My hometown newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, had an article this morning that blew my mind. I really don’t know why I was so surprised. A few years ago as a member of the Orange County Employee Academy, my class visited the Juvenile Detention Center, as well as the City Jail. Needless to say, it wasn’t one of our more pleasant outings. We had the opportunity to speak to some juvenile offenders and ask questions. Most of the questions ranged from. “How was your home life?” “Did you grow up with a father?” “What got you involved in crime?” etc. Most didn’t have a strong male presence, in fact, most of the kids (and I use that term lightly) grew up in a culture that celebrates bad behavior. One 16 year old boy told us something that pretty much summed up the society so many children live in. “I wasn’t trying to be the only kid on my block not hustlin’, that would make me a punk, so I HAD to hustle.” Wow! Peer pressure from the 80’s when I was a teen is nothing compared to the pressure kids are facing today.
Criminals Getting younger and younger
11-year-old uses BB guns to rob drugstore at a 24-hour Walgreens.
The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL)
Preliminary reports showed the teen used fake guns during the robbery.
Investigators said the boy, whose name is not being released because of his age, rode his bicycle to the pharmacy at 920 S. Kirkman Road, near Raleigh Street, around 2:30 a.m. Police said he demanded money from the clerks and then left the store. Officers arrested the boy outside the drugstore.
Crime scene technicians recovered the guns, as well as his bicycle and backpack from the parking lot.
Police did not release the charges filed against the juvenile, who was taken to the juvenile detention center.
Personally, I’m more discgusted with the fact that this CHILD was out roaming the non Mickey Mouse laced streets of Orlando, a town known by it citizens as NOT the Happiest Place on Earth. Where were the parents, or even parent? There is no reason for a child to be outside of their home at that hour, not even with an adult should they be outside. They should be home counting sheep.
Jesse Jackson stated recently he wanted to cut Barack Obama’s nuts off for talking down to black people. Obama was speaking of course about our responsibility as parents and role models. Telling us to turn off the TV and read to our kids, teach our kids from an early age what’s right and what’s wrong. Jesse thought Obama’s speech was talking down to us and not speaking on the positives of Black People. Jesse is from the Civil Rights era, where things were quite different, I think he’s a little out of touch with reality, as where Obama knows it’s time to stop blaming the man, or blaming society for out ills, and start taking responsibility for our actions, for our future.
It’s a very scary time in most urban cities across America. There are more and more Juvenile crimes taking place everyday, and the parents have seemingly given up. That in itself is the worst crime of all.
