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Three Maywood teens were killed and a fourth injured early Saturday morning when the car they were in was riddled with bullets. Now, two days after the shooting, the families and police are left asking, "Why?" Devin Stokes (left), Kent Flowers Jr. (center), and Oscar Pritchett (right), all 18-years old, were killed in the shooting. A fourth boy remains in critical condition, though media outlets are not identifying him because he is considered a witness. The shooting happened in the 1900 block of Harrison Street, outside of Flowers' home shortly after midnight early Saturday morning.
All four boys, according to family members, avoided gangs and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the cross-fire of an ongoing neighborhood war. Stokes' mother, Theresa, said, "They didn't want to be part of anything like that...They had dreams like everyone else, but they knew they had to work to achieve what they wanted in life." Milton Patch, principal of Proviso East High School where three of the four boys had recently graduated, backed this assertion: "This was a group of good kids...Something like this shouldn't have happened to them."
Flowers' father, Kent Sr., recounted finding his son in the car after hearing the nearby gunfire.
"I got out there too late," Flowers said. "I pulled my son out of the car and held him in my arms until the ambulance came. I wanted to help his friends, but I only had two arms. And I had to hold on to him. I had to hold on to hope that my son was going to make it."Devin Stokes, a chess champion, had been slated to attend Northeastern Illinois University on an academic scholarship. And Oscar's adoptive father, Anthony, echoed the sentiment that all the boys were well-behaved.
"Oscar never ran on the streets," said Pritchett, who added that his son planned to attend Triton College in River Grove. "There was no need for that. He was a family-oriented kid. But sometimes you're in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Police have no suspects or motives at the time but hope the fourth boy may be able to provide key information. Still, the parents are left to wonder how something like this happened and why there are no leads. Said Flowers Sr., "Somebody knows who the perpetrator is. But nobody's saying nothing. "And everybody's going to keep their mouth shut. The same people keep doing the same thing over and over and over. Something has to be done." [Trib, S-T]
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Assuming these kids really were not part of any gang, it is crap like this--the pointless killing of people who seem ready to be productive citizens--that makes it hard for me, in theory, to oppose the death penalty.
I only oppose it now because I don't think it is applied fairly--rich people get better representation and all that, and all the mistakes found by DNA analysis--but, in theory, I have no problem with killing those members of the herd who prove most destructive and worthless (this would include the most corrupt officials and certain white-collar criminals under my version of utopia).
"Somebody knows who the perpetrator is. But nobody's saying nothing. "
Where's Al Sharpton on this? Or Jesse? Or any other loudmouths who prefer the sound of their own voice and the ring of a cash register to the truth?
Go door to FUCKING door on this. You find who killed these young men and you drag them into the light.
No, let's protest radio talk shows and comedians telling off color jokes.
Whole generations of young black men are killing each other in the streets and the community leaders just want to pretend it 1968 and another march is going to make a damn bit of difference.
what in FUCK is going on around here?
Whole generations of young black men are killing each other in the streets and the community leaders just want to pretend it 1968 and another march is going to make a damn bit of difference.
Unfortunately - there is only 1 thing that is going to make the difference - better parenting.
This seems like it's becoming a weekly occurrence around here: young men shot, parent(s) insist that they're good kids, a couple days later we find out it was gang related, parent(s) deny that it could have been, kids get arrested for the shooting, their parent(s) insist that they were good kids and not involved in gangs, we find out a few days later that they were involved in gangs, parent(s) deny it....repeat
@ jimbo:
i'm with you on this ... all too often this summer teenagers are getting shot and killed only to have parents come out and say that there was no way that their child was involved with or part of a gang. as much as i hated the questioning as a teenager myself, parents need to ask questions, they need to find out who their kids are hanging around with, what they're doing, etc. it doesn't mean that they have to run their life, but just be an active part in it. while i don't want to label these kids as gangbangers, odds are that at least one of them was involved in one and the others were killed as they were guilty by association.
which brings me to my second point ... what the fuck is with all the hostility? why is it necessary to roll up on someone, who more than likely is minding their own business, and shoot them dead on the street? what the fuck does it prove? absolutely nothing. it shows that you take rap music seriously and that you live a life that you think you have to, to justify your existence. and honestly, if you live in a high violence area, don't hang around outside and talk ... go inside!!
Jimbo:
It's not that simple sadly.
First you have the war on drugs, which has militarized gangs and destroyed whatever connection the black community had with the police. In rooting out drugs we've gutted whole neighborhoods. And you can still get weed and coke with little or no problem pretty much anywhere.
Then you have the annihilation of the black family unit staring in the 70's and 80's. There are any number of factors going into that, the fact that a single mother could get more benefits than a whole family, the arrest of young black men for petty drug crimes making it impossible for them to support their families.
Then you have the economic deprivation in black neighborhoods. White flight, red-lining.
You take all that you add it up and it's the death of a 1000 cuts.
Show me a kid killed in a "gang-related" shooting and I'll show you a kid whose mother is working 2 jobs and is unlikely to have a father. I'll show you a kid who only gets hot lunches at school and was never given a choice of getting involved in a gang or not.
