Martin Luther King.. "I had a nightmare: North Minneapolis"

[12smile]

Just in case you were vacationing in the South Pacific (or Martha's Vineyard) for the last week...here's a few local new stories you may want to catch up on.

First..posted on this board as "Reports from the 4th Precinct"

Murder

17th Ave North & Morgan Ave N Saturday 8/20/11 2300 hrs 11-249107

Officers responded to a shooting at the above location & located V1/male, 14 yrs, in the intersection---DOA. V1 had been walking with friends when he was shot. Suspects may have fired from North Commons Park. No further info at this time.

Fox 9 story:
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news ... ug-24-2011

The kid's street memorial was burned and a woman who attended the vigil was shot.

by Leah Beno / FOX 9 News

MINNEAPOLIS - A peace vigil turned violent and sent a young woman to the hospital in critical condition.

On Tuesday night, between 30 and 50 family members and friends of 14-year-old Quantell Braxton gathered near the intersection of Broadway and Lyndale avenues in North Minneapolis when gunfire rung out yet again.

Police say at about 9:15 p.m., bullets hit a 19-year-old woman attending the vigil. She was taken to North Memorial Medical Center, where she is listed in critical condition

And 5 days later 2 more kids, 13 years old are randomly shot while riding bikes. One is found dead a few blocks from the earlier, unrelated shooting.

Two boys were shot in Minneapolis Wednesday night and one has died.

Minneapolis Police tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS someone called police around 9 p.m. Wednesday reporting they had heard gunshots. The shooting happened near Russell Avenue North and 17th Street.

Police found one boy who was shot in the back while riding his bike. He's at North Memorial Medical Center Thursday.

He told police he was with his 13-year-old friend. Dozens of officers searched for the second boy. He was found dead early Thursday morning in some bushes between two houses.

Family members identified the 13-year old shooting victim as Rayjon Gomez. They said he had a passion for dogs, playing basketball, and riding his bike.

The Star-Tribune has good reporting here:
http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... y#continue

"This is something we're going to try to stop, and we need the help and support of the community," Dolan said.

Hours before Dolan spoke, neighbors denounced the slaying of Gomez, known to everyone on his block as Lil' Bow-Wow. About 9 p.m. Wednesday, he had been out riding his bike with two friends near the playground of the old Willard Elementary when someone started shooting.

Deondre Timberlake, 12, was shot in the back. Gomez, struck in the side, ran away. He was found two hours later, face down between two houses. Deondre, taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, is expected to live.

"My son is so emotionally messed up right now because he feels like he left his friend to die," said Lisa Church, Timberlake's mother. Her son said he saw Gomez fall but then get back up and run. She had to tell her son at the hospital that Gomez was dead.

Wednesday's shootings don't appear related to the killing of Braxton, 14, though the two shootings happened just a few blocks apart, Minneapolis police Capt. Amelia Huffman said. Investigators are looking at all possible motives and connections. No one has been arrested.

"It's the same old silly stuff," said V.J. Smith, a neighborhood activist with the group MAD DADS. "One neighborhood vs. a neighborhood. But they don't understand how they're impacting lives."

Gomez's father, Kevin Funchie, said he often talked with his son about violence in the neighborhood and urged him to be home before nightfall.

"Nobody is really understanding how this happened and why it happened," Funchie said. "It's just so senseless."

Draw your own conclusions but I think in the Summer of 2011 we can officially say:
North Minneapolis is 'DETROIT-WEST' and the Politicians and the political cops have no clue how to or willingness to solve the problem.



The only good news is that we don't hear the politicians saying 'Guns, Guns, Guns" It's become completely obvious that there is hopelessly deep social corruption in that part of our city.

[Jeff Bergquist]

Something weird and anomalous is going on, but violent crime is actually down 16.7% in that area from last year. Sensationalize much?

[12smile]

Something weird and anomalous is going on, but violent crime is actually down 16.7% in that area from last year. Sensationalize much?

Yeah but in that 5 block area where the two shootings occurred...crime is up by 2000%




Shooting a mourner at a 'peace vigil' truly is a NEW LOW for Minneapolis...That's what you saw with the IRA in Ireland where those guys were at war with the government.

The Mayor is nowhere to be seen...and the police chief Dolan was just going through the motions at his press conference. I couldn't embed the Channel 5 & Channel 9 videos but they were good.

In Detroit they're bulldozing entire blocks and eliminating entire neighborhoods from city services such as police and road paving. When they write the history of the decline of north Minneapolis, August 2011 should be remembered as the first shooting of a mourner at a murdered Teen-age boy's peace vigil.

Google 'Detroit in Ruins' and you'll see images like this...find me somebody who thinks the next 20 years are going to be better than the last 20 years...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... 2&index=14

[xd ED]

Something weird and anomalous is going on, but violent crime is actually down 16.7% in that area from last year. Sensationalize much?

