16-year-old boy beaten to death in Roseland (Chicago)

[Libertas1776]

Source: Chicago Tribune

The Agape Community Center in Roseland has long been a sanctuary, a refuge for students who want to finish their homework, take Bible study courses or simply escape the chaotic streets in their Far South Side community.
But this place of refuge became the scene of a deadly melee Thursday when dozens of teenage boys converged in a vacant lot next to the community center, beating one another with fists, feet and 2-by-4s.
<snip>
When it was all over, 16-year-old Derrion Albert lay on the gravel, his body dented and damaged from the pummeling. A youth worker at the center dragged Derrion's slight frame into the center, but it was too late. He died a short time later.
Witnesses and police said Friday that the Fenger High School junior was not a target but simply passed by the community center and was swept into the violent altercation. Walking from school, he fell victim to the violence plaguing some of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods.



Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-teen_killed_roselandsep26,0,5094890.story

---

Disgusting incident, so sad and so tragic. My thoughts go out this young kid's family.

[vadawg]

1. gangs are the scourge of all neighbourhoods, time that people started to wake up to this crap.

[slay]

28. If we end the drug war, we end funding for gangs

That's how most all of them survive.

A Radical Solution to End the Drug War: Legalize Everything
By John H. Richardson

One cop straight out of The Wire crunches the numbers with Esquire.com's political columnist to discover that America's prohibition of narcotics may be costing more lives than Mexico's — and nearly enough dollars for universal health care. So why not repeal our drug laws? Because cops are making money off them, too.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/drug-war-facts-090109

[WriteDown]

30. And if we legalize murder...

we end funding for professional assassins. :crazy:

[slay]

32. OMG the two things are so totally unrealated as to make your post laughable

and utterly pointless. Get a clue - read my link before you roll your eyes at me. I'm not the only one who knows the drug war is bullshit. Just as bullshit as your totally off base comparison with ASSASSINS and MURDER. If we legalize sex with animals everyone will be fucking their dog by your logic I guess.

[WriteDown]

35. So its not true?

How about if we all gambling? Illegal gambling would cease overnight.

[joshcryer]

66. You would have to end welfare, too.

Recently asked on the street if I wanted to pay cash for foodstamps. $2 foodstamps on the dollar.

[AlphaCentauri]

73. I f that's the case why not create smoke bars

but don't let drugs run on the streets, many would like to have their own plants and share their stuff with minors.

[slay]

79. Sigh one day people will have to get over their fear of drugs

and that "what about the children" bullshit don't fly with me. Kids can get it now! but whatever.. i'll wait a couple centuries and see if people have smartened up by then

[marshall]

67. I wonder if the victim's being an honor student enflamed the mob

From my experience as a teacher there is often resentment against those who are excelling.

[MadMaddie]

68. That is part of it and the other part was he didn't want to join the

gangs.

Poverty is at the root of a lot of this violence.

[marshall]

72. CBS is reporting that it isn't "gang" related

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/derrion.albert.investigation.2.1212436.html

At least not in the sense of organized gangs. This was however two groups of kids who live in adjoining complexes who were figthing over something. I guess their point is, it's not the Crips and the Bloods (if I recall my gang nomenclature correctly) but it's just kids being thugs.

[gateley]

2. I can't help but feel that poverty spawns the violence -- and we as a nation

shouldn't have people living like that. :cry:

[juno jones]

41. Combination of poverty,

numbers of unemployed youth reaching as high as 50% (per an article I read here last night) and illegal drugs offering a way to make serious money.

Throw in shitty education and the territorial pissings of the disposessed that have given us gang warfare since the Dead Rabbits and Fordham Baldies mixed it up in the 5 Corners and you have a recipe for such things.

And you're right, people shouldn't have to live like that in the richest nation on earth.

[dem mba]

63. yea these types of altercations go back a long, long way

may even be a part of our biological makeup (territorial pissings). I couldn't help but think of the plot of the Outsiders when I saw this story. We never learn...

