Trib photo: William DeShazer
Fort Hood: Alan Henkl Photo/NBC
I am saddened to hear of 12 dead and 31 wounded at Fort Hood. My condolences to the families. I will keep a close eye on this horrible occurrence.
If a person has 15 prior convictions for driving on a suspended or revoked license, should the individual be in prison, on house arrest, or roaming freely? Tonight on GML, we will have the grandmother of Kim Brown on the show. Kim Brown, a mother of 5, and pregnant, was struck at a bus stop by a collision caused by an alleged motorist under the influence of cocaine.
Call me tonight at 877-358-CLTV. What are your thoughts on DUI?
Thank you for all of your letters of prayer and for the many condolences sent to my family. You make us feel appreciated and God's grace is shining in the midst of the tragedy. Thank you all from our hearts to yours. It is now time to continue my parents work: telling the truth -- without walls, borders, and fear.
Let's go!
GML returns to CLTV Wednesday, October 28 at 6 p.m. with a guest host filling in for Garrard.
Call in (877-358-CLTV) at 6 p.m. Wednesday with your comments and thoughts on violence in the Chicago area.
GML replays air nightly at 9:30 p.m.
On a Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m., a girl gets beat up and nearly loses an eye. Why was the girl allegedly forced to buy drugs? Why did teenagers have baseball bats, broken bottles, and golf clubs? Where are the absentee, trifling parents? Where are the churches? See the CLTV story below from Jae Miller and Gaynor Hall.
Victor Woods talks about his plan for Chicago Schools and anti-violence movements. Woods takes a pro-active approiach to keeping the peace.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Sec. of Education Arne Duncan chose to do the press conference on Chicago violence downtown, instead of venturing near The Ville or Altgeld Gardens. I guess Secret Service is scared to go south of Soldier Field. And when you get to stay at the Four Seasons, who would want to waste time on traveling to Fenger, when you can spend the time it would take in travel, getting a manicure and a massage?
Tribune Photo: Nancy Stone
Eric and Arne played it safe. And Mr. Daley is trying to go low key until the Olympics stuff blows over.
Gentlemen, it's OK to stay at the Four Seasons, but spend some time and effort on the south side, before you get a hot stones massage and a few mixed drinks.
Tribune Photo: Alex Garcia
If you live on 130th street, that's a long walk (or bus ride) to Fenger. Check out the Tribune article. I would be upset too if I had to go to a school far away from my home. However, no excuses for a melee in front of the Agape Community Center - so much for love.
Vashion Bullock / Photo: Abel Uribe
Vashion was hurt in the brawl near Agape Community Center
What are your thoughts on The Ville, Altgeld Gardens, and Fenger High School? Is the closing of Carver as a conventional High School the culprit? Tribune reporter, Kristen Mack, shares her story with us, "Fenger kids tell why they fight."
Chicago is out! No kidding. It's Rio ... Duran, Duran baby!
Two Obamas, an Oprah, and a Daley didn't quite make the cut.
Chicago fans are stunned by Olympic snub. Tribune Photo: Brian Cassella
Check out my blogs for over the last 6 months concerning Chicago winning the Olympic bid. Karma is for real and humility should never be underestimated. Lobster, Merlot, hotels and flights - can we trade in the money for more police?te make the cut, as Chicago gets dumped in the first round. Egg on Daley's face...Derrion Albert's funeral looms back into our thoughts.
Here are Garrard's factors on the failing Chicago bid:
Poor Chicago - let's concentrate on Chicago now, not 2016. We have plenty to do in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc.
Last week we had to endure the erasing of life. And this week, 3 people in Edgewater beat up a 14-year old, who is now in critical condition. Far south said last week. This week, the 3000 block of north Paulina gets the headline. See Tribune story.
Witnesses said there "was blood all over the street." There is something in the water peole are drinking for 2 beatings occuring in 1 week. Let's pray for the 14-year old clutching to his life, and for the family of Derrion Albert. Sleepless in Seattle, Beatings in Chicago.
Dr. Lance Williams from Northeastern Illinois University talks about the sociological aspects of violence in Chicago.
By no means am I surprised. There is high unemployment, absent fathers, a culture of violence, smuggled guns and drugs infused into a community without checkpoints, poor schools with apathetic faculty: there goes the neighborhood.
Show me a community where fathers go to work, lawns are cut weekly, and strange people are questioned for loitering, and I will show you a good, strong, tightly-woven community.
There is a low value for life on the south and west sides. Derrion Albert's death is the culmination of a neighborhood gone wild, and the children crying out for attention. Superintendent Jody Weis is deploying more officers in the troubled areas. It's too bad the officers couldn't have been at the Agape Community Center just before the death of a teenager with potential.
Garrard engages Father Pfleger and Alderman Carrie Austin concerning the death of Derrion Albert. Watch clips from the show below.
There is no better time to start talking than now. Derrion Albert was beaten to death and the video recordings have been released. Three have been charged in the murder and there are probably more to follow, because the video images are revealing.
We must start snitchin' for the sake of Derrion Albert and his family. Please call Chicago Police Area Two if you have any additional information involving more people who may have been to blame in Derrion Albert's death. Area Two: 312-747-8272.
CEO of Chicago's High Achievers, Jinny English, gives her analysis of the tragic event and the players surrounding the death of Derrion Albert.
I got sick to my stomach when I heard that Derrion Albert was beaten to death. A mob descended upon the 16 year-old Fenger honor student as the war casualty succombed to a beating by several dozen people. The Chicago Tribune reported that "Milton Massie, the executive director of the Agape Community Center and other witnesses said it started out with about 10 teens and quickly escalated to more than 50. Massie said most of the teens were using their hands and feet, but he saw at least one using a 2-by-4."
