Derrion Albert : Unknown In Life, Famous in Death as A Martyr of City Youth

Now as I'm writing this.... I'm listening to Tupac & Scarface's Smile...and next on play is Tupac's Changes.
Watching this video of inner city teens senselessly beat each other...and attack people who had no involvement with what happened previously that sparked this fight.



Now I graduated High School almost 3 (three) years ago...and I lived in Los Angeles, graduated from Inglewood High School (Yes the Infamous Inglewood)...and miraculously only 3 people died during the 4 years I was in High School ( Maybe it was because I only went to school down there for 2 years?) One girl died my freshmen year from lupus ( a disease ) , sophomore year....no-one died. Junior Year a boy got shot in a arguement.... and Senior year a guy I knew who had graduated a year before me got stabbed after a dice game and died ( sad thing is someone who was his friend did it, and left his body in an alley by my cousin's house)
None of them should of died...Especially at the hands of someone else. No-one has the right to take another person's life.

Since I've been out of school I've noticed that the kids younger than I have simply gone out of control....and it's shocking as hell to me. How could there be such a drastic change in only a few years difference in age? These kids are the same age my sister & brother who are 16 and 17... I have siblings that arent even in their teens yet...so I'm even more concerned as to where the hell the youth of urban areas ...and America period are headed.

I mean....gang banging was around before my generation...and their's arguably ( some consider them a new generation)..Heck my father is a Founder Inglewood's Neighborhood Piru (NHP)....
when I moved down to L.A during the summer before Junior year all I ever heard in our down time from running around the city doing family things and taking all 4 of my siblings to school were my father's stories of him and the homies.
He never really glorified it....He was just reminiscing about his childhood & the age when he met my mother. He made one thing clear, they started their gang to protect themselves from other gangs who'd try to force them to join, and then beat them up and rob them ( how could they force you to join...and then fucking rob you?). Now a days...these kids make gangs just because they think it's cool. He also said...he regretted some of his hot tempered ways. He said the only good thing that resulted from it was him meeting his best friend, my mom and then Myself and my siblings being born ( Had he not of been a gang banger strolling down Inglewood avenue one day , he probably would of never met my mom, they never would of later divorced, then he never would of met my step mom and had my other siblings).

When I was a Senior...there was this clique of kids...who claimed not to be a gang....( Ha yea right) but they wore red...would beat up kids who belonged to other cliques , they'd put people on ( Jump Them In ) said the infamous "Blood" word and called themselves the Murder 1's. Long story short..at Inglewood High...and the city Of Inglewood period...the biggest gang is Inglewood Family Gangsters.....and the murder 1's later were forced to join them.

I just don't understand why people feel it necessary to start and join gangs today?? We're not living in the same helpless era our parents were. They didn't have teen shelters,job-corp, out-reach centers, community centers and urban leagues like we do to help with these problems.
Alot of our parent's generation didn't have much a of choice but to sell drugs...They might even have had a parent on drugs ( My cousin Giesla's mother was addicted to cocaine &crack cocain for several years) They spent more time with my mom ( their cousin) and our grandmother as kids than anywhere else...
Then there are other scenarios such as my father's. My dad's mother was a very very VERY successful single parent. She had my father at 16 in St.Louis and moved to California in the 70's to work....scored a great job with Pacific Bell Telecommunications company and even got her Master's Degree while raising my father and his younger brother...and they didn't live in an apartment. SHE HAD A HOUSE! ...My father ...in my opinion gang banged to be around older male figures to fill the void of a father figure in his life... I mean my dad knew where his father was...but was never ever to get in true contact with him....(not his fault)
.....


Now I am the classic example of a kid who didn't have their father around much...and could have turned out wild. HOWEVER ....I didn't...growing up I saw the cycle of rebellion ....in friends, family and people I didn't even know at school...and I decided I didn't want to be a part of that. That type of behavior is destructive, nothing good comes from it at all.
I devoted my high school years graphic design, soccer, year book staff , photography and the student council... Sophomore year I through a little depression and stopped going to school...pulled myself out of it and got back on track. Sure Junior & Senior year I more after school classes than I had pimples but who cares...I handled it without resulting to ignorant ass behavior.


I just can't remotely find an excuse for why people behave like this in 2009...
there's just too many options for people nowadays to not have to result to these animalistic...tactics of " resolving" things.
The saddest part is .....it will only get worse...things always hit rock bottom before they get better.

I think Derrion Albert is going to be the most memorable victim of this kind of violence...because people always hear about these kind of things happening but never has it ever been showed to them. People watched that video and saw his life slip away from his body.....People saw and watched those same kids who killed him run off and senselessly attack others...
To me Derrion Albert has become a Martyr for Teens who are Victims of this Youth Crisis...called Gangs Violence.

My prayers go out to the Albert family...
My heart goes out to all teens & kids in America....
When I was a little kid I used to worry about dying when I was older...
Kids now a days worry about dying when they're 13 and walking home from school...sitting in class...or anything. It's sad, and there's not much else I can say really...
-Divinity