When is enough enough? Is there a magic number of kids and innocent people that have to be gunned down before our weak-kneed “leaders” do anything besides offer thoughts, prayers and more guns? Will too much gun violence ever be enough?
Our country is reeling from back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back AR-15 massacres. Meanwhile in Alabama, inner city gun violence is putting Birmingham and Mobile on a record pace for homicides.
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RELATED: After murders of 2 Black children in 2 days, Mobile police ask: ‘When is enough enough?’ - al.com
From Howard Koplowitz’s AL.com report:
After the shooting deaths of a 14-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy this week in Mobile, the city’s police chief said Wednesday he and his department have zero tolerance for the homicides plaguing the city this year while calling on Mobilians to cooperate with police to curb the violence.
“We are outraged. We’re tired of it,” Police Chief Paul Prine told reporters Wednesday afternoon as he gave updates on the homicides of 14-year-old Ciara Jackson and 11-year-old LeQuinten Morrissette.
On Monday, LeQuinten was shot and killed on Duval Street “for simply playing in his apartment,” Prine said.
On Tuesday night, Ciara was gunned down while “simply driving around with her friends on Michael Donald Avenue,” he said.
“Now I’m going to ask the community: ‘Are we tired of it? We need your help. We need your help when you see something, say something. A tip can be crucial,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, police spokesman Sgt. John Young became emotional speaking to reporters.
View Sgt. Young’s passionate plea here
“This 23rd homicide of the year is heartbreaking to me, for personal reasons. Ciara’s 14. She died on a street named after Michael Donald, who was the last known lynching by the Ku Klux Klan in 1980,” said Young, who is Black.
“Forty years later, more innocent blood is shed on that street that’s supposed to memorialize the death and sacrifice, and a Black girl is gunned down on that street by a Black man is disgusting – I said it,” Young, who is Black, continued.
“There’s a subculture of gun violence in the city of Mobile with young Black men. and it’s high damn time we did something about it -- I said it, so no one has to be called a racist anymore.”
Young said he hoped Ciara’s death would be a wake-up call to the city.
“Our homicides – 19, 19, 18, 17, 16, 14, 11 and 4 years old – were all Black children,” the sergeant said.
“When are we as a city going to wake up and say ‘let’s address this issue.’ I said it, now it’s out in the open, right? Whatever happens to me, fine. If you guys slay me in the media, fine. But don’t forget these innocent Black lives that have been lost. An 11-year-old yesterday a 14-year-old last – when is enough enough?”
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What will it take to whet our demons’ appetite for destruction?
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JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix.