Retied Vocational Education Teacher

By James J. Hankins

THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY AND EXPERT STAFF THAT SLOWED DOWN THE OPIOID CRISIS IN WILMINGTON, NC CAN SLOW DOWN THE SHOOTING CRISIS.

There are many community groups doing a great job with their limited resources to help solve this crisis. We need the city leaders to develop a department to deal with these shooting, lack of jobs and job training crisis. They can secure grants to coordinate with the other community groups. Whatever task force Wilmington has been paying to work on these problems are doing nothing and must be replaced. Drive-by shooter, your mother, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousins, teachers, friends, the minister (the last time you were in a church) and your higher power, all said. “Do not kill”. Gunslingers, you say you could not do four years in high school because it was boring, but, the gangster in you, can do twenty years in a boring filthy prison with no central heat or air.

The food is worse than a school lunch and if they serve a dessert, the older and stronger cons will take it from you. Remember there is not enough space to keep prisoners six feet apart, no new facemask every day, few bottles of hand liquid or wipes to sanitize the bars, not enough warm water to wash your hands seven times a day, but there is an abundance of Covid-19, a “real killer”, in many cells.  A brave MAN, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said in a speech. “Before you speak negatively about a person ask yourself, is it true, necessary, helpful and lastly is it kind? If your answer is NO, maybe you should keep your mouth shut and mine your own business. Before you show your “running buddies” that you are BAD and will shoot anyone who disrespects you.

Take a few minutes to look around, take a deep breath because you will throw away your car, money, boy or girl friend, all the good food your mother cooked, a cool tall one and wings as you watch the game with your friends and bet on your team – all your dreams, freedom and maybe the rest of your life.  Ask yourself? Is shooting this person you hate so much necessary, is it true what he said about you, and who will you help by killing him or her.  Two families will attend a funeral, one physically at the graveyard and the other emotionally when the judge sends you to prison and the bailiff walks you out that side door. Both mothers and fathers will die inside and grieve forever. Please take a long look in your mirror and tell yourself then your “homebo,” it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Find a job, any job and remember that work is not a punishment, but a blessing.

Start working on your GED, learn a trade, go to community college. Listen to your parents, teachers, positive friends and follow the teachings of your grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ higher power. You are not a ganster, brother, and sister; you are loved by many and that alone makes you somebody. Is my all-American city, Wilmington, NC the only community with a drive-by shooting crisis???