South Memphis, TN (drugs, violence, murder)

While driving home a few days ago my son asked me why there were teddy bears on the telephone poles. I knew the answer, but having to tell a nine year old child that those teddy bears were placed there because someone was killed in that location was not an easy thing to do.

I told him that those teddy bears meant that someone was killed at that spot and their friends and family placed the teddy bears there in remembrance and to show how much they loved them. It was a tribute to a loved one they lost.

So as we drove along, mind you this is the neighborhood I grew up in, we passed approximately 4 utility poles adorned with stuffed animals in a two mile radius. My son didn’t ask any further questions, but it saddened me that in just within two miles at least four people had lost their life within a year’s time.  I can accurately say that it has been within a year because I have seen the stories on the news, time and time again of murders, shootings and stabbings in this part of South Memphis. The stories below are just a fraction of what has been going on in the past year in this area

Body found burning in garbage can behind South Memphis home

Man shot in Killed in the Driveway of South Memphis Home

Clerk Shot in head at South Memphis Store

Store Clerk Shot During Robbery in South Memphis

18 Year Old Stabbed and Killed by 13 year old at South Memphis Apartment Complex

Why is this area so saturated with crime? 

I remember growing up in this neighborhood and being afraid if I heard that someone was killed, not that crime was not an issue back then, but it was definitely not as prominent as it is today.  Drugs are being sold in huge capacity and murders are taking place almost daily. It is frightening to know that people are losing their lives almost daily where I was born and raised. Drug addicts adorn almost every nook and cranny of the neighborhood and honestly the people who were fighting for a better community seem to have given up. The fight seems like a lost battle when the majority is crime, drugs and murder and the minority are the law abiding citizens who want things to be better.

I read this at the Thaddeus Matthews blog- Are Neighborhood Stores Contributing to the drug trade?

That was quite interesting to me. I had no clue those were being sold and I definitely didn’t know what they were used for, but I do know that most of the corner stores in the neighborhood have drug sells going on right at their front door. Drug dealers stand in front of the stores each and every day selling dope, and of course the store owners (mostly Iranian or Asian) know that the drugs are being sold, but nothing is done about it. Then a portion of the store owners have illegal dealings going on aside from the drugs being sold along with and outside of the guys slinging dope outside the store’s front door.

I have lived in Memphis, TN all of my life and I am appalled that we are ranked number two in the nation for violent crime; appalled but not in disbelief.  I hear the stories each and every day and many are so close to home that it makes me shiver. I remember watching the show The First 48  and seeing the Memphis episodes and shaking my head because there is so much murder and sadness. Then when the Lester Street Murders happened I was so shaken that it took me a while to realize that it was real. Six people including two children had indeed been murdered in my hometown. It was such a horrible event but even with that tragedy still fresh in our minds murders, robberies and every other act of violence were still taking place as if this mass murder had not just taken place. This city has taken a violent and destructive turn, one in which I cannot explain and have no answer to how things can change. When will the violence end?

Searching the Black Girl Thinking Blog

One of the major things I like about WordPress are the blog stats.  Before joining WordPress I had no clue as to who was viewing my blog and what they were looking for, but now with WordPress I can see how many people are lurking and get somewhat of an idea of where their lurking began.

 

 

 

With blogstats I now know that people come to the Black Girl Thinking blog  mainly to find

Sarah Palin porn||blank stare||

Sure I know that many people enter a string of search terms in the search box, but it is always quite funny to view my blog stats and see searches such as these

• black girl thinking spanked (haha that one is hilarious…not gonna find that here folks OR anywhere else)
• cornrows and sex
• old sperm
• hot israeli girl
• white woman marry kenyan prince
• reasons to beat your wife if not smoking

The last one is hilarious! As if there is ever a reason to beat your wife. Obviously someone has some curiosity about spousal abuse.

Regardless of the cause of the visit I am always appreciative of those that stop by. Whether the visit is to find information on Barack Obama, to see what I thought about the R. Kelly interview that should have shamed Kels but didn’t or to read about me being spanked I am thankful for the stop by. Each and every visit is appreciated!

Commitment to Change

While browsing the Thaddeus Matthews blog I came across a comment from an anonymous poster that made me go hmmm. The comment was posted on a blog entry entitled “Hail to the Chief, President Barack Obama”. The comment not only made me go hmmm but I also said (silently of course) well isn’t that racist, but damn that has a bit of truth to it. Here is the comment

“I hope African Americans take this historic election and grow with it. Please stop the killing,robberies,home invasions and drug dealing.
Please take care of your children,support them financially and keep them in school.Please take pride in your homes,property,community and neighborhoods. And lastly please elect worthy local government leaders who have some business sense and can help bring jobs back to Memphis.”

