Phil_Shuman's Blog

Well, another funeral of a young kid shot down by a gang banger with no conscience.... this time it was Jamiel Shaw Jr.... i went to his funeral and believe me this kid had it all going on .. school, church, family, sports... what a waste of a life... it was gut wrenching to listen to his father.... Years earlier you might remember Karen Toshima.. killed in the middle of Westwood Vvillage back in January of 1988.. caught in rival gang crossfirel....!!! that shocked a few people..and shut down Westwood for a while..  more recently.. Cheryl Green...14..... Harbor Gateway... December 2006.... the list goes on and on.  It could've been more at the bus stop shooting a couple of weeks ago or the wounding of the 6 year old while riding in the back of his family's car.    And after each outrageous incident.. the same deal.. crackdown on gangs.. calls for unity... the mayor and police press conferences.. the pleas to make sure that the lives aren't lost in vain.. etc etc etc.. yet it continues.  I have no ultimate solutions other than to keep working with young people. and to ban guns.... . the prevention and intervention programs in place, over which politicians continually fight ... are all basically good.. the problem is you can never reach EVERY kid.. and it's the ones you don't reach that cause the most tragedy.   What are we spending in Iraq.. one billion dollars per month ? that amount of money is incomprehensible.  Do you know how many cops we could hire, how many gang prevention programs we could fund with some of that money ? you could hire every gang member in los angeles county... or send em all to Harvard.... I mean where are our priorities ?  Where's the outrage ?  What more has to happen ?