We must never forget: Black men and boys are dying

Eight years ago I was just a normal high school student with my share of challenges, but nothing seemed different than what other teenagers were facing. That is until I received a phone call that changed not only the way I viewed the world, but also my place within it.

My 20-year-old brother Andre was shot and killed a month before his 21st birthday.  His death devastated my family and still continues to hold a dark shadow over our lives today.

What continues to surprise and sadden me till this day is the fact that my brother isn’t the first or the last. Why? Every single day in America, news stories flash snapshots of a life that once was. Years of a young persons’ life is defined in less than two paragraphs in the back pages of a newspaper.  Burier grounds are assigned and  shortly the names are forgotten in the media. Those lives are only remembered by the ones that loved them most and the heavy tombstone-baring legacy to the lives they once laid.

Black men are dying. They are being murdered and not in some far away land but right here in our own backyards. They are our sons, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins…they are our Trayvon’s, yet they are being used for target practice on our city streets. Where their blood runs through pavement cracks and they are reduce to life size portraits on the sidewalk.

According to the Special Report on Black Victims of Violent Crimes, published in 2007  by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, In 2005, [the year my brother was murdered] blacks were victims of nearly half (49%) of all homicides although accounting for only 13 percent of the U.S. population. What is even more disturbing is that 85 percent of black homicide victims were males and 51 percent between the ages of 17 to 19 years old.

Homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males between the ages of 15- 25 years old. The rate of deaths for African American males could be compared to the number of men and women we lose during times of war.

Continue reading … Continue Reading

Posted by:

Jamira Burley

A Summer to Die For: Country Held at Gunpoint #PutTheGunsDown:

Days like these, with the feel of sweat rolling down your back.

The sound of Mr. Softie playing in the background and little kids playing hop scotch on cracked pavements; unaware of the danger that may be lurking behind every corner, sidewalk and alley way

Then out of nowhere, without warning or justification, bullets are flying in every direction. Marking an unsuspected victim for death.

Jump ropes are dropped in mid-swing, basketballs are left to roll into oncoming traffic and the only sound left is the pinching cries of a mother holding her baby, as she becomes just another victim of violence.

Stories like those are happening every single day in America, where young people are dying before they are even old enough to vote. Where the price of leaving your home, may mean death. So summer days like these are exterminating our youth, many of who are lacking for opportunities and safe places to play.

We lose more Americans to violence on our own city streets, than on the battlegrounds of war. We have made kid soldiers out of our youth, criminals out of the disadvantaged and funeral attendees out of us all.

Guns are becoming more accessible than textbooks and supermarkets. Yet we continue to serve them up to the unfit and unqualified, which are resulting in mass murders and mass shootings.

Have we not learned anything since the hundreds of victims we have lost since Tucson or the hundreds of thousands we’ve lost prior to?

The body count continues.

Gravesites don’t lie and bullets end lives.

… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Jamira Burley

[WATCH] While on Trial for Murder, Former Bad Boy Artist Confesses to Another Murder

P. Diddy is responsible for breaking a lot of artists. However, those shitty deals that were worked out between Puff and those artists never puts them in the best position. From Black Rob, Loon, to Shyne, the Bad Boy roster has seen their share of prison cells due to their stagnant music careers and ambitious attempts that fail to get their brands back to where they once were. Most recently, G. Dep, the artist responsible for the hit, “Let’s Get It,” the track that resulted in the production of a video featuring the introduction of the “Harlem Shake,” has placed his bid to live in one of the many luxurious prison cells in the US.

More specifically, G. Dep aka “Ghetto Dependent” and who’s known to the judge and jury as Trevell Gerald Coleman, has admitted to another murder while on trial for murder. This is unfortunate because his career seemed so promising almost a decade ago but then he (Dep) fell into the “where is he now” category, as most artists with sucky ass deals usually do. Apparently, the murder he’s confessed to committing took place almost 20 years ago. Some things should just stay in the past, but is murder one of those things?

Check out MTV for more on this developing story…

Posted by:

DJWillieShakes

[WATCH] Samuel L Jackson “Stop Gun Violence” PSA

One thing is for sure, when Samuel L Jackson speaks, you listen. Jackson has something to say about gun violence and shockingly enough, he gets his point across without any expletives. We can play the Blame Game or we can just #PutTheGunsDown

Posted by:

DJWillieShakes

Man Pulls Pistol Out on Pastor at Choir Rehearsal #PutTheGunsDown

I remember when the Baptist church used to vote the Pastor out. Now they’re getting rid of democracy and bringing out the big guns if they ain’t feeling ‘em? Well, at least that’s what Daniel Logan of Polk County did when he disagreed with the song selections the Pastor chose. Yep, pretty petty!

When we’ve got choir members scrapping with the Pastor at rehearsal, putting the guns down is an understatement. We must do away with guns as the means to the end of all disputes.

#PutTheGunsDown #WheresTheLove

Posted by:

DJWillieShakes