Call the Police!

I get rather upset or I should sad MAD when I hear another story of someone I know that chooses to let violence happen and not to do anything to stop it from happening again. I live in a gang area where there is always the possibility that I could do something or just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get hurt. This week I had one of my teen guys get jumped close to his house.

I know that my teen at first thought it wasn’t a big deal and protected himself. He assumed that he was buffer and quicker than the other teen that went after him. The unfortunate reality is that another teen joined in to hurt my teen and then another joined to hurt my guy. The end result was a broken arm. My teen spent most of the next day at the hospital getting his arm x-rayed and deciding whether his arm needed surgery to get it fixed.

My teen at first acted like it wasn’t a big deal but my wife and I reinforced that it was a big deal and that he needed to call the police and file a report. Then another one of our teens said that if he didn’t do anything that the gang would return soon to get him. The following day we find out that the gang grafittied his house and then threw a brick through his window. His mom had someone come and paint over the graffiti and eventually will get the window replaced.

I asked my teen to plead with his mom to call the police. He said she didn’t think that they would do anything and that everything would actually get worse because of calling the police. She assumed that they would find out that she had called and then come back and do even more damage to her house or more likely to her son.

I was and am ready to call the police and ask a few of my Phoenix Police friends to intervene and talk with the mom and my teen. I don’t want another statistic to come into place. Yes, this was totally about race wars and being in a gang neighborhood. The challenge is that my teen’s house happens to be in that neighborhood. I have no idea if they are getting even for something that had happened earlier and my teen isn’t being totally honest.

I have watched too many drive by episodes to see most of my grandmas choose to do nothing. My obvious response is WHY? Does someone have to be killed? Do you really believe the police in Phoenix aren’t going to respond or be racist in their response? I know that there is always a history behind people’s choices. My hope is to help everyone stand up against the violence that continues to happen in Phoenix. When we partner together against gang violence and racism our neighborhood will become safer! So call the police! Tell a neighbor to watch out for your house.