Better parenting would be great. But it's a muggs game at this point for poor black families in Chicago. Rigged from the jump.
You know, Albany...you and I may have disagreed back on that John Kass "Pool Boy" discussion, but I have to say you're right on target here.
The most depressing part about all of it is, we can pretty much pinpoint the exact problems and root causes of the whole thing, and there doesn't seem to be damned thing anyone can do about it...other than sit back, watch more kids get killed, and wish things was different.
Albany, I'm not surprised that you tried to bring in a half dozen fringe elements to blow this into a broad topic. The bottom line is this: you are making excuses for poor parenting and irresponsible behavior.
Rigged from the jump. lol. There are plenty of responsible people in the south and west side neighborhoods, brought up in the same circumstances as those dealing drugs and shooting each other - but they and their parent(s) have made the decision to live productive lifestyles. Blaming this on anything other than poor parenting is a joke.
Blaming this on nothing besides poor parenting is a joke.
/fixed
Please don't let this turn into another, "people are shooting eachother in Engelwood because their streets have potholes in them," argument
Please don't let this turn into another, "people are shooting eachother in Engelwood because their streets have potholes in them," argument
Have you been to Englewood Jimbo? I mean walked the streets there? Seen the poverty, seen the destroyed homes, the breakdown in basic city services (water, fire, garbage pick-up, police) seen the abandoned home and the kids with nothing to do once they're out of school? The parents who can't find a job anywhere nearby and end up coming home at 7-8 at night? They're just bad parents right? That's just an obstacle to overcome. I've worked there. It's not just scary, it's damn APPALLING how little these people have. I worked with 5th graders who could not read. Clearly that's the fault of their illiterate 22 year old parents. Not the school system that went "aw, fuck it". That burned out house, that slumlord's property, those abandoned cars, the cops showing up in "tactical units", that's all just bad parenting.
I call bullshit on your easy answer. It's easy to say pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you have boots to begin with.
Am I saying parents are blameless? Of course not. But to say that the parents of all those kids shot are just bad at the gig is simplistic at best and shamefully ignorant at best.
these things are so complex, so deep, so ingrained. it's so easy to judge from the outside. myself included. but what i think most people don't realize is how systematic most everything is ... and that includes them, too.
our values, our ideals, our concepts about so many things are just accepted and ingrained from things we don't even realize. i work for some midwives and the amount of people i hear talking about buying their girls pink and their boys blue ASTOUNDS me. and that's just a really superficial example of the kind of thing i'm talking about.
the things we're talking about in relation to this post are SO much more complex and hard to sort out. and i think part of the reason is that unless you really walk around in a certain life view, it's nearly impossible to understand what that viewpoint is like.
i'll never make the mistake again, but quite a few years ago, a few friends and i were talking about this and that and the subject of getting a cab came up and they referenced the fact that it wasn't always that easy for them (they were mid-20's black men). and up until that point, it had NEVER occurred to me that people couldn't just walk right out to the street, throw up their hand and hail a cab ... that one wouldn't instantly stop. because that had always been *my* experience. it was humbling, to say the least.
it's so easy to judge (and sometimes so self-satisfying), but it doesn't do a whole lot of good.
Blaming this on nothing besides poor parenting is a joke.
You're right, Slaphappy,
But on the real, arguing with people like jimbo on complex issues like this is also a joke, save your breath
Albany -
Nothing to do when they get out of school? I'll give you a hint what I had to finish when I was a kid before I was allowed to get out of the house to play with my friends......homework. Do the schools in the neighborhoods in question have a no-homework policy?
Parents coming home at 7 or 8 at night? First of all, I don't think 7 or 8 is realistic - and keep in mind that we're talking about those working. 6-7 is more realistic, and that's no different than students in better-off neighborhoods that have parents working.
5th graders that can't read? A committed parent is sitting with his/her child at night, teaching him/her how to read. What's the school system to do when the parents don't reinforce the necessity of an education on their children?
And really, save the broken window syndrom crap that you're constantly throwing out. That's not a deterrent against attending school, staying out of the drug trade, and abstaining from owning, pointing, and pulling the trigger of a firearm at another person.
Tactical Units? Why do you think they're there? They're there to protect the law-abiding citizens from the trash that's ruining neighborhoods, harming society, and being a deterrent for any type of development in the neighborhoods.
Who teaches children the difference between being productive and picking up a gun, standing on a corner, dealing drugs, and shooting somebody? Some after school program or a parent? It's really easy to point the finger at the faceless object, but you'll never solve the spiral that these neighborhoods are heading down.
I went to school with them.
They where seriously not into that gang stuff.
Sucks they where killed right after graduating and didn't get to go to college.
I know one of them too personally and in his case it was definately not because of bad parenting..His mother was and still is a great parent. This was definately not gang related cuz i know this person like the back of my hand..know every detail of this persons life and..this is plain and simple the result of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.. Love you..R.I.P