Derrion Albert

For those who may not know, Derrion Albert, 16, a Chicago high school honor student was mercilessly slain last week when caught in the middle of a gang war. The video of the beating is below.

Watching this video moved me and I realized that there is SO much work to do. So many young brothers think that fighting and killing each other is the cool thing to do due to the way they are raised and the company they keep. The music they listen to. It's saddening.
I remember growing up in Brooklyn, New York where it was cool to be in a gang. It was cool to fight. That's how you got girls, that's how you got "rank", that's how you were made popular.
You fought.

Is THIS how we want young black males to be perceived?
I don't even go to urban clubs anymore because I may face the risk of dealing with the problems in the previous video.
Should things be this way? When the police see a group of black people, they immediately tense up, thinking that something stupid is going to pop off. Shouldn't we be coming together to build each other up, rather than fight and KILL each other?
Shouldn't we be sticking together rather than pulling each other apart? After the years of strife where we had no choice but to COME TOGETHER-- where we felt the need to create fraternities so that we can form a closer bond and be strong in numbers, we choose to join gangs and destroy what our forefathers fought so hard to build?
I guess it's all about being cool, right?

"Tell me when...when will violence between us lower in caliber? How many more times will we have to see stories similar to Derrion Albert? Gangster mentality, mixed with the pride of a fool...caused a young brother's death in the front of a SCHOOL...just to be cool, we refuse to ever back down...so we do the crab thing...and remain pulling each other back down...this sh*t is saddening..."

~L. McCall