Owning up to city violence
Two very different scenes in Baltimore:
On Friday, television news captured relatives of Patrick Albert Byers Jr. shouting at the family of Carl Lackl outside the federal courthouse. Byers had just been found guilty of ordering a hit -- that was carried out -- on Lackl for helping police identify Byers as a murder suspect.
On Saturday, Baltimore Sun police reporter Justin Fenton wrote about Dominic Baker, a 16-year-old who was shot and killed. His family didn't blame the police or the system or juvenile authorities or even the trigger man. They blamed Dominic -- he had chances, support, help from the state, but he also was a young man you could feel sorry for -- he lost his sister in a house fire last year and was in and out of jail for dealing drugs.
Another youth lost on another city street. But listen to the young man's grandfather, D'Arice Wicks Sr.: "People look to the government to do everything. But our kids have to listen. We have to be an example. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to do wrong. ... God dealt with Dominic. He destroys the body to save the soul. You can't deal drugs and play the drums in church. He lays cold now because of his decisions."
Add a church pastor at the funeral: "Don't you dare condemn the trigger puller. Dominic could've been the trigger puller."
Personal responsibility. The family of Byers was angry because Lackl too had trouble with drugs and his being in East Baltimore when he said he saw Byers kill somebody might not have been for the best of reasons. But what does that have to do with anything? He saw an alleged crime, reported it and was willing to testify. And he got killed for it.
I spent the past several days with a news crew from the British Broadcasting Corp. and I took them to Belair Edison where we met with one of the community leaders, Anthony Dawson. He too talked about taking responsibility, of cleaning streets and owning up to what you do, to move drug dealers out of their comfort zone.
I hope Mr. D'Arice moved some people out of their comfort zone by talking so openly and honestly about his slain grandson. And I hope that Byers' family takes responsibility as well. It's not Carl Lackl's fault he's in prison and could face the death penalty; it's his own.
Comments
Thank you for your comments regarding the behavior of Patrick Byers family against Carl Lackl's family. Ridiculous! My dear friend is Carl's sister and the far reaching victims of Mr. Byer's crimes are endless and are in such great pain but finally got a little salve for their wounds and then get bashed by Mr. Byer's family. Unbelievable. It was almost laughable to see their cries of injustice and lashing at the victims. I am not discounting their pain and loss, however, their misdirected. It should be at THEIR loved one who murdered in cold blood in the first place and then did it again. It's funny that Carl's family stayed away from the press out of fear and have had Federal Marshalls for almost two years in their lives and the family this pain and fear is born of has the nerve to taunt them.
Posted by: Kathi | April 20, 2009 12:04 PM
how about finding who killed dominic baker and every body else who gets killed and no one does anything about it one minute they say a friend could have killed him next the police from the day before he ran from could have killed him in that apartment no one knows but every body has something to say but no one is answering his mothers question why-why not thats what we are trying to figure out
Posted by: kesaha | June 28, 2010 12:42 AM