Have we become savages? Where is mob behavior like this learned?
Don't blame video games, music videos, or the film industry. Put the blame on human beings - who should know better.
Savagery: 1 a : the quality of being savage b : an act of cruelty or violence 2 : an uncivilized state.
The group that cowardly moved in to kill a defenseless teenager should be on surveillance cameras - the question: Was the Blue and White Police camera in operation? If so, is the video clear enough to make out the individual thugs in this brutal slaying? Would people be wiling to point out the perpetrators?
Let's try to get justice as we have a requiem for Derrion Albert.
Thank God Robert Maday was caught today. Escaping Thursday morning from 2 Cook County officers transporting him, Maday was on the loose, putting fear into the Chicago area. Solution: offenders should have GPS locators under their skin. Check out the police radio chatter.
Robert Maday: Courtesy Buffalo Grove Police Dept.
Yeah, I know it sounds Orwellian, but Robert Maday would've been captured within an hour. He was on the loose, carjacking people, robbing the First American Bank (at Gary and Schick), boasting, "I'm the guy you saw on the news and I'm robbing this bank." John Dillinger, eat your heart out.
After his escape, schools had to be on lockdown - in fear of a Maday sighting. Thankfully U.S. Marshals caught him after a car accident at Illinois Rt. 59 and North Avenue in West Chicago. A waste of agents, officers, time, and money. A Global Positioning System would have decreased the stress.
GPS in human beings is right around the corner. I'll lobby for this so that we won't have another Robert Maday on the loose.
When a superstar dies, other tragic news stories take a back seat. Let's not forget about Chastity Turner who lost her life during a drive-by shooting in Englewood. She was washing the family pets when shots rang out, killing her and injuring her father and two of his friends.
Jada Justice has been missing for over a week and a child's body was found east of Hwy 421 in LaPorte County, Indiana. The coroner states that they believe the body is Jada Justice.
Tragedies are gutwrenching - and we don't want to gloss over the losses occurring in not-so-famous families. Michael Jackson's untimely death is significant. But getting cut down while cleaning your pet is utterly inhumane.
So Jada and Chastity, we are remembering you today - as adults still remain clueless when it comes to keeping children safe. We have failed you and may your blood cry out for justice, in this not-so-nice world.
Don't touch me, don't whistle, and don't try to rub my shoulders.
It's about time someone stepped up to defend women on the CTA. It must be terrible to have an anonymous hand on your rear while traveling 'ever so cramped' on a bus or train. Cowards and perverts are going to get their due from a group called the Rogers Park Young Women's Action Team. Determined to shut down unsolicited advances from men are Daphnee Renee, Lillian Mutumni, and Ronette Lockett. They are tired of men thinking that they can say and do anything they want while traveling on CTA vehicles.
To all men who have tried to touch a woman on the CTA ...don't try it. It's disrepectful and tacky. If you wish to ogle, go to Hooter's...if you wish to touch, get a wife.
When does a compliment or a shoulder nudge go too far? Should more women report "so-called" incidental brushes and touches?
I'm not happy at all to say that I know families that have been affected by heinous crimes: burglary, assault, battery, rape, and embezzlement. But what's the deal on murderers getting sentenced to a "few" years, and even "fewer" years with "good behavior? See Trib story.
Rat tat tat tat - Those of you familiar with the classic Dr. Dre breakout album, The Chronic, should be familiar with this phrase and this song. If not, seek the Urban Dictionary definition.
The phrase is onamatopoeia for automatic weapons being shot in the streets. Sadly, this is common and in Chicago, the lyrics imitate life.
"Rat tat tat tat, tat tat tat like that, neva hesitate to put a "Ni%^&" on his back."
It is no mystery that 500 people are killed in Chicago each year. Unemployment, desperation, urban warfare, glorification of illegal trade - and a thriving rap music industry with inexpensive production costs, and heavy distribution channels to suburban kids who fantasize about a trip to Englewood or Compton with a '64 Impala on Crenshaw. Creative songs are one thing, but officer Alex Valadez's death is real.
Snoop later in the song exclaims, "So quit the chit chat for you find yoself flat on yo bizzack. Trick buster just like a punk a** kizzop."
Snoop and Dre aren't hardened criminals - they are producers who live in nice houses, in a galaxy far, far away - from da' hood. The joke is that they have created a living by developing an image of an image. A facsimile of a portrayal. Yeah right, "Rat tat tat tat, tat tat tat like that, neva hesitate to put a "Ni%^&" on his back." Dre doesn't even consider himself a "Ni%*&." Go figure.
If I'm not wearing a suit, I fit the stereotype of just another trifling Black man who may be a criminal. So why am I not surprised when the suspects of most of this past weekends crimes are Black? Because it is a sign of the times - in Austin, Englewood, Roseland, Gary, B-More, St. Lunatics, and Compton. Black folks killing people, with little to no remorse.
I know it's hard out here for African Americans. Our unemployment numbers are ridiculous, educational attainment is low, expectations are grim, gang affiliation and incarceration are badges of honor. But will "so-called" African Americans ever get over the straight jackets of oppression, depression, and suppression? The suspects, Shawn Gaston and Kevin Walker, have been charged with the murder of officer Alejandro "Alex" Valadez. Damn, the suspects just had to be "bruthas."
The crimes have become personalized now. Alex Arellano's death isn't just a murder; his death is a deliberate act of violence involving not just bullets, but baseball bats, cars, and an accelerant. This 15 year-old was singled out and assassinated. But why? See Tribune story.
Tracy Swartz, RedEye reporter, has found that Chicago deaths are centralized into specific neighborhoods. Which begs the question, "Is there a significant police presence in these centralized murder zones?" See her article here.
