RECENT COMMENTS
Joel Cabot on Power Outage on the Hill
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Yvette Cannon on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
crd on Power Outage on the Hill
Shots interrupt TV interview, bullets hit MLK Middle School
09/20/2014 8:21 AM by John M
CBS 6 reporter Jerrita Patterson was in the middle of an interview in Mosby yesterday when shots rang out close by. She later discovered that at least 2 of the bullets hit the new MLK Middle School.
— ∮∮∮ —
This is why mosby should have been torn down well before they built the new school. Look, it’s already getting shot at…
City builds something nice and this is how the Mosby community appreciates it?
Yup, I heard the very same gunfire Friday afternoon, while I was working on my back porch near Jefferson Park. Sounded like about 15 rapid fire shots–all from the area near the MLK school. Mosby Court, O and Carrington Streets.. Called it in to RPD.
Agreed….the whole area is a slum and should be razed.
This is also why union hill is going to have a hard time growing further than what it is right now… It’s too close to mosby. Whenever you can have people involved in that kind of riff raff, less than a 1/4 mile away…. People don’t wanna pay in 400s for houses. Libby and Chimborazo are more separate. Sad sad sad because union hill is so awesome, the new school is awesome, mosby sucks!
Here is an oldie but goodie from 2008 showing what could have been for Carrington and Mosby.
/2008/11/03/what-could-have-been-for-carrington-street_2995/
I never supported rebuilding MLKin the same location. I felt the school should have re-located to a different area in the East End / Church Hill because so many parents do not their kids to go there for safety reasons. This is where a boy was shot in the head walking home from school just a couple of blocks. A nice new school building is great, but that alone will not get parents to send their students there.
#3, I think anything related to the Mosby community depreciates everything in its vicinity. #5, I don’t think razing the area alone will solve much, but I would like to see it happen as well.
Dear Church Hill residents,
I am not sure of your socioeconomic background or what sorts of communities you have been raised in but I would just like to remind everyone that Mosby Court is part of Church Hill. Using language to describe our neighbors like “riff raff” and that their section of the neighborhood “sucks” and should be torn down is violence inflicted upon people who have just as much of a right to be here as you do.
Do you all realize that outside of your bubble of privilege that people can read the words that you write about them on the internet? This type of talk is unproductive, elitist and continues to hurt our community as much as gun violence does because it leaves a lasting legacy of marginalization upon countless people who deserve to enjoy this neighborhood too.
There are children and families who deserve to play in these parks, walk down the tree lined streets, live close to jobs and resources and watch the sunset at the overlook and the unfortunate condition of generational poverty and having to live with the effects of institutionalized racism that stems back to Richmond’s disgraceful history of slavery should have NOTHING to do with their right to have a community here.
We should be talking about how to address gun violence and poverty, what can we do to help? How can we help these kids who hear bullets outside of their bedrooms every day? Why am I not seeing these questions? What makes you all that different from the people pulling the trigger anyway?
Christina,
I’m assuming you have never lived in one of these government housing complexes. I have.
It is very hard for people who grow up in them to get out. Some never get out, some never get out alive. The reality of the matter is people who live in these communities rarely can change their life styles and the people around them directly influence that.
There is a reason there is more violence in these areas. Most of the violence is black on black violence, from people within these neighborhoods. Many people in these areas have records, many people cannot have legal guns, any people cannot afford guns.
So what happens? Only the bad people in these communities had the weapons. So who has the power, and who is scared of who? It’s pretty obvious.
The police do not even want to go into these areas at night. They are scared to. They want to make it home to their families the next morning.
Everyone who lives there have more incentives to do “under the table work” and are often times involved in illegal activities because if they held “real” tax paying jobs, they would lose their housing and benefits.
The problem is there is NO, and I mean NO incentive for these people to grow and leave the community. It is a system that sucks them in and does not let them out.
Is it fair I used to live in fear ever every night when I was a kid growing up in Gilpin? Honestly I think the whole city and the people who live in these communities would be better off if these government housing complexes were burned to the ground.
