Deb's thoughts

If you saw a crime being committed would you get involved?  If you saw a child that looked lost would you help?  If you saw a child being carried out of the store, screaming and kicking, and yelling for help would you get involved? If you saw a woman, or a child being beaten, would you get involved?

With everything that is going on these days, the shootings every night, the girl being shot over a purse,  the robberies, etc. one thing I keep hearing is that people are afraid.  The kids that know something don't want to be considered a snitch, the adults are afraid of retaliation.

If I saw  someone caring a screaming kicking child out of the store, I would stop them,. I can say this with certainty, because I have. I was at Target, I have kids, I know the temper tantrums they can pull, but something didn't seem right about this.  The child was about 4,   I watched the man carrying him walk out to the parking lot, this child not only seemed very angry, he seemed scared,   A police car pulled into Target and I told the cop what I saw and how the child was screaming and why I felt it was just more than a temper tantrum.  He stopped the man.  Fortunately I was wrong, it was the child's father, the child was autistic, and had been overwhelmed by the crowd and noises  in Target. I'm glad I was wrong, I'm sorry I embarrassed the father, I'm also glad I got involved, what if I had been right?

When my son was murdered, the kid that shot him was caught 3 days later because the people in the neighborhood got involved.  The detective handling the case said 3 different people told him who shot my son.  I will forever be grateful to them.

I think we are giving these criminals power.  They know people are afraid to get involved, so they don't care.  It's like the bully in the playground, he scared everyone until someone stood up to him.  We can not turn our heads, we can no longer be quiet, when we know something.  We have to stop giving them power.  The Nazi's got into power because people kept quiet.

When I was a kid, I knew I had to behave no matter where I went, someone in my neighborhood knew my mother, or one of my aunts, she had 6 sisters and had grown up in the same neighborhood. I had the same 6th grade teacher as my mom and 3 of her sisters.  That kept me out of soooooooo much trouble!!   It is my theory, or my opinion that if the criminals knew that someone was going to turn them in, that the people in the neighborhood were going to get involved, it would stop a lot of this.

I realize how stupid it would be to physically attempt to stop someone with a gun, but we can call the police.  If we know something about a crime that has been committed we can tell, anonymously if necessary. but we have to tell.

I guess I got started on this because of the young girl that was shot over a purse.  Her father is asking for people to come forward if they know something.  Someone does, this person probably bragged to his friends about what he did. 

These shootings in North St. Louis, the people in the neighborhood have some idea of who is responsible for this. I'm not blaming anyone, I know they are scared, or maybe they think it won't do any good.  I'm just asking people to get involved. 


Little Dabion Green, the 6 yr old (I think he just turned 7) is being told he's a hero, and he is - because he did something that most adults won't do.  He told the police who broke into his house. He did the right thing even if he was scared.  I'm proud of him.  We all need to take a lesson from this young man.  I hope he continues to do the right things and I think he will, sounds like he has good parents. 
                               
We have to stop letting them bully us.