That there is now feral youth in our midst has long been predicted as a consequence of single-parent ie -fatherless- families.
I tend to not trust published crime statistics too much. As acts of crime, be they against persons or property, must first be reported to become statistics.
In N Mpls. generally speaking, the relationship with the police, or other authorities, is not a good one.
Granted a gunshot or stabbing would be hard to conceal and ignore, but my personal experience with property crimes- 2 break-ins of my company vehicle- went unreported due to a 'lack of enthusiasm' on the part of the SPPD,("We'll send out a report form if you really want") nor did my employer require it. Thus, statistically- they never happened.
As to sensationalizing: Are we at the point where kids on bicycles shooting kids on bicycles can be over-sensationalized?

[Heffay]

Crime has been going down everywhere, significantly. I don't see how you can look at data that shows things are getting better and say "Look, things are getting worse!"

Here's a little tip: Anecdotes ain't evidence. Individual stories of crime are not a sign that society is falling apart.

[Squib Joe]

I blame deadly assault weapons and gun show loopholes.

[xd ED]

Crime has been going down everywhere, significantly. I don't see how you can look at data that shows things are getting better and say "Look, things are getting worse!"

Here's a little tip: Anecdotes ain't evidence. Individual stories of crime are not a sign that society is falling apart.

War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength.

[tletourneau]

That there is now feral youth in our midst has long been predicted as a consequence of single-parent ie -fatherless- families. <snip>

Please cite the source of these predictions, I am interested in what credible studies have come to that conclusion. Broad generalizations can be applied to almost anything and often are inaccurate.

As products of a single parent home I, and I believe my brother, would disagree. We are both relatively successful law abiding citizens, he is an E-8 in the military and I work for one of the top healthcare groups in the world. I know several other children from single family homes that have done well too. I can also think of several children from nuclear families that are not worth the air they breath.


Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

[traveler]

When you are involved in situations like those posted by 12smile it is not much comfort to be told that "statistically" crime is down. Crime in my neighborhood is very low. On August 1 a family of inner city ganstas moved into a house located a half-block away. It was rented out by a Saint Paul beauracrat that has moved to a second-ring suburb. The "boom-box" noise has been deafening day and night since then, and police have advised neighbors (myself included) to call if we see suspected drug deals as they have made one arrest at the house already.

Oooh, and "tagging" is up about 5,000% in the past half month. It only takes one bad neighbor, or one bad family, to drive a coach and horses through "statistics".

[traveler]

Please cite the source of these predictions, I am interested in what credible studies have come to that conclusion.

I am glad that you and your brother have turned out so well. Credit should be given where credit is deserved.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/351761
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r7293w7873823862/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8064435/Children-in-single-parent-families-worse-behaved.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1940823/
http://www.enotes.com/single-parent-families-article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/3235650/Children-in-single-parent-families-more-likely-to-suffer-emotional-problems-report-finds.html
http://www.ohiojudges.org/_cms/tools/act_Download.cfm?FileID=60&/familymatterssingleparent.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/04/health/main539283.shtml
http://family.jrank.org/pages/1577/Single-Parent-Families-Effects-on-Children.html

[xd ED]

That there is now feral youth in our midst has long been predicted as a consequence of single-parent ie -fatherless- families. <snip>

Please cite the source of these predictions, I am interested in what credible studies have come to that conclusion. Broad generalizations can be applied to almost anything and often are inaccurate.

As products of a single parent home I, and I believe my brother, would disagree. We are both relatively successful law abiding citizens, he is an E-8 in the military and I work for one of the top healthcare groups in the world. I know several other children from single family homes that have done well too. I can also think of several children from nuclear families that are not worth the air they breath.


Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

I cannot quote any one specific prediction or report, as it was something I read about long ago.
But if one researches the commonalities in youthful offenders, the one that recurs is the lack of a positive male role model. Neither ethnicity, location, economic standing, or education show as much correlation as there not being a father in the home.
That you can cite your family as an exception is all well and good, and is a positive reflection on you and your family.
And with no disrespect to you, or your family, I leave you with this: Heffay wrote: Anecdotes ain't evidence.
For whatever it's worth, my grandfather died at a young age, and my father was a retired E-8.

[tletourneau]

That there is now feral youth in our midst has long been predicted as a consequence of single-parent ie -fatherless- families. <snip>

Please cite the source of these predictions, I am interested in what credible studies have come to that conclusion. Broad generalizations can be applied to almost anything and often are inaccurate.

As products of a single parent home I, and I believe my brother, would disagree. We are both relatively successful law abiding citizens, he is an E-8 in the military and I work for one of the top healthcare groups in the world. I know several other children from single family homes that have done well too. I can also think of several children from nuclear families that are not worth the air they breath.


Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

I cannot quote any one specific prediction or report, as it was something I read about long ago.
But if one researches the commonalities in youthful offenders, the one that recurs is the lack of a positive male role model. Neither ethnicity, location, economic standing, or education show as much correlation as there not being a father in the home.
That you can cite your family as an exception is all well and good, and is a positive reflection on you and your family.
And with no disrespect to you, or your family, I leave you with this: Heffay wrote: Anecdotes ain't evidence.
For whatever it's worth, my grandfather died at a young age, and my father was a retired E-8.

