In February, a single mother in her fifties who neighbors call the “garden lady” was watching television in her NewHolly living room when suspected gang bangers fired at least 19 rounds into her home in the 3400 block of South Holly Place, striking her once in the hip.
She survived, but the incident revealed a “blame-the-victim” perspective among some people in the community that concerned NewHolly neighbor Nicole Lindroos, who wrote the following as part of a neighborhood discussion about the epidemic of youth and gang violence:
Please don’t take my comments to mean that I am not concerned about gang members in the community, increasing violence in our neighborhood, or any of the other challenges this incident lays bare.
I am definitely concerned!
The toddler park that directly adjoins my property is a frequent hangout for young men who come there to smoke dope and drink, sometimes fight. I’ve had drunken brawls take place *on* my porch as they’ve spilled out of the park and into the street or onto the sidewalk.
The young men who show up and lurk around my fence line have been getting older every year, and every week I’m faced with having to judge if this or that group of guys is just innocently hanging out or truly up to no good. My daughter’s bedroom window looks directly down onto the park and it’s frequently in the back of my mind that if guns were ever drawn in the park, my home is mere feet away.
I’m concerned about keeping my home and family safe, a concern I’m sure everyone on this list shares for their own. In my own case, I am trying to be cautious about making judgments because not every teenage boy with sagging pants is a gang member and I believe it does our community a disservice for me to overreact out of fear and suspicion.
Mark Solomon, our precinct crime prevention coordinator, recently wrote about the lure of gangs and what to look for in your families. In that same message he confessed that he missed the signs in his own household and told the story of his son.
It helped remind me that while the son may be a gang member, the mother is not. It makes me uneasy to blame the victim here because it takes the focus away from what we can do to strengthen our community ties and draw together to combat the larger problem in favor of being able to feel briefly righteous that “we” didn’t pay for “her” issue (and the clear unspoken message that she deserves what she gets because of her son, whatever that may be).
I don’t claim to have any big answers but I sincerely believe that we need to stand together and not let our desire to feel safer or to see someone held responsible for criminal behavior in our neighborhood cause us to take those feelings out on our neighbors because we can’t get to the real thugs and criminals.
Days after the February 6 shooting, two of the 19 bullet holes that hit this NewHolly home were still visible. Photo/do communications, inc.
Related:
- Mom Shot in Her Living Room; Mayor to Attend Community Safety Meeting (2/15/09)
- Gang targets NewHolly home; mom shot, no arrests (2/7/09)
- So. Precinct Crime Prevention Guru Speaks From Experience: Gangs & Youth Violence (2/5/09)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