:grr:

[MadMaddie]

69. I don't know as much biological as environmental.

Many of the folks that lived in New Orleans have moved to areas across the country where the crime and the violence is almost non existent and they are flourishing.

[juno jones]

71. Great book that.

Thanks for mentioning it! :)

[Libertas1776]

3. The attack

was caught on video and the police are hoping someone can identify the perps. Warning: it is just ghastly and graphic...
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/video_derrion_albert

[givemebackmycountry]

4. delete

I got nothing for this.
Nothing.

Trying to add reason to a story that has none, I have nothing.
Sadly, I have nothing.

[RKP5637]

5. The US is a very violent place, and indicator of how fundamentally wrong we are in our priorities!

To me, the US generally has its priorities screwed up. If we took some of the funding for the enormous cost of war, for example, and funneled it back into the country to help cities, communities, etc. with their constant struggle to provide education and safe environments... to work to eliminate gang activities... so many things, it would be a far better country. To me, the wealth in this country is misplaced.

The US is said to be a wealthy country, but that is a lie... Some are wealthy but many, very many in this county are little pieces of sand on the beach compared to the wealth and greed in this country and the wrong priorities for the betterment of mankind.

[imdjh]

9. Priorities? In the sense that we can't/won't admit that what we are doing isn't working.

You can spend every dime this country can scrape together. It won't matter. Because what we are doing is wrong.

An old motivation speaker story goes something like this: "I was walking through Hong Kong past a tattoo parlor, and I saw a design which said, 'Born Loser'. The proprietor was standing in the doorway, and I asked him what kind of man would get such a thing tattooed on his body. The old man responded, 'First, tattoo on brain.'"

Like everyone else, many in (whatever you want to call the class of these young criminals) want to change their lives, as long as they don't have to change anything in their lives.

I said like everyone else. The fat man wants to lose weight, as soon as he has one more pizza. The smoker wants to quit smoking, right after his next cigarette. The cheater has his rationalization which sounds much like the alcoholic, and the other people whose lives aren't what they want them to be. Just like everyone else.

One certain way to get screamed at around here is to criticize the trappings of the urban poor, their deportment, their attitudes, their priorities. Why? Because it isn't nice. But also because when you start to list the little things a person does have control over, then eventually he might actually be responsible for what happens in his life. And if he's responsible for what happens to him, then we are all responsible for what happens to us. And that is truly frightening.

[gtar100]

21. You can say all you want about personal responsibility but the rich use that as an excuse for

bleeding communities of vital funding through unfair wage practices, low-balling small businesses out of existence, and constant lobbying for lower and lower tax rates on their fat asses.

Poverty has its consequences and that is a community problem, a problem that needs to be handled correctly at the macro level. People need opportunities, possibilities and hope (yes, that newly denigrated word 'hope'). Just shoving academics at our kids won't do it either. We need artists, doctors, scientists, engineers, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, day laborers, etc., etc. And we need to trust that it's a natural part of our human nature to want to do good work regardless of the type or title. But as long as big business has only the intention of bleeding money out of people so that a small minority has the *overwhelming* percentage of the profits, then the good stuff just isn't going to happen.

Yes, people need to be personally responsible. But just like the libertarian pipe dream of the free market fixing all problems, it just isn't going to happen by telling everyone to shape up, buck the system, and pull yourself up by your boot straps. We need sanity in our economic laws that prevent monopolies, nurture innovation and stop the hording of the wealth we all help to create and sustain.

We don't throw seeds onto the ground and tell them to get their own god-damn water. No, we nurture them, help them to take root, and ensure they have access to the nutrients and water they need in order to grow to their potential. We should be just as understanding of people. We aren't perfect and most of us need to be taught, to be educated, to be shown our potential before our true selves can even become a possibility.

[MetaTrope]

27. Confirmed that Roseland has one of the city's Tax Increment Financing districts

Property tax money being diverted from schools and parks, into a mayoral slush fund for well-connected developers and big businesses. No connection, of course?

The Reader TIF Archive

[EXneoCON]

31. A hearty...

+1, gtar100. Certainly one of the most cogent and succinct replies I have read on the web in some time.

