I‘m going to admit it. When I heard that Snoop the Barber had been shot on 71st Street in South Shore, I was expecting a 2018 version of the Laquan McDonald murder. Based on the “facts” posted on Facebook, I expected to see the cops ruthlessly shooting down an innocent man. Especially after hearing the man had been shot in the back. But the bodycam video was quite revealing.
Although there was no audio, the reality is, when you have a gun on you, and you’re surrounded by cops, that is not the time to think you can take off. That only happens in the movies. In real life, the bullets that fly will take your life. And that is exactly what happened with Snoop.
The near riot that occurred after Snoop’s death was telling as it reflected the anxiety of the people caught up in it. The “willingness” of the powers-that-be to release the body cam video so soon after the incident was designed to calm the anxieties of a people frustrated by violence. Murders happen every day, and we have police whose only response to the crime is to push back on the total community, as opposed to focusing on finding the killers amongst us.
At the same time, the black community is harboring a plethora of killers, thieves and thugs because we are spending too much time focusing on the police and not enough time looking at the criminals who roam the streets amongst us.
One of those killers demonstrated his dastardly deeds this past Sunday. In the 900 block of North Kedvale as three seniors tried to go to church, a young man came up to their vehicle with a gun and attempted to take their car. The driver drove off, and the fool began shooting. A 59-year-old woman was killed.
My question is this: When do we track down that killer? When do we turn our anger and form a mob against the real source of the most nefarious violence in this city? That would be the relatives who allow them to sleep under our roof, eat at our table, and basically create havoc while ignoring the warning signs of their behavior.
You know those signs! Unemployed, but has the latest clothing. Doesn’t go to day labor, but always has money. Ain’t worked a day in their life and ain’t never broke! You get my drift.
The only description of the killer is that he was probably around 5 feet 4 inches tall, in his 20s, and wearing a red hoodie. Somebody knows if their relative wasn’t home around 7:15 a.m. last Sunday morning! And somebody in that neighborhood has a security system that might have caught the killer on tape.
Let’s get the word out and see if we can find that criminal!