We Have to Do Better pt.2

*sigh*

SEATTLE TEEN SHOT FATALLY AT A PARTY

Allen Joplin took out the trash when she asked, he cooked dinner — usually hamburgers and cheese sandwiches — and most of the time he returned home by 10 p.m. But early Friday morning, the 84-year-old Seattle woman received a phone call from Allen's girlfriend saying Allen had been shot.

The 17-year-old was killed shortly before midnight Thursday after two unknown men crashed a party he was attending at an art studio in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood and opened fire. Allen was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 13-year-old girl who was shot in the leg is still recovering.

Police on Friday were still searching for the gunmen.

***

Teen found shot to death in Seattle's Rainier Valley

A 14-year-old boy was found shot and killed this afternoon on a South Seattle street, where his body apparently had lain since the night before.

Someone called 911 at 2:40 p.m. today to report finding a body behind a car in the 4200 block of South Rose Street in Rainier Valley, said police spokesman Mark Jamieson.

Police responded, and the boy was pronounced dead a short time later. Homicide detectives are investigating.

Neighbors and family members of the boy, identified by an uncle as DéChé Morrison, gathered just beyond the yellow police tape surrounding the scene tonight as investigators used dogs and flashlights to search for clues. The uncle, Sedric Reine, tried to comfort Morrison's grieving mother.

We watch shows like The Wire, see the movies, and we hear the rap songs about it and it feels like we're getting very accustomed to young men falling to an early death within the black community. It's as if we're being desensitized to not only to the horrible reality of the loss of a young life, but also the regularity of it these days. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself. Reality though, is our babies are dying. They're killing each other. One by one, city by city. It's almost systematic at this point. And i don't know what EXACTLY to do but we can start with doing a better job of teaching, a better job of uplifting, and a better job of uniting before an entire generation completely forgets what it means to be their brother's keeper. RIP to Allen Joplin & Deche Morrison...