I am pretty sure the anonymous poster was a Memphis resident and even though Memphis is riddled with crime daily the crime problem cannot be solely placed on African Americans. I am pretty sure the person who posted that comment knows that not all of the violence that takes place here in Memphis and elsewhere is committed by African American people but when they turn on the news what do they see, yep you guessed it, black people killing, shooting and robbing on the daily. So I placed myself in a white person’s shoes.

***putting on brown leather boat shoes***

I wake up in the morning, turn on the morning news while I fix my coffee and prepare to head off to work. The news anchor announces that there were two murders last night while we were sleeping. One involved a robbery gone bad in the South part of town, where two black men attempted to rob a home and one of the robbers were killed, the other fled the scene wounded. The second was a murder stemming from a domestic situation involving (guess who) two young black men. The altercation led to one of the men being shot in the head and killed, the suspect is still on the loose. The police have no clue as to what the initial disagreement was over. If you have any information please contact Crime Stoppers.

I fix my coffee, head to work and as I stop at the gas station I get out to see three black middle aged men buying Colt 45’s. They then crack open the beers right in front of the gas station and stand there chatting about who just got out of jail and who just went back. I pay for my gas (boy am I disgusted by these negroes) I pump my gas and head off to work (still disgusted by these negroes, don’t they have a damn job to go to)

As I get off work that evening I drive down my street in what used to be an all white, comfy and quiet neighborhood to what is now a neighborhood of Section 8 tenants who allow their children to play in the streets and dare you to even make eye contact with them when they run out in front of your car. As I get closer to my home I have to wait a moment to pull into my driveway because the young black guys who live a few doors down have set up a basketball goal right near my home and they are taking their precious time clearing the area so I can pull into the driveway.

As I lie in bed that night I flip to the news and here we go again, another black person has been killed. This time a black woman in her mid twenties has stabbed another young woman over what seems to be an ongoing feud. The news also gives an update to the morning murder that ended in the young man being shot in the head. A tip called in to police states that the argument was over drug money. As I lie in bed that night trying to think good thoughts, I decide that black people are worse than my grandparents told me they were. At least back then they were obedient, now they are uncivil, violent and a threat to themselves and everyone else. Damn them!

***removing brown leather boat shoes and the white person’s perspective***

I am fully aware that not all white people feel that way, just as many white people are aware that black people are not the root of all evil. But we as black people need to take a good long look at ourselves before we wonder why many other races want nothing to do with us. Of course it is wrong of them to group us as a whole, but many of the  sentiments that other races have about black people, many black people also believe.  Not only are many white people scared of black people, hell many black people are scared of black people!

..sorry yall but I have to tell the truth on this one. White people look at the news and shake their damn head and I look at the news and shake my damn head too. They are disgusted and I am utterly disgusted.

So I decided to dissect the comment by the anonymous poster

BGT sentiments in red

“I hope African Americans take this historic election and grow with it.Please stop the killing,robberies,home invasions and drug dealing. (damn that’s what I was thinking)
Please take care of your children,support them financially and keep them in school. (shouldn’t that be a given for parents of all races why should someone have to tell you to do that) Please take pride in your homes,property,community and neighborhoods. (if you live like you don’t care, most likely you don’t. Why should the neighborhood depreciate just because you don’t care about cutting your grass or painting your home, why should everyone else suffer?) And lastly please elect worthy local government leaders who have some business sense and can help bring jobs back to Memphis.”  (we vote black, they vote white, we all vote in con men)

 

 

 

 

 

With Barack Obama being elected President of the USA African Americans are rejoicing all over the country. We wanted change and we believe that Barack Obama will provide us with that change.

…but what change will we committ to?  What changes in our community, in our outlook on life, in the way we view our neighborhoods and our responsibility to our children will change?  What changes will we make to how we view the importance of our education? What change will we make to helping each other instead of harming each other? What changes will we as African Americans offer in making our people better as a whole?

The killing, robbing, disrespect, ignorance and careless attitudes about education must end. That sector has to be done and over with. The chains of ignorance must be broken. The mindset of knowing better but not doing so must be tossed out the window.

If we demand change from Barack Obama, we must first offer change from ourselves. If the world changes and we remain the same, 50 years from now we will be right where we have been for so long, smack dab at the bottom.