I can’t even imagine the emotions….
About 250 neighbors, Fenger graduates and self-proclaimed community activists angrily shouted at each other during a boiling protest of street violence during the vigil called in response to the Thursday mob beating that took Derrion’s life.
One neighborhood activist who called herself, “Queen Sister,” chanted through a bull horn and led a group of people to the school’s front door demanding to be let in before being turned away. Some people stood nose-to-nose arguing over whether the gathering should be in memory of Derrion or a protest of the violence that killed him. Chicago police were there to calm the crowd.
“Our community has been reduced to nothing more than a killing field,” Queen Sister said.
Fenger graduate Charles Barkley, 18, said “Our community needs to be saved. … We need to reach out to our youth and let them know the right way to go. All this gang banging, there ain’t no reason for it.”
Earlier this afternoon, three teenagers were ordered held without bail for the vicious beating death of Derrion, who was 16.
Four teens now have been charged.
Enough is enough.
We need to take a good, hard look at how this happened in the first place.
It was about gangs. And this honor student was pulled in, and he lost his life. And at least four teens have lost the rest of their lives as well.
This cannot happen again. Ever.