Actually, and on some level it pains my to type this, I agree with Heffay: "Anecdotes ain't evidence". Hence my request for a citation. I can understand that the opinion is garnered from an amalgamation of sources and not easily cited. Fortunately one of our other members has provided some to peruse when time permits. I would submit, as an anecdote, that having a "positive male role model" in ones life is not dependant on the traditional nuclear family model. It is an assumption that because my brother and I were reared by our mother that we lacked in the afore mentioned "positive male role model", that would be an erroneous assumption. A "positive male role model" does not have to be the father but instead can be any man of good morals that the child has a stable relationship with.

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

[tletourneau]

Please cite the source of these predictions, I am interested in what credible studies have come to that conclusion.

I am glad that you and your brother have turned out so well. Credit should be given where credit is deserved.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/351761
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r7293w7873823862/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8064435/Children-in-single-parent-families-worse-behaved.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1940823/
http://www.enotes.com/single-parent-families-article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/3235650/Children-in-single-parent-families-more-likely-to-suffer-emotional-problems-report-finds.html
http://www.ohiojudges.org/_cms/tools/act_Download.cfm?FileID=60&/familymatterssingleparent.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/04/health/main539283.shtml
http://family.jrank.org/pages/1577/Single-Parent-Families-Effects-on-Children.html

Thanks for the links, I will peruse them at my leisure.

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

[xd ED]

NOTE: previous discussion snipped to reduce number of imbedded quotes. ED

Actually, and on some level it pains my to type this, I agree with Heffay: "Anecdotes ain't evidence". Hence my request for a citation. I can understand that the opinion is garnered from an amalgamation of sources and not easily cited. Fortunately one of our other members has provided some to peruse when time permits. I would submit, as an anecdote, that having a "positive male role model" in ones life is not dependant on the traditional nuclear family model. It is an assumption that because my brother and I were reared by our mother that we lacked in the afore mentioned "positive male role model", that would be an erroneous assumption. A "positive male role model" does not have to be the father but instead can be any man of good morals that the child has a stable relationship with.

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

"...It is an assumption that because my brother and I were reared by our mother that we lacked in the afore mentioned "positive male role model", that would be an erroneous assumption. A "positive male role model" does not have to be the father but instead can be any man of good morals that the child has a stable relationship with..."

No such assumption was made about any individual, but given the ever increasing number of single parent families in areas such as housing projects and section 8 clusters, the positive male role model in many of those situations has become rare, and the manifestations of this are making headlines.
Your observation "...any man of good morals that the child has a stable relationship with..." is something I learned from my father, who for much of his adult life was involved in Boy Scouts.
As it was, I grew up in an area that was quite literally 'the right side of the tracks'. On the 'other side' of the tracks, exists a public housing project, and a neighborhood of significantly lower economic stata.
I attended school, socialized, and belonged to the same Scout troop with kids from both areas.
At my father's funeral a few weeks ago, I was re-aquainted with many fatherless men, some who after 40+ years, still fit into their Scout uniforms. Among them were a successful banker, and retired Marine NCO to cite two long ago acquaintances..

It troubles me that the need for fathers, and/ or stable relationships with men of good morals is something that today is widely dismissed as irrelevant, and anachronistic, and all the while conveniently ignored as an underlying cause of the incidents which are the original topic of this thread.

[12smile]

Single parent families?

These kids are from Zero Parent Families.

We have two deaths here...it was just about 3 weeks ago that there was a 'Bike By' shooting somewhere in that Jungle.

A kid was walking home and a group of 'Under-privileged Youths' RODE BY ON THEIR BIKES AND SHOT AT HIM. He was wounded not killed. He was 17 not 14.

The mayor is not showing his face...watch Chief Dolan mumble his way through a press conference on one of those linked TV station quotes. The 'Ruling Elite' wants to relax on City Halls 'Green Roof' and drive home in a Prius.

Wouldn't it be fascinating if a Black Conservative ran for Don Samuels council seat and then became Mayor.

There's a ShiitStorm going on in North Minneapolis and I want some of it in the faces of the Liberal Politicians.

The other element that needs to be pointed out is the Age of these kids...it used to be that 17-24 years old was the range of ...'At-Risk Youth'...Hopefully the shock that these kids are 13-17 years old...doesn't wear off.

Theres a member here that posts "news from the 4th' Kaold ...if anybody thinks this is sensationalizing...just read that on a weekly basis...week after week you'll see the 13-17 year-olds up to what only the 17-24 year olds were capable of before.

I want to see the mother of one of these Dead Kids interrupt a City Council Meeting where they are talking about the Green Roof and ask 'Why is my boy Dead?' Why can't a 13 year old boy ride his bike in the park?

The only bright spot here is the fact that the politicians can't get away with singing 'Guns off the street'...the reporters would laugh at them and say "Guns don't kill people, Stupid kills people'

Here's another shot from 'Detroit in Ruins'