[fascisthunter]

59. the folks who should be nagged about responsibility

are the ones on the top of that money heep. They use the most, they waste the most and they destroy the most.

[bread_and_roses]

26. What a bucket of swill

We have left our inner cities to rot for at least thirty years. There are no jobs. There is no way out for 99.9% of the residents. Generations lost. Humans are creatures of their environments, in case you hadn't noticed. Our inner cities need massive jobs, infrastructure, economic development, environmental, health, education, and recreation programs - probably for years - to begin to recover. You can't leave people in what amounts to a Third World war-ravaged country for generations and not expect the same behaviors you see in Third World war torn countries and the refugee camps they create. Humans are humans.

Your sneers at the overweight and smokers are also duly noted. I guess you havn't noticed that "you should" doesn't work so well on those issues either? Or much of anything else, from animal abuse to high-rolling financial Capitalist greed and irresponsibility. Which has killed more people than street gangs in our inner cities by orders of magnitude, by the way, but its easy and cheap to demonize the poor, and far less dangerous than standing up to our Corporate Masters.

[WriteDown]

29. We have?

Seems like "inner" Manhattan and "inner" San Francisco are doing pretty well.

[slay]

33. Oh, you mean the places where rent is sky high and only rich people can afford to live there?

I can do the crazy eye roll too genius. :crazy:

[WriteDown]

34. Are there not inner cities in Manhattan and San Fran?

:shrug:

[RKP5637]

36. Yes, and in rural areas much the same occurs, but not on as great a dimension in numbers.

The US today functions to serve those that have cornered the wealth of the country. The spread of wealth is so extreme. Growing up in a destitute inner city or rural area the gap between have and have-nots is severe. True, some will make it, but most will not. For many the deck is stacked completely against them from birth. A feature of runaway capitalism is many develop such a fierce sense of competition that they feel good about kicking the person next to them and watching others fail.

[WriteDown]

37. So we've abandoned rural areas as well?

Hmm.

[RKP5637]

39. Yes.

[WriteDown]

40. I am moving to the 'burbs. nt

[Flaneur]

51. Try Oakland and the Bronx.

Not that it matters to folks who consistently spew right-wing talking points.

[WriteDown]

58. That's quite a coincidence..

I spent many years right right next to the Bronx and my sister is now in San Fran (right next to Oakland). Is The Bronx the inner-city? That is a good question. When I was a kid, Manhattan had its own inner-city and Brooklyn was just as bad as the Bronx. Brooklyn is pretty nice now. The Bronk is still The Bronx.

Oakland is just a dangerous place, but I don't think it qualifies as San Fran's inner-city.

[imdjh]

62. Oakland is SF's ugly stepsister. Tampa is St Pete's ugly stepsister.

They serve a purpose. That's where you put train stations, container ports, and airports.

I actually lived in a pretty nice part of Oakland once. Had no use whatsoever for rest of the city, I was entirely SF and Berkeley oriented.

[Dappleganger]

54. The greater the divide between the haves and have-nots

it does seem that violence escalates.

[RKP5637]

57. I think so too!

I think eventually people reach the point of destitution, servitude and ultimate frustration. And it is generational. Eventually, they just do not care. We've always been a carrot and stick nation, I think. When the carrot is gone hope fades. I think people turn to violence as a way of life and often it is passed on to the next generation. To me, it's hard for one to break out of that cycle without a lot of intervening positive help. Some will certainly make it on their own, but many sadly will not.

[Dappleganger]

64. At the age of 16 I observed this while living in Haiti for a summer

doing a service project. That was enough to convince me.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. Why didn't the youth center worker call 911?

[Treo]

22. When seconds count

The police are only minutes away.

Good thing Chicago has a gun ban

[Critters2]

45. Oh, yeah. Guns added to the mix in this situation would've been a great idea.

What a stupid thing to suggest.

