It has been six weeks since the dismembered body parts of a toddler were found in the Garfield Park Lagoon. The police still don’t know who that baby was and the killer (if alive) is still walking among us. That killer or those killers were truly bungled in their raising by their parent(s). Somebody knows something and until the case is solved, I am going to remember that innocent baby while also praying that God will smite those involved in his killing.
Speaking of killings and the violence that permeates this city, this past weekend put black females at the head of the class when it comes to the violence occurring here. First there was the video of the wild shooting in the 2600 block of North Halsted. A group of young people, who obviously had their rearing bungled, were fighting, cursing and being genuine “menaces to society.” In the midst of their chaos, a young woman named Jennifer Stegall allegedly pulled out a gun and fired two shots. As the altercation continued she fired off three more shots.
Even more interesting is that even though the majority of stories give her name, there is no booking photo released to the press to accompany her eventual arrest. Why is that? What right of privacy is afforded someone who wantonly and with complete disregard for the safety of others fires off a gun in this city (with some of the toughest gun laws in the country)? Worse is that she was only charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct as opposed to attempted murder, felony possession of a firearm, or some other charges that carry more weight.
What about the absolute danger she put the busy North Halsted Street traffic in as she wildly fired her weapon? Wasn’t it just about a week ago that the joke known as the City Council Black Caucus stood together and demanded that the superintendent of police be fired? You would think the law would come down real heavy on someone after that as a sign and warning to others of her ilk that Chicago is serious about gun violence.
Next is the story of a young girl out of the south suburbs. Hazel Crest to be specific. Makiah Burns, according to press reports, is a graduate of Seton Academy in South Holland — a Catholic college preparatory high school where the tuition for kindergarten is $850 a month and the high school costs $8,150 a year. She is currently a pre-med student at Loyola University, a Catholic University where the tuition/room and board must run in the vicinity of $40,000 a year. So she is obviously not one of the “poor, impoverished, black kids without any options to escape the horrors of the inner city.” In fact, she has probably had more privileges than most.
So why were she and two others out robbing people? She was allegedly the driver in the incident where a man who was walking in the alley on his way home was shot in the eye. The man survived the shooting, but has lost the vision in that eye and may possibly lose his eye. Makiah is only facing two counts of armed robbery.
The parents of Jennifer Stegall and Makiah Burns evidently bungled their raising of these two females. The failure in properly rearing our young people is the elephant in the closet that the majority of black folks are in denial over. We birth them and give them the best, but we don’t raise them to be productive and thinking individuals. So they shoot wildly with no regard for the consequences of their actions.
Maybe one day we will have a Black Caucus at the city, state or federal levels that not only decries the violence but puts forth a comprehensive plan to truly fight it. We get lip service but no real action. There should be a genuine financial penalty for both of these females (they are in no way women) as a consequence to pay for their negative behavior.
Their parents may have bungled their raising, but it shouldn’t let them off the hook of being responsible for their adult behavior.
The financial penalty should be one that, even if it takes the rest of their lives to pay, they must!
