The Last Great Social Document

Six people shot and five killed.  He held the gun just the way he saw his favorite movie star…that’s how he held it the first time too.  The suspect had done this before…he probably enjoyed the complete control he had over his victims or maybe he didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing.  He had killed before, in cold blood,  shooting a man several times in the back, as he was running away, because the man was interested in his girlfriend.  There was no real threat, no justification for the killing of that man, only the murderer’s sense of losing control.  He showed that killing was his only answer to redirect the fear inside of him.  The fear that, like a parasitic worm, comes from some strange place inside of the host to feed off of your essence.  Guns are pretty awesome though, right?  They sure do look great on TV.  BOOM!!!  The sound of the gun going off probably excited him.  The adrenalin rush…the power, the feeling of being the boss, the superstar,  or the untouchable.  The fantasy world.  No doubt, society gave up on him long ago when his childhood was marked by domestic violence, poverty, racism, gang violence, and his neighborhood went through the crack epidemic, and the TV programs, movies, and,  even cartoons were super-concentrated with violence.  But, it still takes the conscience of one person to pull a gun’s trigger with the purpose of taking a human beings life.  This man, the murderer, like so many other unfortunate young men in the same social and racial situations became empowered by the gun, and in doing so bought stock into the collective cowardice of the gun, hiding behind violence, using his gun as a scare tactic, because he quickly learns that no one disagrees with the man holding the gun.  No One!!!  This recreant man, preyed on the weak and submissive people in his life with his gun, the extension of his manhood, in order to exercise fear in his victims.  His history of violence was hidden, all too well, behind well written but empty rhetoric in letters, asking for judicial release from prison for the crime of manslaughter.  Who do you think you are?  You killed a guy, and in the mantra of the repeat offender, slid back into your old ways.  He realizes how weak he is without the gun and, honestly, can’t replace that feeling of dominance with anything else.

He shot them all in the head…one by one….and then took his own life a day later as the walls were closing in on him.  In a show of violent bloodlust, the 200 or so people that had gathered outside the house cheered as his lifeless body was carted off.  We cheered for violence…we cheered for death.  Just who do we think we are?  Celebrating Death?  What an embarrassing moment…

Turn that death cheer into action by supporting non-violence for:

1. Deon Primm 2
2. Davion Primm 2
3. Destanee Woods 5
4. Rose Stevens 25
5. Lechea Crawford 30

To most, these are just names from another sad story that will be forgotten with the rest of the unfortunate victims of violent crime.  There is, however, a glimmer of that west side, blue-collar hope that we can look at this tragedy with a renewed sense of community value that can rebuild some of our city’s most decrepit neighborhoods and restore some pride to the people.  We have to want that though, and we all have to work together, house by house, street by street , neighborhood by neighborhood, and city by city to resist violence and the cancerous effect it has on our dying cities, especially here in Cleveland, Ohio…the most suspect of cities

Of course, we, as neighbors and friends have some tough choices to make that will determine our success in making a great shift in local consciousness .  This is the controversial part of the essay, the truth, that is truly important, but the most difficult to swallow. As a people, we need to turn off the television and gather our news from reliable and unbiased sources.

“Media violence may be most influential in modeling the use of deadly force as the primary, if not the only, way to solve problems and resolve interpersonal conflict.” Elizabeth Thoman, founder of the Center for Media Literacy.

This is no conspiracy theory.  Mark my words: You are being desensitized by a culture of greed and violence.  It is lurking in the shadows of our cities, sucking the lifeblood out of us.  If that is not an option for you, than I implore you to sit and watch your favorite shows but try to take notes on all of the commercials that you are exposed to during a TV session and do research on the companies’ background in order to truly find out who and what you are supporting by buying those brands and exactly whose pockets that money lines in Congress.  Sound like too much work?  Well, its not an easy job to be a conscious being who is so accustomed to a culture of money worship (with no backing by gold or silver…thanks Fed) and a manufacturing economy that polluted to high heaven but kept that bank borrowed roof over your head

This is a story with many complex, mind altering concepts.  Stay informed without that television and broadcast your own message of  mental sovereignty to these billionaire mind manipulators.  The choice to wake up has to be made immidiately.  To many killings and too many young minds are far too seensitive to the repetitive material they are witness to on television channels…for hours at a time.  Suspect City is focused on shining light on ways we can better our collective self, especially here in my home, beautiful, tight-knit Cleveland, Ohio.

Media Resources:

http://medialit.org/
http://nationaltelemediacouncil.org/index.html/