What's wrong with this little boy's fingers?
On Sunday, November 13, 2011, 6-year-old Marshown Means was shot in the chest at his grandfather's Morgan Park neighborhood home on the 1700 block of West Steuben Street. The child is expected to survive, but his troubles may be far from over.
Initially, the media said Means was shot during a game of "Cops and Robbers".
However, Means' uncle, Jerome Triplett, said the 6-year-old shooting victim told him that his 14-year-old uncle said he hated him, right before he pulled the trigger.
In my opinion, that doesn't sound like a game. It sounds like the 14-year-old uncle is a sociopath.
According to a ABC7 News report, Nalena Triplett, Marshown Means' mother, was aware that her child was in danger, long before he was popped in the chest.
Nalena told the press that she asked her younger brother to stop showing her baby guns. That means Nalena knew her son was being exposed to dangerous weapons and as far as I'm concerned, she's just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger.
Sadly, Nalena's questionable parenting skills aren't the only thing that's troubling me.
A photo of Marshown Means, taken from a Facebook page, appears to show the 6-year-old boy throwing up gang signs.
Means appears to be representing the Black Disciples; who just happen to have a strong presence in the Morgan Park neighborhood.
Question: If Marshown is not flashing a gang sign, why did the media blur his fingers?
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| The Black Disciple's gang sign. |
Lay off the mother. You can't choose your family. In subsequent statements to the press she has demanded that her brother be charged. It is quite possible that the horrible photo of her son shows the bad influence of her brother on Marshown. Reporting indicates this is something she knew about and was trying to deal with. 6 year olds of all socioeconomic backgrounds emulate older children they think are cool. This is a terrible story but the only despicable person is the shooter and in the abc story every other member of the family that speaks to the press says as much.
ReplyDeleteI loose sympathy for shooting victim when photos like these come out only if this victim is old enough to know better.
There is a real crisis within certain cultural segments of the black population that society at large is squeamish about speaking honestly and openly about. Blogs like this one and others fill the void and provide an outlet and a forum. But you risk making people in the mainstream even more nervous about debate when you are too heavy handed in your judgment.
You have enough to think ill of the cousin, it is a real stretch at this point to think ill of the victim or his mother. It is also, given the circumstances, insensitive.
Report on the facts and leave your dumbass bullshit opinions to your self...
ReplyDeletefact: someone thought it was cute to have a toddler flash gang signs. per your request, i'll keep my opinion to myself.
ReplyDelete"14-year-old uncle"
ReplyDeletewat
That's a shame. In Detroit they're usually at least 9 or 10 years old before considered by many as "too far gone". Really a shame.
ReplyDeleteI applaud the mother and any other family member for wanting this ghetto thug arrested, though it's a little late. It's a disgrace this little boy was shot and has to grow up in an environment where guns and gang signs are the norm. However, IF this mom was trying to keep her brother from showing guns to her son and he was ignoring her, why did she even allow those guns in the house? Why wasn't this ghetto thug turned in for ILLEGAL gun possession BEFORE a little boy got shot? While it's true little kids emulate older kids, surely this mom knew this ghetto thug was in a gang and throwing up gang signs around her baby and surely she saw her baby throwing up gang signs. Related or not, that ghetto thug would NOT have been allowed around my kid. Maybe she should have tried harder to keep guns and gangs away from her baby. The good thing is he didn't die! The bad thing? Everyone failed that baby because they all allowed guns and gang mentality around that baby.
ReplyDeleteIT STARTS AT HOME!
To remind those who think the author should keep his opinions to himself, and everyone else for that matter, SOMEONE has to say it and this is a private blog so the author and the commenters DON"T have to be PC! IF you want PC watch the news, they sugarcoat everything and that should make you all fell the world is peachy keeny.
You really nailed it and unlike the propagandistic media you delved beneath the surface to get the true picture of what the context was of this occurrence. The media just tries to airbrush stories so as to spin them their way.
ReplyDeleteObviously the kid's family is gang affiliated and so the child will be initiated into the gang life when he gets older. He'll probably be third generation. Grandparents in that milieu are usually in their thirties. These people cost a fortune in the inordinate amount of social services they consume: welfare, counselors, judges, police, probation officers, special ed teachers, social workers, corrections staff, the list just goes on.
One thing I learned when I worked in social services was that most of these kid's worst enemies are their own parents.
Haha Towanda at it again. "Ghetto thugs" and "don't be PC!" Only two statements "she" can ever come up with. You sound like a drunk parrot!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous@2:22,
ReplyDeleteAnd I see your reading comprehension hasn't improved. You simply see the buzz words you're looking for and nothing else in the comment. Your contribution to this blog and it's comments shows your lack of education and reading skills. I love the way I ALWAYS hit a nerve with you.
Kinda agree on Towanda. I agree with many of his/her points, not all (and you with mine in the past) but that "ghetto thug" rhetoric thrown at EVERYTHING is tiring.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost as if "cut/paste" is used for every article.
Never seen a 6 year old lookin' so thug-like...great job, Gramma!!
