Our Kids Our Dying For Their Phones

There are a growing number of dangerous predators out there who are robbing and sometimes killing young people for their IPhones, Androids and other Smartphone devices. I constantly tell my kids and their friends, if someone tries to jack you for your phone, give it up. It is not worth getting hurt or losing your life over. There are too many numerous stories like Hwang Yang's (pictured) a chef at the Museum of Modern Art who was gunned down in the Bronx. As he lay bleeding on the ground, the gunman flipped him over, and grabbed his IPhone from his pocket.

Robber fatally shoots chef in Bronx, steals iPhone

Hwang Yang, 26, was returning home from his job at Museum of Modern Art's restaurant The Modern

By Barry Paddock, Erik Badia, Nancy Dillon, Shayna Jacobs AND Rocco Parascandola / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 10:16 AM

A hardworking young chef was gunned down in the Bronx early Thursday by a brutal thief who kicked his motionless body, stole his iPhone and then casually strolled away, sources told the Daily News.
Former Sunday school teacher Hwang Yang, 26, was left bleeding in the middle of a leafy Riverdale street around 12:30 a.m. - a bullet lodged in his chest - as his adoring mom fretted he was late returning to the family's home just two blocks away, police and family sources said. Yang had just finished a shift at his new job as a cold-plate chef at The Modern, the upscale French-American restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

Parents, please tell your loved ones: We can always get you another phone, we can never get another you.

An Open Letter To Young Brothers in Chicago

Late last year, I had the honor of having my book 'Street Angel' read by the Truancy Reduction Program in Chicago. The two program coordinators, Allyse Sturdivant and Dr. Darlene Perry felt very strongly about the positive impact the story would have on the youths in the program, many of who were gang members. Upon seeing this great impact, Dr. Perry and Ms. Sturdivant asked that I write a letter to the young brothers about my reasons for writing 'Street Angel' and my feelings on youth violence in general. Here is the letter I wrote to them:

New York, N.Y. 12/12/11

In the Spirit of Peace,

About a week ago, a 17 year old boy who played basketball for South Shore H.S. in Brooklyn was shot and killed after school. I immediately thought of my story, ‘The City Game’. Like the boy in Brooklyn, Shaquille Jones, the lead character in my story, high school basketball All-American Sam Johnson, also dies senselessly and tragically.

According to the latest CDC report, homicide is the leading cause of death of Black males between the ages of 15-34. I think this should be repeated--Murder is the leading cause of death of Black boys of 15 to young men of 34. The troubling second part to this statistic is that they are usually killed by another young black male.

There is a scene in ‘Street Angel’ where Moises is at Devin’s funeral and watches Devin’s mother hysterically try to get into the coffin with “her baby”. Many readers have told me that scene was one of the most vivid they had ever read. I purposely wrote it that way so people can understand that two lives were taken when Devin was killed: his and his mother’s. Every time a boy or girl is killed, the death affects everyone who loved and cared for that person--his parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, friends...etc.

I would also ask you to remember Moises’ graduation, when, before he gives the valedictorian address, he says to himself, “it doesn’t take any courage to pull a trigger.” I would go a step further and add “it doesn’t take any courage to be a gang-banger. Just like it takes courage to talk out an argument, it also takes courage to be a neutron. It takes courage to lead, and not be a follower. Remember, we all have the power to change our circumstances.

It’s up to you.

Peace and Blessings to you all,

Rob Batista

2012-THE YEAR 'THE CITY GAME' GOES GLOBAL

2012--A year that many have deemed the year of tremendous change. And tremendous change is what will have to happen in the battle against youth violence if it is to put a dent in the explosion of deaths among our young. Recently, in Chicago, 2 teens were senselessly killed while sitting down to a meal at a fried chicken outlet. In Brooklyn, a teen was shot and killed at his girlfriend's birthday party allegedly by the girl's former boyfriend. And in Oakland, a five-year old boy was shot and died in his father's arms.

It's extremely hard to be a parent in today's America, but it is even harder to be a kid now. Many of them live in a constant state of fear, as just going to and from school or the park is like walking through a minefield and battlefield that rival any in Afghanistan. It has become obvious to many that our nation's streets have become synonymous with the 21st century's version of 'The Killing Fields'. Our children also know that as much as we parents do our ultimate best to try, we can never fully protect our kids when they step outside our doors. In many of Americas cities and towns, gangbangers rule, and many of our teens are pressured and coerced to join them. Like a frog boiled slowly, the road to where we are as a violent society did not happen overnight, but over a period of time. Gangs have always been with us since the Pug-uglies of the 19th century. Violence exploded during Prohibition in the "Capone" 1920's, but the ones killed were mostly organized crime's gangsters and bootleggers. Once in a while innocents were caught in the crossfire, but these incidents were usually rare. Today, it is the norm.

So what's the difference between last century and now? Obviously the ready availability of cheap, high powered handguns. Like cheap drugs, guns have flooded and saturated our inner-cities and have been causing deadly havoc ever since. In September last year, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence came out with a special report entitled: Missing Guns: Lost and Dangerous. Here is a portion of the report:

"Every day over the last two and a half years, an average of at least 18 firearms left licensed gun manufacturers’ plants nationwide without a record of sale, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of data released in August 2011 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. From 2009 to the middle of 2011, at least 16,485 firearms left gun manufacturer’s inventory without a record of being legally sold.1 The 16,485 “missing” guns are likely a vast undercount of the total number of guns that disappeared from gun manufacturers in the last two and a half years. This report follows a January 2011 Brady Center report, “Missing Guns,” that found that the nation’s gun dealers also “lost” more than 62,000 firearms since 2008.2 The missing guns are noted at ATF compliance inspections of gun manufacturers. Nationwide there are 4,487 licensed gun manufacturers,3 but due to funding restrictions, ATF conducts compliance inspections each year at only about one-fifth of the nation’s licensed gun dealers and manufacturers.4 Firearms that disappear from gun manufacturers’ plants without records of sale are frequently trafficked by gun traffickers and prized by criminals. Guns taken from gun manufacturing plants may also be removed before they have been stamped with serial numbers, making them virtually untraceable."

As parents, we are fighting a daunting, uphill battle due to so many obstacles that are hindering the keeping of illegal guns out of the hands of those who are criminally irresponsible.

In 1994, I wrote and self-published 'The City Game', my first short story that highlighted the then-growing menace of youth gun violence. The story was about a high school basketball star, Sam Johnson, who is on his way to professional basketball stardom when he is cut down when coming to the aid of his best friend. Almost immediately, the story was hailed by students, parents and teachers as a seminal breakthrough in the battle against violence. Schools and libraries picked up the book and it was spotlighted in newspapers and magazines.

After I wrote and published my second and more detailed story on this subject, 'Street Angel', 'The City Game' sort of went on the back-burner and got lost in the hoopla and success of 'Street Angel'. But to me, 'The City Game' is my favorite of all the pieces I have written and needs to come back to the forefront as the inspirational cautionary tale that it is.

To this end, I am re-publishing it as an e-book this year and will spearhead a movement to turn the story into a media event: specifically a play and eventually a film--even if I have to finance and produce them myself.

This is my resolved resolution for 2012.

Peace!