[Treo]

48. Do you think if the center direct had a gun he might have been better able to stop the beating? NT

[Critters2]

49. No. Just more people would've ended up dead. nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

46. I was actually talking about them calling for an ambulance.

[imdjh]

43. Why didn't the people in the cars call police when they saw thugs with weapons? nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

47. I was actually talking about them calling for an ambulance.

[imdjh]

52. I get that, but I was thinking that someone saw this coming together and apparently did nothing.

[truedelphi]

7. This was a neighborhood that holds fond memories for me of my

Childhood. Gately and People's Store were located there (Or were they one and the same?) and my mom would spend hours in the fabrics and the patterns department.

Whenever I hear of things like this occurring to any of our nation's young people, my heart breaks a little bit more.

[State the Obvious]

10. I grew up near that neighborhood also...

...and remember shopping in Roseland, too. I went to high school in Harvey, Illinois, which today is probably even more dangerous than ever.

It is really sad.:cry: For many, the innocence of childhood... no longer exists.

[RKP5637]

38. Any many cities and rural areas have the same going on...

There is a slow degradation of infrastructure and opportunity going on in the US in many cities and rural areas masked by the perceived wealth of the nation not held by the majority. It is a creeping erosion.

I grew up in a small town and I'm amazed at how much it has declined over the years. I've traveled and worked in many cities in the US as part of my job... True, the newer areas of cities, the revitalized areas are wonderful, but often out of the reach of many.

The poorer part of society is growing and growing and if swept under the rug there will be dire difficulties down the road... I often think the US needs to look inside its borders more to try to help and save the US for all of the people... we spend vast sums of money on wars and outside of the borders while our own nation suffers from a slow degradation of infrastructure and opportunity, as well as, this rising hatred within the US.

[Oldtimeralso]

13. FYI It was Gatelys, The Peoples Store. n/t

[truedelphi]

61. Thanks for clearing up yet another senior moment. n/t

[firedupdem]

8. Horribly sad....I grew up not too far from that area. Just horrible..

I wish I hadn't looked at that video.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. That poor baby. And his poor family and friends.

:cry:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

12. They've been showing the video of this in the promos for the news tonight.

The way they were trying to get viewers with it was disgusting and sad. I couldn't believe the boy had been killed when I heard it. Who would show a murder on TV like that and use it as a promo for the 9 o clock news?

[Oldtimeralso]

14. A Makeshift Memorial Was Put Up.

It was at the wall of the community center. Flowers,stuffed animals and cards were left. Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning someone poured flammable liquid on the memorial and burnt it. A memorial service at the site for Sunday was canceled out of fear for the safety of the public.

[Libertas1776]

15. Terrible, just terrible.

I cannot believe somebody would do that. It never ceases to amaze the great hatred and vitriol that exists in this world.

[vadawg]

23. wonder if it was gang related and if the dead kid was involved

not saying he was but you would be surprised at how often the family says that their banging son was not involved and was a good kid, just the burning of the memorial is something that a rival gang would do..

[barbtries]

65. reminds me of the shrine

my daughter's friends put up where she died. i left a copy of the obituary from her funeral there. a few weeks later i visited the site and someone had punched holes in her eyes and drawn a beard and moustache on her face. no respect.

[MadMaddie]

70. I am sorry for your loss.

There are cruel and mean people in the world and they are rich and poor.

Sad excuses for humans.

[earcandle]

16. Oh God! IF you are there, stop this immediately. America, if you are real, you better bring your

brood to rest.  


I am so sorry and give my condolences to the family for the
loss of their beautiful, lovely, pacifist son who was passing
by.... who is the lamb who taketh away the sins of the world,
if anyone was present.  I am so sorry.  

[roody]

17. Didn't Obama work in this neighborhood, organizing?

[Selena Harris]

18. The original ET -Emmett Till

This is a heartbreaking story from the '50's with a Chicago connection(there are visuals on Youtube-be warned,they are beyond gruesome.)

Emmett Till - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaBefore Emmett Till's killing, the Till family knew none of this, having been told only that Louis had been killed due to "willful misconduct. ...