THESE KIDS DO NOT “deserve to play in these parks, walk down the tree lined streets, live close to jobs and resources and watch the sunset” AND RETURN BACK TO A HOME WHERE THEY ARE NOT SAFE!
You sound like a typical, ignorant, Caucasian, who thinks she knows what is and is not good for the “poor black people” from her community. Let colored people speak for their selves.
And to clarify, yes this IS coming from a black man who grew up in the hood
And to answer your questions:
We should be talking about how to address gun violence and poverty, what can we do to help?
A: Help get these people out of these communities. How do you do that? Build housing that is not clumped together in a slummy manner and relocate the people and tear down there crappy complexes (and yes I mean crappy, have you ever been in one?)
How can we help these kids who hear bullets outside of their bedrooms every day?
A: Remove them from the communities. Or remove the communities.
Why am I not seeing these questions?
A: Because everyone has already answered them.
What makes you all that different from the people pulling the trigger anyway?
A: Who is “you all”? This seems to be a pretty racist statement coming from someone who uses words such as ”socioeconomic” or “marginalization” and phrases such as “effects of institutionalized racism”
The real difference is these are typical people from these areas who have illegal guns, who are gang members and typically have dealings with drugs. I’m not assuming, I know.
1) They should never have spent the millions they did rebuilding the school, and did NOTHING for Mosby right across the street.
2) Where did “Richmond’s disgraceful history of slavery” come from?
Cristina Lugo asks: “What makes you all that different from the people pulling the trigger anyway?”
Ms. Lugo, are you kidding me?! For the mere fact that I am not the one pulling the trigger makes me different from those people.
Your naivete is alarming, and appalling.
Davon,
It’s good to see your perspective on this thread because it really felt like there was a lack of differing views.
I am aware of the problems you’re talking about that exist within housing project communities and there is no denying that there are problems that build up over generations that create a lack of hope for building up to something better. Mosby Court and all of the other housing projects in this city (and one could even say in general) suffer from many of the same problems of generational poverty and marginalization that create the type of violence and fear that you described.
You’re right, I did not grow up in these communities but I have spent a lot of time in them as a social worker. I have sat in homes and talked with mothers who demonstrated the flimsy front door of their home that was barreled down during a fight on their front porch and resulted in bullets being sprayed through their living room.
I have gone door to door following community violence and stood next to the same bullet hole that went through someone’s head the night before.
I have worked with kids therapeutically who have witnessed their neighbors get gunned down from 30 feet away and are now too afraid to play outside after what happened. It’s very different from living this reality and I don’t pretend to, but I do what I can to help and make life a little easier in whatever capacity that I can.
I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for you to grow up in those circumstances and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. You’re right, kids shouldn’t have to go home to that and we should be doing a lot more to hold police accountable to serving the communities, to RRHA for maintaining their housing structures so people don’t have to live in fear of people entering through broken doors and windows, to the City of Richmond for maintaining all the systems that need to work properly but are not.
There is a lot that needs to be done to make impoverished neighborhoods a better place to live. The public housing system is TOTALLY flawed, you are right.
Ideally, free and reduced rent housing should be spread out and mixed through the community.
With all the work that needs to be done, the last thing we need is people name calling, tearing down and dehumanizing an entire pocket of our neighborhood.
When I said “What makes you all different from the people pulling the trigger anyway” I refer to the carelessness with which above commenters used their words to write off an entire neighborhood. It’s the same recklessness that tears communities apart.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your perspective and I look forward to reading your future comments.
Point Davon…
I second that zedakerd.
There’s a big difference between living in these hell holes and visiting once in a while for your job before getting to leave and go back to your safe home. I’m not looking to the social workers of the world (who make their living by maintaining poverty) for solutions but to those who live there. As Davon shows, they’re quite capable of speaking for themselves.
Excellent post, Davon. Good to have different perspectives.
Davon,
Would love to hear your words echoed a thousand times over in this city….we may actually make some progress for the good of all.
Ms. Lugo…rarely is any good realized when people are not held accountable for their actions. You can put band aids on the wound all day long but the cancer will continue to grow and ultimately conquer.
The broken lives existing in the projects will not be freed until the projects are razed.