A 17 year-old was killed in a drive-by shooting today. Maybe because I was a teacher, maybe because I spent a few years in this neighborhood, or maybe because I have teen kids, I can’t stop thinking about how he woke up yesterday not knowing it was his last day, and that he was only 17. I am very sorry for him, and his friends and family.
I’m thinking how a white male was killed in a drive-by shooting a few years ago and it sparked community outrage/action, and a teen black man is killed in the same area and it creates news but does not create public outrage. I’m also thinking of the stat I read a few years ago, that the mortality rate for a young American man is higher in Oakland than the Afghanistan/Iraq war.
10-Minute Scribblings 