On Halloween night, a twelve year old was shot in the head and a thirteen year old was stabbed. The response on the part of the San Jose Police force was swift. Several suspects were taken into custody within 36 hours.
Days later, 150 people gathered together to protest these acts of violence. Big deal…there should have been 15,000 people marching, from all four corners of San Jose, demanding an end to “turf-related violence.”
Of course, the victims of the violence that occurred at Story Road and Hopkins Drive are not without blame. After all, they were not wearing “sensible” shoes.” Apparently, one of the lads was wearing the “wrong” style or color of footwear. (Everyone knows that one should not wear white after Labor Day, or the wrong colored shoes in certain parts of major American cities). What were these kids thinking?
In the November 5th edition of the Mercury News, columnist Scott Herhold wrote that, “Several readers have pointed out that the time this (attack) occurred—10pm—was late for kids to be in an area where gang territories crossed.”
If we accept this observation, we change the question, and miss the point entirely. A twelve and thirteen year old should be free to move safely anywhere in the city at ten o’clock at night. To suggest otherwise, is to push in the wrong direction and stand logic on its head. Should young people be home by 10pm every night? Sure, but not for fear of being shot or knifed.
I’ve read this somewhere before…
I’m astonished at how disengaged parents can be. Mothers and fathers seem to be at the very zenith of involvement with their offspring at the time of conception.
As time passes, their feeling turns to being one of expecting our schools to raise their brood. These “orphaned” children then find their way into gang affiliations and terrorize the uncorrupted neighborhood youth.
Responsibility and good values must start in the home. Always has been that way and remains so today.
It is so nice to know that Uncle Pete is now an expert on youth programs.
Pete backs cutting park programs because he wants all the little ones home
with cocoa and picture books.
I have an idea much to Peter’s liking.
Patrols of Black and Tans.
Pundits with no experience or understanding.
Campbell is SJI’s token confused white guy.
I’m surprised to discover that we’re still having these kinds of problems.
Didn’t Bill Clinton solve this a long time ago?
I thought he put 100,000 more cops on the streets and created programs for kids to play basketball at midnight.
Did George Bush take away the basketballs, too?
Let’s not loose sight of the fact that there are
THOUSANDS of law-abiding kids in our city, even in the area’s that are considered “gang infested.” In fact, those who commit these heinous crimes (and their counterparts in Juvenile hall and on formal Probation) are in the minority when it comes to our youth. Of course these incidents, while unfortunate, are what makes the headlines. The kids who go to school, partake in after school sports, do their homework and are in bed by 9pm don’t warrant a page of newsprint.
Actually what Tony D and others have been advocating, the development of stadiums,in this area would be a boon to the effort to involve more youth in positive
activities in the area.
Until we know all the facts, I would caution against a “rush to judgement” of the attackers. We can’t know what pressures built up in these “good Americans” to the point that they finally “just snapped”.
The main thing we need to guard against is a “backlash” against gang members or the gang lifestyle. After all, tolerance is our greatest strength.
> The main thing we need to guard against is a “backlash” against gang members or the gang lifestyle. After all, tolerance is our greatest strength.
No! No! No! Wrong talking points.
DIVERSITY is our greatest strength.
A strong society has a diverse mixture honest, law abiding citizens, sleazy, grifters who tiptoe on the edge of the law, and out and out lawless thugs and creeps who knife people for dissing baggy pants.
The 12 and 13 year old victims and their parents were apparently violating San Jose’s Youth Protection Curfew by being out after 10 pm
While we feel sorry for the victims, it is difficult to protect children if they violate the curfew law and they as well as parents lack common sense bu wearing gang colors in gang areas
The city of San Jose has had a curfew ordinance in effect for many years but many young people and their parents are not familiar with these laws. The curfew ordinance spells out the hours that young people under the age of 18 can legally be in a public place without being under the supervision of a parent or guardian.
According to the ordinance, a person under the age of 16 cannot be in a public place within the City of San Jose without adult supervision between the hours of 10:00pm and 5:00am.
Minors who are 16 or 17 years old cannot be in a public place within the city without adult supervision between the hours of 11:30pm and 5:00am.
A public place includes streets, highways, sidewalks, alleys, parks, playgrounds, parking lots and other outdoor areas.
The curfew ordinance does not apply when a minor is accompanied by his or her parent or guardian, or is going directly to or from school, work or other specified activity. ( which their parents did not or the attack might not have occurred )
What if the attack had occurred 15 minutes earlier, or at five minutes before curfew time? “Wrong place and/or the wrong time,” arguments should not apply here.
Good grief!
This is a surreal deja vu of a joke that was told just two days ago on a local radio station:
“Two liberals were strolling along a path when they encountered a badly beaten man lying in the gutter and moaning.”
“Says one liberal to the other: ‘The people who did this really need help’”.
The city must not know about curfew, because last weekend they kept the community centers opened till 11 PM. Now imagine, lots of kids on the streets after 11PM? Go figure.
While the movie, “Death Wish,” was largely fantasy, I sometimes wonder if these coward-punks deserve quick justice.