The November 2nd execution-style vengeance killing of nine-year old Chicago resident Tyshawn Lee has been completely ignored by the Black Lives Matter movement. Likewise, his tragic death remains unacknowledged by so-called black “leaders” like the rabble-rousing Al Sharpton or fellow Chicagoan Jesse Jackson. Even the former Chicago community-organizer Barack Obama—and his pouty-faced “bring back our girls” wife Michelle—have interestingly chosen silence despite their polarizing, knee-jerk history of inserting themselves into the political discourse.
Unlike, Trayvon Martin who garnered country-wide attention and outrage regarding his unfortunate fate—a life cut short by violence—the similarly sounding named Tyshawn has been relegated to a police blotter and a startling urban crime statistic: 418 murders in the Windy City this year so far.
90% of murders in this community are the result of black-on-black homicide
Tyshawn, an innocent whose father was a gang member, was targeted by a member of a rival street posse. Apparently, the boy had left his grandmother’s house to play in a park—as children are wont to do—when he was lured into an alley and shot several times in the face and back. He died where he fell, in a pool of blood, abandoned.
Yet another horror on the South Side of Chicago, the previous home of the Obamas. Apparently forgotten by them long ago among the twinkling lights of our nation's capital and their new digs: the most exclusive address in America. Surrounded by the well-armed Secret Service, pampered by sumptuous 5-star accommodations with every whim catered to, their daughters, unlike Tyshawn, are safe.
Per the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Obama has made 25 trips since becoming president—mostly for fundraising and/or pleasure—only 7 reportedly for policy issues such as community dysfunction. That works out to one visit per year for every year Mr. Obama has breathed the rarefied air of the Washington bubble. In the interim, Chicago has degenerated into a poverty-stricken killing zone. Given this actuality, it is easy to read the tea leaves: when one frequently vacations in Hawaii and plays numerous rounds of golf with millionaires and billionaires, why should Mr. Obama (or the First Lady) care about the deplorable state of their former hometown?
Where are the protesters yelling in the streets for little Tyshawn à la Trayvon? After all, a life is a life: equally irreplaceable and priceless. Therefore, the code of silence from all quarters for Tyshawn is deafening and universal—and it shouldn't be unless the Black Lives Matter movement is nothing more than a superficial slogan applying only to those perpetrators outside the black community. The facts bear this out: per 2013 FBI crime statistics, 90% of murders in this community are the result of black-on-black homicide. This insidious societal dynamic—much like the demise of Tyshawn Lee—requires soul-searching attention and reflection.
The November 2nd execution-style vengeance killing of nine-year old Chicago resident Tyshawn Lee has been completely ignored by the Black Lives Matter movement. Likewise, his tragic death remains unacknowledged by so-called black “leaders” like the rabble-rousing Al Sharpton or fellow Chicagoan Jesse Jackson. Even the former Chicago community-organizer Barack Obama—and his pouty-faced “bring back our girls” wife Michelle—have interestingly chosen silence despite their polarizing, knee-jerk history of inserting themselves into the political discourse.
Unlike, Trayvon Martin who garnered country-wide attention and outrage regarding his unfortunate fate—a life cut short by violence—the similarly sounding named Tyshawn has been relegated to a police blotter and a startling urban crime statistic: 418 murders in the Windy City this year so far.
