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Derrion Albert, 16, was beaten to death in the midst of violent brawl yesterday afternoon. The brawl occurred yesterday afternoon around 3 p.m. near 111th and Wallace in Roseland. According to the Tribune:
Milton Massie, executive director of the Agape Community Center, said he has reviewed footage of the beating caught by a camera attached to the community center. "It was mob action, basically a bunch of kids, some coming from the east and others from the west on the street, fighting," he said.He and other witnesses said it started out with about 10 teens and quickly escalated to more than 50. Massie said most of the teens were using their hands and feet, but he saw at least one using a 2-by-4. "It wasn't until the cops drew a gun and one kid was Tasered that they started to run and scatter," said Massie.
Some witnesses said Albert did not appear to be the target. They said teens from the Altgeld Gardens housing development have been feuding with kids from the Roseland community. Most of the teens from both areas attend Fenger.
One worker at the community center told the Tribune it seemed that Derrion wasn't involved but rather simply (and sadly), "He just ended up being at the wrong place." Derrion's family told the Trib that they believe he was beaten because he had resisted joining a gang. Others in the neighborhood tell the Trib that violence had been escalating all weeks, culminating in yesterday's mob violence and they fear more violence on Monday. According to the Sun-Times, as of late last night, police did not have anyone in custody.
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I hope they throw the book at every single one of the punk ass kids on the tape. I'm so sick of reading about stories like this.
In an ideal world, we'd have the death penalty for proven gangbangers older than 17, and do so without becoming a police state. Impossible, but one can dream.
Death penalty for massively corrupt rich guys, too, of course. Do it China style--bullet to the brain. No pain, no fuss.
I've always considered myself a pacifist.
Can I still be a pacifist if I agree with you here?
Probably not, but I am pretty ignorant about the deeper trends of pacifism.
being in a gang is not a criminal act.
Being part of a criminal enterprise is.
Yeah, the death penalty has been so effective in curbing violent crime.
"China-Style"? Jesus. You read about an act of horrific mob violence and your reaction is to advocate for totalitarianism?
Do you think before you type of just let your fingers do the walking?
I'm not going to cry tears for a gang banger who would take a two by four and bash an innocent person's brains out for no reason if he were to get the death penalty
Not saying you're wrong, Jess, but what do you think the solution is?
Three things:
1. Gee, Jess, yes, I have thought long and hard about this idea. Just because you disagree doesn't mean I haven't though about it. Seriously, get the fuck over yourself.
2. It's not about deterring anyone. It's about removing from society those who act no better than barbarians (and yes, I know the origin of the word barbarians, and the all the concepts that word can take. You are not the only one who fucking knows how to read).
3. Just because we do something that China might also do does not make the idea totalitarian. By your measure, we shouldn't mandate better fuel mileage for cars because China kicks our butt in this area.
Listen, I know you have a high view of yourself, and you are pretty thoughtful, and even insightful, but you really are not as brilliant as your tone often suggests.
1: I've decided that you are not Matilda, you are Bertha. Matilda is a nice name, it's a name for a charming, cute young woman. You're a sad thing. Probably really fat and bitter. You're Bertha. See, Bertha, you get all angry and sullen when you get caught writing something stupid and thoughtless. So you attack and claim that I'm not as good as I think I am. What is that? An attack on my ego? Am I supposed to rethink my life because Bertha said so? Like the old chubby in the park who sees the pretty young thing passing and clucks her tongue, Bertha can't believe she's not all that relevant. Not any more. And likely not at all.
2: Killing someone to show how much better your society is than the "barbarians" is like eating butter to prove how thin you are Bertha. If you were thin. But you're not.
3: China is a totalitarian regime Bertha, they "get results" via slave labor, brutal censorship, public coercion, violence and a form of capitalism for the elites that would have made Marx explode. Everything the Chinese state does is the fruit of that poison tree. Just because a stopped clock may be right twice a day does not mean it is a time piece Bertha.
Bertha, I'm not only smarter than you, I am, by your whining about the banality of pop culture and your aged state, younger and likely better looking as well. I also just got very nicely laid and had a very fine meal.
Enjoy your meal for one and time-shifted sit-coms Bertha. You earned it.
Way over the line, Jess. Be an adult.
Are you kidding? Bertha comes on here and chastises everyone when she can't make a point. Look, I like a good brawl as much as anyone, let's argue, let's one-up and have a go, but she's just tedious with this rule-lawyering "You're not as smart as you think you are" or "I'm just being a devil's advocate". It's nonsense. She wants to start a fight or pick an argument. Hey, that's cool, but make it a good clean brawl, shake hands and walk away.
Bertha don't roll that way.
No question the kids involved need to be dealt with, but every one of their parents should be held responsible too.
Disgusting.
I've encouraged my kids to join a gang, because the kids who get killed are never in gangs. You can have an ongoing fight between 50 kids swinging 2x4s at each other, and only the kids not involved will get hurt. I figure gang kids, then, must be immune.
I used to think I'd rather see these punks fight with their fists rather than guns.
Now?... aw, hell, I don't know anything anymore.
But yeah, the parents think. There were reportedly 50 kids involved and I bet there are 55 excuses by the parents of them why their "baby" is innocent.
Seriously.
What happened to the days when if a kid got in trouble, then he would get it double at home? Now a kid gets in trouble and the parents are all about what a good boy/girl they are and it's never their fault. It's always someone else's fault.
It's like one of the hallmarks of a twisted kind of narcissism.
But who cares about gang violence when we're gonna get the Olympics???!!!!
...or how they've only been in trouble a "few times" and "only" been arrested once before and they've been going to school (so far as they know), etc., etc., etc.
Like I said, every single parent will swear that their child is innocent, meaning that this kid apparently beat himself to death in the middle of the street while everyone watched.