Uncle Luke: Blame Rundle, Monestime, and Pastors for Violence That Killed 6-Year-Old
Six-year-old King Carter, seen here with his father Santonio, was killed by gunfire last weekend.
photo via Tangela Sears’ Facebook
None of us is doing enough to stop the killings.
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This past Saturday, stray bullets killed King Carter, a 6-year-old first-grader who played little-league football for the Liberty City Optimist Club.
I founded the club more than 25 years ago. I’m also a friend of the boy’s family.
Little King was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between several thugs as he played outside with his friends at an apartment complex at NW 103 Lane and NW 12th Avenue, Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez told the Miami Herald.
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Back in my day, outlaws followed a strict moral code of not shooting women and children. Today, grandmamas and their grandbabies have become collateral damage.
The day after King was killed, I participated in a march and vigil at the murder scene with the usual cast of politicians, pastors, and community activists. I sat through the same speeches these individuals make every time a black kid gets killed.
And when a father spoke about how he found his son, eyes popped out after being shot, I was deeply hurt and angry. I thought about my six-year-old son and started crying.
So I took the lectern and turned to our state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle. I let her know that the assassins killing black children have no respect for her. They don’t fear her or anyone else because she doesn’t seem to enforce a Florida law that mandates anyone who shoots a gun during the commission of a felony, regardless of whether someone is shot, gets 25 years to life in prison. She needs to lock up these gutless killers forever and a day.
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Back in my day, outlaws followed a strict moral code of not shooting women and children. Today, grandmamas and their grandbabies have become collateral damage.
The day after King was killed, I participated in a march and vigil at the murder scene with the usual cast of politicians, pastors, and community activists. I sat through the same speeches these individuals make every time a black kid gets killed.
And when a father spoke about how he found his son, eyes popped out after being shot, I was deeply hurt and angry. I thought about my six-year-old son and started crying.
So I took the lectern and turned to our state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle. I let her know that the assassins killing black children have no respect for her. They don’t fear her or anyone else because she doesn’t seem to enforce a Florida law that mandates anyone who shoots a gun during the commission of a felony, regardless of whether someone is shot, gets 25 years to life in prison. She needs to lock up these gutless killers forever and a day.
But Rundle is not the only elected official to blame. I also condemned Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jean Monestime for failing to provide more funding to community programs that provide a safe haven for black boys and girls. Monestime and the other black county commissioners gladly hand over funding to huge conglomerates doing charitable work, but groups such as Liberty City Optimist have to fight for even the crumbs. Blacks are paying taxes to fund entities like the Miami-Dade Children’s Trust that don’t do shit for the African-American community.
I told the area’s pastors they are also to blame because they use their pulpits to support the same do-nothing politicians who have held office for years.
And finally I addressed the young men perpetrating the gun violence. To the ones who were being shot at and shot back, they need to go the police right now. They need to man up. They think not snitching makes them hard. In reality, they are cowards.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.