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Preventing the next Geraldo Serrano
By adamg on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 4:49pm
Bobby Constantino considers the two teens charged with gunning down the grandfather in an Uphams Corner market last Sunday: While police, with strong help from the community, did a great job in quickly rounding up the suspects, he says it's past time to figure out how to keep teens from becoming murderers:
... A neighbor of 16-year-old Onyx White nailed the real issue, telling reporters, "I saw him headed for trouble, because he was left alone. I feel bad for Onyx because he didn't have the support he needed. He needed the support of the system but he fell through the cracks."
She saw it coming. Many others in the neighborhood did too -- they always do. Yet despite so many seeing this coming from a mile away, the entire force of the community, media and police department did not show up until the life of a beloved 71-year-old pillar in the community had been taken and the lives of two misguided teenagers had been ruined. If we truly want to honor the life of Geraldo Serrano, shouldn't we be doing more to reach 16- and 17-year olds that we know are heading for trouble before it is too late? ...
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Comments
It isn't the community's job
It isn't the community's job to take care of these kids. IT IS THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY TO RAISE THEIR KIDS RIGHT AND THE CHILDRENS' RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS! These punks aren't victims, they are predators and deserve no sympathy.
The constant condoning of criminal behavior because this is or that was perfect in the persons' life is utterly stupid. Not every person whom has had a hard life goes off marauding. The excuses need to stop and parents, along with the children, need to start accepting responsibility for their own/their child's behavior.
I could not agree more. I
I could not agree more. I live within a block of this location, am raising my children here, and have patronized this store countless times. And every single person who worked at this store is so kind and good to the community.
I can only say that I am so glad someone "snitched" on these two little bastards. It will never bring this lovely man back, but hopefully these 2 little shits will never be free to needlessly take a life again.
As a divorced single black mother, I want better for my children and for my community. Across the web I have seen so many racially charged comments on this subject, but I can say that this community is full of mostly good, decent, hardworking people (like myself) who get along well and don't start trouble with anyone.
It's just these kids, whose mothers (and fathers, IF they are present) don't take the time to teach them the basics of right from wrong. The majority of the people who live here are just trying to do the best they can, and don't bother anyone. I agree 100% that the responsibility of raising children who don't go rob and shoot people, lies with the PARENTS. My children know that if they ever did any such thing, I would turn them in myself. But again, it goes back to babies having babies, and not knowing or caring how to raise them the right way.
I can only hope this vicious cycle comes to an end in my lifetime.
"...he needed the support of the system..."
Why is there no one questioning his own family in allowing him to "slip through"? Sad when everyone is quick to condemn "the system", yet has no questions of the parents?
Maybe because it's obvious
Maybe because it's obvious they they weren't parents? Not in any sense that we'd recognize.
"...he needed the support of the system..."
EdRomero you are absolutely right that his family could have and probably should have done better (one article said he was living with his grandmother, which leads one to wonder where mom and dad were and why they didn't do more), but that's not really the point anymore, is it? The point here is that if we as a society do next to nothing to intervene and pick up the slack when parents fail, which inevitably happens in society for a variety of reasons, you can all but guarantee the next Geraldo Serrano, Soheil Turner, Trina Persad or Jermaine Goffigan. Blaming a 16-year-old for the mistakes of his parents, as we have long done as a society, does nothing to save him from the streets, protect Geraldo Serrano or make the city safer. I am not condemning the criminal justice system; it is a critical component of public safety. I am simply saying that if we have the resources to send 30 police officers, 20 reporters, and so on to an arraignment after a 16-year-old has killed a man, and a family has been devastated, as happens over and over and over again in Boston and cities across America, we ought to have the resources to intervene before such a tragedy even occurs.
In the meantime, though,
A) it's agreed that the responsibility for teaching any kid(s) right from wrong does rest with the parents, whether people care to realize it or not.
B) What does one do with people who rob, assault, and murder? Anybody who takes a life in such a coldblooded, calculating fashion deserves to end up behind bars. Period.
So that's the consensus?
So that's the consensus? Nobody has ever known a kid or two born to parents who either don't give a damn, or just don't have the means to raise their children properly? I'm not saying blame the system, but it isn't as though every kid born to a troubled family should be written off. Yes, I know, some children pull themselves up, but they probably have positive role models somewhere in their lives. To falsely believe that "the parents" are always caring, or able to provide support to their children is just unrealistic. So then what? Some system should be in place to guide even those who don't have the best home life. I'm not saying there's an excuse for these two, now, but if you think the solution is to "find the parents" of the next two front page horror stories and the problem is solved, you're not being realistic. We need to think and act like a community. When I was a kid, every friend's parents were about as good as my parents, meaning, if one of them caught me doing something I shouldn't be doing, I'd be in trouble, twice. That wasn't a government system, but today neighborhoods don't seem to work that way. What about schools, social centers and programs? That's what this article is talking about. These things should be in place to perhaps prevent further tragedies.
Actually...
I think the issue is that this neighbor erroneously implies the blame is on the 'system' for letting poor Onyx go south. Most people would agree that it is primarily his families fault, then perhaps the 'system' (not sure what he is referring to here... orphanages? DSS?) let him down.
At least this is how I would frame this issue people have with the neighbor's statement.
BTW - not that it matters or anything but I bet 'Onyx' was named after the rap group Onyx since he was born around the same time as their music was popular.
Bacdafucup... WHAT!
Murder
It's good to see comments directing blame where it belongs. At the parents. This means the absent father and the present, but not responsible mother, or whatever combination there unto pertaining. Society is not to blame here. Welfare that allows a lack of parental irresponsibility is largely to blame here. Ma and Dad are responsible for this. The key word is, responsible.
All we are looking forward to here is about 50 or so years of feeding these slugs.