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From Blacksburg to the Bay Area
"When a young person is seen as having a bright future, their life seems more valuable - at least in terms of media coverage - than someone living in a city like Richmond."
By Ayesha Walker
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, Youth Radio's Ayesha Walker reflects on violence in her own city...Richmond. Ayesha says while the mass shooting of 33 people shocked the nation, no one is shocked when young people die from gun violence in her neighborhood.
The heartbreaking incident at Virginia Tech makes me think of the ongoing devastation in my own city...Richmond, California. A lot of people were horrified by the number of people killed at Virginia Tech—33--in the span of a few hours. Here in the Bay Area, we see that number die in slow motion—shot to death on inner city streets each month.
This isn't Point Richmond, where bike trails surround parks near the San Francisco Bay, or Hilltop Green Richmond, where fast food restaurants have restroom floors that look spit shined. I live on the grimy, gutter, flat land; the Southside of "da Rich", where you can't even rub your bare feet in the sand by the Bay because there's a chance you might step on a used crack needle. Even the humming birds know there's something fishy about the city and it's not the smell coming from Richmond's bay. In the Bay Area, cities like Oakland and San Francisco are known for their violence. And in Richmond, little boys even take pride in living in one of the most dangerous cities in America.
In November of last year, there was yet another shooting in my hometown, but this one was different. It was my seventeen year-old cousin Jr. - one of my best friends. The night of the shooting, when my family hadn't heard from him since that morning, we knew something was wrong. Finally, we heard he had been shot in the leg. Jr. was hospitalized, and now he's ok. But I was left wondering, why was my little cousin shot? He told me it happened because of the people he kicks it with. He was standing in the way of one of his friends - the real target.
But I felt I had to somehow get inside my cousin's head. I wasn't sure if he would actually learn a lesson from the shooting experience, or if he'd close himself off to the world, too scared to even come outside. And I knew there was a slight chance he might think of retaliation. Thinking of that last possibility, I was scared for his life.
I talked to Jr. about my fears, and helped to find him a job. He managed to move on. Now, he devotes most of his time to working rather than hanging out with friends on the street.
The shootings at Virginia Tech were devastating--and the story affected the whole country. When a young person is seen as having a bright future, their life seems more valuable - at least in terms of media coverage - than someone living in a city like Richmond. Here, our tragedy is so embedded in the city that it doesn't make the headlines. It's just what we're known for.
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