Must tragedy beget more tragedy?

I want to start by saying that like all thinking and feeling human beings, I mourn the loss of Jamiel Shaw, Jr. His murder was a tragedy not only for his family and community but for all of us. The depth of his parents' pain cannot be imagined or felt, it is far too deep and wide for any of us to really understand.

I don't care if Jamiel threw a gang sign in a picture or posted any words on a myspace page that could be construed as gang affiliated. No one's life is less than any others. It is not ok for anyone to take the life of any other person. It is not ok for us to sit back and say, well, if it was two gang-bangers shooting it out, well then it doesn't matter; but if it was someone with promise who was killed then it was a tragedy. Young life wasted on our streets is tragic regardless of where that life might have been headed.

Trying to create a law with the name of Jamiel that could be used as a way to racially profile other youth is, in my opinion, creating a new tragedy as the result of another tragedy. Would it not be a better to gather signatures and pledges from the community to become actively involved in finding a way to end gang violence, or to end the perceived need for gangs, or to name a scholarship in the name of Jamiel? There are so many ways to make lemonade of this lemon, however painful it might be, but to pour salt in the wounds of others seems like an incredible waste of energy.

I send all my best thoughts to Jamiel's family. I volunteer to career some of their pain. I wish I could carry their sorrow around for a while to give them a moment when they might see beyond this awful reality. I cannot bring back their son. I cannot make their grief go away. But I cannot support this retribution against all others in response to their loss.

News and Notes spent some time with Jamiel's parents today; Farai also talked with a young Latino whose life mirrors the murderer's life in every way except he is not gang affiliated.