August 31, 2014
Black Children Murdered by Other Blacks: A Non-Issue for Too Many Leaders
By Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - After the celebrity politicians, press and preachers leave the glare of the cameras in Ferguson, MO resulting from the murder of Michael Brown, 18, by a white policeman, they should focus national attention on the constant slaughter of the innocents: African American children being murdered most often by black males.
When whites kill blacks, it’s an important racial and political issue. But when blacks murder each other or black children, most of the loud, passionate voices fade to a shameful silence. Is it no less a crime when the gun used to kill is held by a black hand or a white hand?
The next site of mourning or protest should be Chicago, then onto the Washington DC, area and scores of other cities where parents are grieving, kids are afraid and the elderly can’t sit on their porches in broad daylight because bullets are known to come careening through the air.
On August 20, nine-year-old Antonio Smith, is the latest child gunned down, assassinated, executed-- whichever word you want to use-- near his home on Chicago’s troubled predominately black Southside. Police reports show that he was not a gangbanger, nor was he running from the police; he was just walking along in the wrong place at- the wrong time.
When will city officials finally realize that black lives, especially kids in Chicago, are vital enough to be protected and call out the National Guard? During the Fourth of July 85 people were shot in Chicago. Two of them under 15 were shot by police. Some teens there are saying they plan their funerals along with their proms because it is uncertain which will come first.
Despite these alarming statistics, when I was in Chicago recently, I did not get a sense that the police are up in arms about the chaos. There is a perception that blacks dying violent deaths are normal, not warranting the police protection extended to whites.
From Chicago, the celebrity troupe should camp out in the district and in some Maryland communities to see how toxic things are for little children so close to the power center that provides security to many parts of the world, yet can’t properly protect bullets from killing kids in their homes or playgrounds.
Last week I met three year old Kodie Brown. Her father shot and killed Selina, her mother on a DC bus. Selina was holding Kodie then 20 months old as a bullet tore through the little girls face. She has gone through several surgeries to correct the injury and has become a local celebrity as a survivor.
Kodie deserved better than to be disfigured but at least her grandfather, Derrick Ferguson, a DC police officer can still hold her in her arms. Some parents will never hold their children again because of the senseless violence that claimed their lives.
August has been a deadly month for three African America toddlers in Maryland and the district, which began on the first day of the month. Three year old McKenzie Elliott was playing on a Baltimore porch when a straying bullet ended her life. The shooter is still at large
On August 10 Knijah Bibb was playing in the bedroom of a Landover Maryland home she was visiting when a man started shooting after a fight. A bullet killed the three-year-old. The shooter is also still at large.
The next Saturday another three year old died tragically at the hands of her father. Police said Frederick Miller, a 38-year-old Marine Corps veteran, was locked in a years-long custody battle over his daughter, Laila Miller. He shot the girl’s maternal grandfather and great-grandmother, then shot his child at close range and slit her throat before he drove off — her corpse in the back seat — and died after a gun battle with police.
These child tragedies unfortunately are not unique to Maryland. The Children’s Defense Fund tells us that in the USA a child or teen is killed or injured by a gun every 30 minutes. That is 50 children and teens every day, 350 every week.
Not unique, but not normal either. It is mind-bogging that leaders who care about black people –including President Obama---do not come up with a strategy to help stem the violence in our streets that are claiming our children.
“Why would someone shoot a little girl like me?” That was the soul-searching question posed by a little African American girl recently after being shot on a playground in the district. She is now undergoing surgery and physical therapy. The shooter described as a black male is still at large.
So far there have been no answers and promises that adults will work as hard to focus national attention on little kids shot by black men as is done when white cops shoot black men.
And until black on black murder is taken seriously, we are left with the heartbreak of the slaughter of the innocence.