My heart is heavy with the loss of another young man who was killed in the park at Baertown.
It was Senior Skip Day, which should have been fun, games, celebrating soon-to-be graduation, and enjoying each other. An argument started, a student pulled out his gun, and a high school junior was shot. He died of his wound later.
Of course, my contention is that the community lost two young Black men that day: the victim and the gunman.
The 17-year-old junior who died will not graduate next year. His mother has lost her only child. He will not become a father or husband, nor will he have the chance to be a community leader.
We have also lost the perpetrator. From my understanding, he is already a father.
After a costly trial and incarceration, he will emerge from prison with three strikes against him, which will have a negative effect on his ability to become a contributing member of the community: He will not have graduated from high school; he will still be Black; and he will have a criminal record.
One frustrated mother took to Facebook to offer a possible, albeit long-term, solution. She said that we will not solve this issue until “parents start back parenting for real.”
Get into your kids’ business. Show your disapproval of negative behaviors: Do not just shake your heads or laugh it off. Let “the village be the village.”
The one young man’s death and the other’s crime affect the village, so allow the village to help raise children.
Another point she made was that parents need to help youngsters develop a “moral compass.” Take them to church. Expose them to the concepts and morals taught in Sunday school and sermons. That way they will be able to return to their teaching.
I remember as a teenager my Sunday school teacher telling us that we took the wisdom of adults and put it in our pockets, unconsciously perhaps. As adults, we could pull that wisdom out of our pockets when it was needed.
The frustrated Facebook mother was wise enough to include limiting exposure to social media and violence espoused in some music. She also said parents must be a role model for children.
Today’s young people are exposed to so much that we never were. We did not have the pressure of social media, guns in the hands of kids and songs that were way above our ability to deal with.
Developmental psychology teaches us that a person’s prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for good decision-making, is not fully developed until age 25. Teenagers are not equipped to deal with the issues facing them and make good choices.
The mother admonished parents to “stop blaming Wally and the police for doing their jobs,” referring to Pike County Sheriff Wally Jones.
Blame those who are at fault for the violence. Accept the God-given responsibility you accepted when you chose, actively or passively, to have a child.
We are losing God’s children at an alarming rate in today’s world.