Background - Murder - Funeral - Trial
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till - Cached - Similar

American Experience | The Murder of Emmett TillThe brutal murder in 1955 that mobilized the civil rights movement: the film, special features, timeline, people and events, teacher's guide, ...
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/ - Cached - Similar

[Selena Harris]

19. Youtube of Till's death

YouTube - Death of Emmett Till

4 min 16 sec - Feb 7, 2007 -

Images and text of the Emmett Till story put to the Bob Dylan song, The Death of Emmett Till.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfGcRM35xg - Related videos

[Joe Bacon]

20. OH no, so sad, so heartbreaking!

I come home from temple to read this, may his family be comforted in their time of need.

[Loudmxr]

24. America has a violent culture. We must strive do do all we can to change it!!

Whenever I get into a discussion about the gun issue. The right has it wrong the left has it wrong. The issue is cultural change. I fight against bigotry and discrimination and prejudice. Building an American culture based on civil rights, justice and common human respect and dignity for all who live here is my goal.

Hatred can only be wiped out through love.

I don't know how to do that.

I wish I did.

[LatteLibertine]

25. Yes

we have a lot of work to do in poor communities and schools. No, I do not feel being poor is an acceptable excuse to murder. The overwhelming majority of people classified as poor in the United States do not murder.

Some kids aren't taught to internalize things like the following early; empathic concern, conscience and impulse control. Kids may have all the money in the world and if they aren't taught those things early you'll likely eventually end up with a full blown sociopath.

Our pop culture also seems to glorify being violent as "tough" and an acceptable answer to problem solving.

Killing another person should not be acceptable, particularly over trivial things; like harsh words or a perceived slight.

[imdjh]

42. The guy taking the video is laughing.

This video is several minutes long. A gang of kids swinging fence posts in traffic, being watched by people in cars with telephones, and no one called the police?

[WriteDown]

44. That really says something doesn't it? nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

50. "These days, too many of the community's youngsters end up in the police blotter or obituaries."

That's from the story.

Our society is just so screwed up.

[Dappleganger]

53. If Chicago has such a problem, wth is Arne Duncan in charge of American's schools?

Seems to me he should have stayed in Chicago and tried to solve the problems in his own back yard first before attempting to screw up our schools anymore using Bushie's failed tactics.

[proud2BlibKansan]

78. Arne was the supt os schools, not the chief of police

[MellowDem]

55. It's a gang and poverty culture...

that is a vicious cycle and will not stop until something fundamentally changes the environment positively to impact the culture there.

[Blue_Tires]

56. tragic...how many more bright ones must get sacrificed

at the altar of petty bullshit violence??

[fascisthunter]

60. my sympathies go out to the family and friends of this boy

[noel711]

74. Yet another young life gone..

But I doubt that the 'real' americans,
like Sarah, Joe, and the teabaggers will mourn,
simply say: "Seee?"

I grew up in Roseland. 50 years ago it was a great neighborhood,
working class, with always the promise of working your way up in life.

And YEs, I graduated from Fenger High School too..

It always was a neighborhood of immigrants, those who came to Chicago
to work the labor jobs, the steel mills across Lake Calumet,
and all the city jobs that were a sure thing to keep your family
on the road (Just like Michelle Obama's family).

During the '70s and '80s economic downturn, there was a huge
shift of middle class to the suburbs.. Roseland kept plugging along.

I loved my life there.

YES< that was where President Obama got his feet wet with
community organizing.. at HOly Rosary Church around the corner
from my house. Yes, the need is great.

And please don't blame the neighborhood for its violence..
I hear that out it the ethers; look at the whole country,
a country so in love with patriarchal dominance that it
blames the lost children, and blames those who struggle to
do the right thing.

We have a long way to go.

[Odin2005]

75. OMG, poor guy!

:(

[NoodleyAppendage]

76. DRUDGE is running this story with the headline "Olympic Dreams?" What an A$$HOLE.

The reich wing will stop at nothing to see an African-American President fail.

J

[marshall]

77. It definitely wasn't a good time for Chicago to get such bad publicity

I wonder if these kids had the opportunity to see President Obama's speech earlier this month?