ReplyDeleteshe didn't turn him in for illegal gun possession cos she knew the consequences....same as if the family got busted for drugs, the youngest takes the rap....unlikely she had the education, funds, chances, to pack up her baby and move away. When you grow up in a total shithole, it takes years to see it for what it is. and to GET OUT AND AWAY.
ReplyDeletedayummm dat lil thug gonna have da serious credibility in da (c)Rap game... shot at 6? thats gangsta yo!!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous@3:06,
ReplyDeleteNow you know that's my term and it seems you use the "cut & paste" with me a lot as well. It's a term, my term and I'm entitle to it. Read the entire article rather then just seeing or looking for my "term". It is so much more then that. The "term" is not the content of the comment and you know that.
Have to agree with towanda. I'd much rather read his/her comment than those of the anonymous 2:22 and 3:06. I like ghetto thug, it about says it all. What should they be called, cupcake? sunshine? good old boys? PC? I think it's time we stop being so fucking pc. Look what it's got us, absolutely nowhere.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's the fault of the parent in this case. Throw out all the socioeconomic excuses you want, if you're not prepared to have a kid, you don't have to. Birth control can be gotten for free at Planned Parenthood. Or you can, you know, keep your legs closed. You can have an abortion, you can have the baby and give it up for adoption. You can even just drop the baby off at a hospital - or leave it there after having it with no consequences. There's NO EXCUSE. This mother chose to have a child and to allow this child to be exposed to an environment she knew was bad, bad, bad. A 6 year old is just a baby and doesn't know the gang signs are a bad thing, he's just emulating what's around him like all kids do. It's really sad. It's entirely the fault of the people who chose to have this baby. Now he has to pay the consequences. And the cycle continues.
ReplyDelete"Question: If Marshown is not flashing a gang sign, why did the media blur his fingers?"
ReplyDeleteFirst -ITS THE MEDIA...their goal is to HAVE a topic like this come up for debate. He's a young black male-he's already set up for failure in the inner city, with limited resources. Second how do you know he's doing a "gang sign" and not the number 3? How do we know how old this picture is?-he could have been "3". I'm all for "opinions" but to pass judgement on a child based off ONE picture you're worst than the people who says everyone in the music industry is affiliated with the "Illuminati" because of pictures and hand signs. Its not like "HE" was the one who pulled the trigger if allegations came out he shot himself or shot someone else while playing with the gun, I'd be all for investigating further into what type of activity he has been around.
Thirdly everyone is jumping on the parent in this situation..mind you allegedly this is the "grandfathers" home..it was reported the mother and Marshown did not even reside there, he was dropped off for a weekend visit. So if you cant trust relatives then who can you trust? Sadly the grandfathers girlfriend an ADULT was in the home when the incident happened, BUT just so happens she was in the bathroom..THAT sounds like crap to me..
Yes we have to be better parents, but the author stated that her son was being exposed to dangerous weapons, MAYBE HE WAS....however HE wasn't the one who pulled the trigger-MAYBE the 6yr old has more sense than the 13yr old, Maybe Triplett DID tell her "6yr old" son how dangerous guns were...when she should have been talking to the 13yr old Uncle..Bottom line until a child is of age-they mimic-they mimic their surroundings at school, from friends, etc...and sometimes WE, as parents cant help that-It does not mean his FAMILY had anything to do with it..I've seen the ENTIRE picture that this picture is cropped from...and there are other children on their doing peace signs and things with their fingers-doesn't look gang related to ME...but again I'm an advocate for children and not one to pass blame on a child who's been here for ONLY 6yrs....and the VICTIM in the situation -had it been ANY other circumstance...maybe -but FACT is he didn't even have the gun, and didn't want to play with his 13yr old Uncle. SO MAYBE JUST MAYBE out of ANYBODY in this situation Marshown KNEW guns were bad
Anonymous @7:47- I completely agree with you, the 6-year old is not to blame.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, your response was bogus. Is it really 2011 and we are still tossing around the excuse that blacks in the inner city are destined to fail? The issue here is the lack of responsibility we take as adults to protect children. Sadly this responsibility is for the parent/parents alone. We can't blame the school system for how dumb your child is... monkey see monkey do.
I'm not saying bad parenting is only found in one racial community. It's universal... (aliens eat their first born...true story). There are gangs and have been gangs and violent bottom feeders in every culture, in every decade, in every corner of the world.
The issue is that is accepted as the norm in the black community. It is a shame that people still look at normal, law abiding, kind, and intelligent black individual and think "wow, good for them." I'm half-black and I catch myself thinking that often. This should be the norm, not the other way around.
The excuses made for these situations are the real danger. I'm from the South, I grew up in the heart of a "racist" state. People would say things purely based on their perception of what black people were like (thugs, uneducated, thieves, and children) most of the black people they knew were just good normal people and buddies of theirs.
