, Altadena pasadenastarnews/opinion/20141127/where-are-justice-marches-for-gang-violence-victims-letters
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 23:40:44 +0000
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