There is a marble monument enshrined with Robert’s favorite belongings in the very spot where he was shot [died] made from the scraps of some kitchen countertops. This monument is encircled with toys of every texture, color and form; stuffed bears to plastic toy trucks, it was constructed by Robert’s father and embellished by the children of the neighborhood. Flanking both sides of the shrine are benches built by the children and their fathers, looking like dusty, worn lonely soldiers, guarding the precious spirit of this lost young one. It is a very powerful reminder of the tragedy of reckless errant bullets and the one that struck Robert when he was on his way to acla’s casita for an afternoon of socialization and play.
The [almost] perverse memorial is in front of the Casita & next to the Spiraling Orchard Park at the nexus of the hood on Court St, aligned to Bixel St., the main entrance and exit to the hood. These errant bullets were fired from atop Bixel, aimed at a passing car moving towards the nexus. As one traverses the hood by car or on foot, you are drawn to the visually disturbing marble shrine and must reflect on the sorrow felt by all, as the shooter was from the hood, where he learned his unsavory self indulgent gang life.....while Robert lived next door to the spiraling casita and had been engaged in acla’s daily enrichment activities.
I have always drawn the parallel that living with irrational gangsters is like living with irrational religious zealots, otherwise known as terrorists. They share a similar self-righteous posture, which alludes to providing safety and support to stabilize the community. When really these illusions of protection are only subterfuge to basically operate within their defined rules and agenda, with total autonomy. They rule by intimidation and perpetuate a degree of fear universally felt, but not talked about.
This incident brought out a sense of unacceptable injustice and was considered necessary to express collectively. Immediately, a group of residents asked acla to help them set up separate dialogues for the men and the women, as well as together with the children. They wanted to stand up and make noise, not retreat into their complacency and fear as they had done so many times before. Now the fear had power to strike out at the lack of support the hood had felt it needed, yet not received as we have fought this [terrorist] battle for years.
The social service whores came out in droves to save the day, inflicting the community with their unwarranted familiarity and over-educated pomposity of presence. Again, we witnessed the community react to the exploitation by these strangers. Community members confronted them personally, asking the individuals to leave the hood and allowthe neighborhood their private and personal mourning period.
The hood became a platform for all the politicians who were up for reelection in a few months time and this site was within their districts. Most of them had never been to the hood before or ever assisted acla with bringing resources to the families of Spiraling Orchard. This is not a sexy neighborhood; though it is filled with politically [correct] opportunities for legacy, yet conflicting legacies have been built at the expense of this community, not for this community. I will talk about that later.....
The news media made the hood out to be a miserable collection of gang related individuals who were depraved of normal family values and mores. Actually, there could not be anything more from the truth, as these very close knit families; i.e. Robert’s family home housed four generations of grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters and cousins.................. who collectively purchased the 8 bedroom duplex next door to the casita in 2003 making them one of the newer families in the neighborhood.