Coming to a city like Chicago though, you realize why racism exists. I forget to think about the good people I know and assume everyone is a dumb ass thug. When excuses are made for this behavior and failure is expected, progress is never made. The community as a whole has been stuck in the same rut for decades with little progression. (Please someone say, but we have a black president. HA)
Even if our President was really black, he is just a guy, a normal human being, who strives to be the best he can be, whose parent/parents wanted the best for him and more times than not, put his needs before their own.
With that being said, who knows how this cycle will be broken. Maybe Child Services needs to ramp up their numbers, start ripping children from young parents, drug users, alcoholics, abusers, and idiots and send them to a boarding school where they watch superhero movies where the good guy always wins and the bad guys die of AIDS, drug overdose, or some other communicable disease. Let's pull the troops from Iraq and start fighting the terrorist in our own country (pretty sure that was a Black-Eyed Peas inspired quote.)
Anonymous@11:15
ReplyDeleteBRAVO to you! Maybe you should consider running for office.We need people like you involved in changing the perception and ridding this city of the excuses for unacceptable behavior.
IT STARTS AT HOME!
Exactly right now you get free healthcare, food stamps and many other benefits for being a single mother plus that nice income tax return every year with you could buy yourself a good car!
ReplyDeleteYoung Mothers are the problem we blame the fathers but seriously these women are going and getting with anything and everything so she doesn't have to really work
Anonymous@11:15
ReplyDeleteSOOO out of everything Anonymous @7:47 you chose to dwell on the ONE sentence of a FACT of him being a young black male in an inner city with limited resources.
Here lies the problem people hear and see what they want to. Just let me know IF ever you drop a child off at a relatives and they get hurt-AND I PRAY its nothing serious like this...that "it starts at home"
Anonymous @7:47 made 3 valid points if you as me...The TOPIC of this blog was about the 6yr old being a gang banger in training-when he was the only one who didn't even want to play cops and robbers...so I'm trying to figure out how did he become the gang banger in training and not the 13yr old..Was this all based on a picture of him holding his fingers up...are you kidding me?...Oh and BY THE WAY ...a BD(Black Disciple) symbol doesn't look anything like that-JUST SO YOU KNOW...the fingers are closer together...but since you all think he's in training MAYBE he'll learn that later. Now I'm not saying
there should be no blame I actually agree with HIS SHADOW@ 2:33 who KNOWS what Mom is doing she has 4 babies Marshown was the second oldest....What MARSHOWN needs now is positive attention...not negative reinforcement...If anybody's photos should be under surveillance it should be adult family members
Hi guys um yeah america is killing everyonr by the hundreds and thousands oh we not sopose to talk about that ok i got you lets talk about a boy fingers and lets forget the fact that he was three when he took this family picture, oh and the gang called BDN their colors are red and blue, just wanted to add that, i do hope the 13 year old uncle get the help he need, I hope nothing like this ever happen again to anyone family,i was just thinking about what type of people who would blog negative shit about a 6 yr old boy who was shot, fat people racist and people who never passed the 7th grade lmfao shame on you loser
ReplyDeleteI bought weed from that little boy.
ReplyDeleteI bet if you post pics of your kids I can point out some gang references in them too...foolish adults
ReplyDeleteJudging by your obvious command of the English language, you are either related to this child or a member of his community. You are exactly what I was talking about, it's people like you that make it hard for a brother like me to walk down the street without being stereotyped.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably to blame for why this child was shot.
That kid stole my xbox and my girl!
ReplyDeleteMarshown means thug life in French. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteSome of you people should be in school or at least have some type of parental control on your computer. Those ignorant comments show your lack of education and stupidity. You know who the hell you are.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous@12:53 & 12:00, to name a few.
Anonymous@12:13,
Nope, my kids, who are ADULTS, wouldn't think of putting pictures on FaceBook looking like they're flashing gang signs or even one with them flipping someone off in the picture. It's a mentality with some in the black community, who then think they're being cool. FaceBook seems to be a place for some of you to tell the world and show the world your thug mentality. See what you're teaching little kids? Change the behavior. "Teach your children well"...
You're out of control and this little boy getting shot shows just how much! A grandfather giving a loaded gun to his kid who then shots his grandchild should go to jail for a long time and his kid should be right beside him. This is what you thugs teach your children...3 generations of thugs. Maybe the little boy can get out of the hell his family has put him in. That would truly be a miracle!
"A grandfather giving a loaded gun to his kid who then shots his grandchild should go to jail for a long time and his kid should be right beside him. This is what you thugs teach your children...3 generations of thugs. Maybe the little boy can get out of the hell his family has put him in. That would truly be a miracle!" @Towanda, I could NOT AGREE MORE...but this is why the child should not be the one to pick apart here-somebody should have gotten a still shot of that mother! A silly lunatic "He was always showing my baby guns" Are you serious lady..? If you KNEW that why was "your baby" still allowed in the home with the person showing guns?
ReplyDeleteTowanda!! Towanda Talley?? Is that you???
ReplyDeleteMan, it's unbearable when you're on the bus and a little six year old turdler is in a monkey rage, it's all you can do to not snap at the mother and tell her to keep her legs closed next time.
ReplyDelete