T.V. is Fantasy to some, But it's also Reality to Many

3 Boys Arrested in Kick a Ginger Day Beatings

KTLA News

CALABASAS -- Sheriff's officials say three boys have been arrested in connection with at least seven attacks on red-haired students at a local middle school after a Facebook group announced "Kick a Ginger Day."

Two 12-year-old students at A.E. Wright Middle School were arrested on suspicion of battery on school property, and a 13-year-old boy was accused of threatening to inflict injury by means of electronic communication, also known as "cyber-bullying," said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

The first reported victim was a 12-year-old boy in the seventh grade, said sheriff's Lt. Scott Chew of the Malibu-Lost Hills Station.

Investigators say he was kicked and beaten by classmates in two separate incidents.

"He was kicked and hit with fists in various areas of the body."

Several other students also may have been attacked, Chew said.

The attacks were allegedly inspired by a 2005 episode of the animated TV show "South Park" which focused on prejudice against "gingers," a label given to people with red hair, fair skin, and freckles.

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Copyright © 2009, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles

Look At Outrage And Then See Why We Must Stay Outraged.

I participated in the National Day of Outrage in New York City and gave out flyers on the reasons why we need a "Youth Violence Awareness Month". It was good to see a celebrity, Spike Lee, participate and speak to the media about this plague. One of the most chilling moments of the rally came when a wooden coffin was rolled out into the center of Times Square and its metaphoric message was clear. The coffin was a symbol of the past, present and future. For all the kids already gunned down, lying presently in funeral homes and for the ones who will be killed tomorrow, next week and next year if this epidemic is not stopped.

I was disappointed that there weren't more people. There wasn't that big a turnout in New York and from what I saw in the news from St. Louis and Cleveland, they could have used more support, also. What I know is that it is OUR young that are dying in vast numbers and it is at the hands of people who look exactly like them. It is us killing us and until WE decided enough is enough and stand up and fight this, the shootings and killings will not stop. It brings me back to a comment I read on a website when it reported Derrion Albert's death in Chicago. The person leaving the comment said he didn't care because it was "just another black kid" that was killed. It's as though he felt that the lives of Black people don't matter. And if we, as people of color, Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow do not care about our youth dying on the new killing fields that are the urban streets, then why should anybody else?





Ironically, on the same day as the Day Of Outrage, the NYPD busted a gun ring pipeline running weapons from Florida to New York. Two Brooklyn men, (who look exactly like us by the way) were arrested for allegedly buying guns down south and selling them on the streets of New York. It was said a handgun selling for $200 in Florida can go for as much as a thousand bucks on the streets of Crown Heights and the South Bronx. So as one of the signs someone was holding said yesterday, GUNS HAVE BECOME THE NEW CRACK.

Every Day Should Be A Day Of Outrage! But Let's Start for Real On Monday

NATIONAL DAY OF OUTRAGE
NOVEMBER 23, 2009
2:00 P.M. (EST)

"National Action Network (NAN) will be leading a National Day of Outrage to call attention to the nationwide epidemic of violence in urban communities. On this day, thousands of concerned citizens will come together from Chicago to New York and from Atlanta to Los Angeles. They will stand with a unified message that vicious, senseless killing in our communities will no longer be tolerated."
For More Information Contact:
(212) 690-3070 or Shanayk@nationalactionnetwork.net
www.nationalactionnetwork.net

First off, as long as our youth continue to kill each other in epidemic proportions, every day should be a day of outrage. Ever since I wrote and published my first stories about the growing menace of gun violence, 'The City Game' in 1994, and then 'Street Angel' in 1998, I was sounding the alarm over our children killing each other. I had warned back then in my books and in my talks in schools that left unchecked, this plague of youth violence would only get worse. And it has.

I am encouraged to see that more and more people and organizations are finally stepping up and deciding that enough is enough. What the N.A.N. is spearheading this Monday should be the springboard in a major effort and mobilization in this tremendous battle. The reason I say it is tremendous is because just like the problems with our youth didn't happen overnight, solving this issue won't happen overnight either. The root cause of our sons and daughters killing each other is visible in so many areas of our society. Some blame Hip Hop music, violent movies and video games and the over-all culture of violence in the media. But you also have to look at youth unemployment, failing schools and a general lack of positive images in our current society. We tell our youths to not be violent, but we don't show them how. We tell them not to pick up guns, but in all of the popular media, guns are glamorized. In other words, a lot of us adults and parents talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.

Our children are so desensitized and used to killings and death, that it's almost as though they have become numb, unfeeling robots now. They no longer feel the human emotions of sympathy, empathy and compassion. Actually, it now seems that they no longer feel at all. And this, to me, is the most frightening thing of all. Because when you look into the eyes of a lot of these child murderers, what stares back at you is cold, detached emptiness. Like they are no longer human, but characters in a video game who are programmed to kill.

Let's hope the day of outrage spawns a national mobilization of fervor to attack this epidemic with the same energy and hopefully resources now used to fight the H1N1 flu. Let's hope that unlike the candles and flowers that disappear from makeshift shrines to the fallen angels, the N.A.N. and all who participate in this 'Day Of Outrage', will only see it as the beginning of the battle to save the next generations of our children.

Rob Batista
11-16-09