Jaye's Rant 6: Tomorrow's Too Late

[Jaye101]

Tomorrow's Too Late
Jelani Laws

The summer’s heat Sunday, July 29th, 2007, persuaded me to open my back door. My mother came downstairs quite angry—the time was 3:15 am, and the television was blaring.

At this time 25-year old Michael George would probably have been driving north on Morningside Avenue towards his girlfriend’s house, unaware of the imminent danger that awaited him.

She fumed about the open backdoor. I refused to feel unsafe to open my backdoor.

Completely justified, I left the door open. It was shortly after, that five gun shots went off as if the gun itself was inside my head.

Living near the intersection of Morningside and Finch, gunshots were regular this summer. This was the third time in three weeks my family was awakened by these illegal firearms.

In a frantic panic, I instinctively locked the backdoor and ran upstairs to safety. I checked that each member of my family was accounted for—they were in a state of shock. To feel this unsafe in your own home is a crime in itself.

It was 3:30 am and the police were now arriving.

As the sirens bellowed up Morningside Avenue, I stood on my front lawn and watched paramedics perform C.P.R on a gun shot victim.

The paramedics moved the victim onto a stretcher then placed him in the Ambulance. However, the ambulance did not proceed to the hospital.

The minutes passed by as if they were days. The police told those who watched that the paramedics would stabilize the victim before they would proceed to the hospital.

A black Pontiac sped down the road and 3 people rushed out with desperation.

The mother, the father and the sister—all distraught beyond the most delicate state of vulnerability.

The father ran up to one of the police officers, and interrogated them anxiously.

“That’s my son in there!”

A deep sadness came over me as I heard the passion and distress in his voice. The minutes passed as if they were days. The father paced back and forth.

“His name is Michael,” he whispered.

I went inside and got him a glass of water. He paced back and forth as his son lay inside the ambulance fighting for his life.

The minutes passed by as if they were days. The anxiety was contagious, and many of the neighbours wept.

A special investigator slowly walked over and spoke to the father, in a voice too faint to be heard.

It would soon be evident what was said.

“I lost my son!”

I witnessed a young man lose his life and the images of his family are burnt into the back of my mind.

People don’t quite realize the reality of the issue until they watch the events unravel as I did on that Sunday morning.

Toronto is a safe city in many respects. In fact it’s the safest large city on the continent. However, if you walk down Dundas near Parliament at midnight and have the delusional impression that no harm will come to you, then obviously a statistic has been misinterpreted.

In Malvern, many people have The Gangster Mentality. It is a small ratio of the populous, however this does not mean that the problem is non-existent whatsoever.

There is a problem, but if we continue to compare ourselves to the United States to determine the status of crime in Toronto, our problems will remain unresolved.

Toronto is not Sao Paulo or Mexico City, but you cannot compare statistics to exonerate crimes committed in the city.

It all relies on perspective. The problem is much more real to one who resides in Regent Park as opposed Riverdale.

Trouble usually only find those who seek it, and the majority of the murders are of active criminals. However people in these neighbourhoods have their quality of life significantly affected by this small minority.

When I look back, I’ll always remember that the nightly news is not a cheap episode of C.S.I.

Until many of the politicians witness these types of events for themselves—victims will remain only numbers.

Waiting one day can possibly mean one more life lost to mindless violence. We must act today to ensure the lives of tomorrow.

[Taller, Better]

OMG what a horrible experience, Jaye... must have really shaken you up.

[mariokarter]

Why can't people just stop Fing shooting eachother already??? Its crazy! Where are you moving to in Riverdale buddy?

[leaf345]

This shit needs to stop, but I think the problem is too big to expect solutions quickly. We need a total revamp within our society. It is pretty pathetic that violence on TV is perfectly fine but show a little bit of skin and you have all the parent groups up in arms.

[Regan4000]

If gang members want to kill each other, then that's fine I suppose. It's just too bad this fighting occurs on residential streets. That young kid who got caught in the cross fire the other day was terrible.

How about the city sets up a massive warehouse, paintball type thing, but instead all the gang members can use real guns.

Those who feel like killing and being endangered of being killed can take all their aggression out on each other in confined quarters.

Coroners can wait outside until the majority of everyone is dead, and hopefully, it will wipe the slate clean of those who wish to shoot one another.

[Jaye101]

Originally Posted by mariokarter

Why can't people just stop Fing shooting eachother already??? Its crazy! Where are you moving to in Riverdale buddy?

May end up moving to East York or The Upper Beaches, haven't found a place in the area yet.

I'm okay, it's just that feeling that anyone you love can be taken from you so quickly with no warning. It was a really saddening event to witness and although it was a bit traumatizing, I think that I'll be a better person because of it.

[b13]

^ Jaye101 that post is really really touching, I think you should submit it to the star or news boradcasts or something!!

[Filip]

That is truly horrible to hear.. Gun violence is a plague on any city, but this just hits us so close to home.

You have a great knack at writing, Jaye. Pursue your career in journalism - you'll do incredibly well.

[Jackie003]

Sorry to hear that man. Everyone okay?

[Steeltown]

Really sorry to hear about this.

[look@round]

Scary... and really well written btw.
I hope you're OK, attending such an event can really be sort of traumatizing I guess...

[rick1016]

You in Scarborough?

[Taller, Better]

Good idea to move, Jaye.. the Upper Beaches is so much nicer to live in anyway... close to the water and on the streetcar line and not that far from home so you can visit easily.
I saw in the paper yesterday about this mindless slaughter. What a shame.

[heckles]

It sucks that Toronto has an increasing gun problem, but these stories hit close to home. Its different when you see it happening in front of your eyes.

Very sad. I'm amazed that TO has been able to have as low a violent crime rate as it has, but with the increase in population this is bound to happen. TO still has low crime rates, but I forsee a future where gun crime will continue to increase. Its unfortunate.

[caltrane74]

notice you never hear about shootings in Regent Park anymore?

the samething needs to happen at Jamestown and Jane Finch.

Let's see how bad gun crime is then.

[kettal]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

notice you never hear about shootings in Regent Park anymore?

the samething needs to happen at Jamestown and Jane Finch.

Let's see how bad gun crime is then.

Because half of Regent Park has been evacuated??

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by kettal

Because half of Regent Park has been evacuated??

exactly. Now its time for Jane-and-Finch to be evacuated and redeveloped into mixed income housing.

[noob(but not really)]

Speaking of Regent Park, I heard on the radio last night about a shooting at an apartment on Gerrard between Parliament and Sumach.

Well, either it was in Regent Park and they didn't report it that way, or it was in one of the two or so buildings that would fit that description without being in Regent Park :S

...just thought you'd all like to know.

[Jaye101]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

exactly. Now its time for Jane-and-Finch to be evacuated and redeveloped into mixed income housing.

Lawrence Heights is next! I have an interview with Howard Moscoe (councillor in the ward), and David Miller about the future redevelopment of Lawrence Heights for my magazine.

[Electrify]

Unfortunately, the gun is a mere tool to a much deeper problem. Even if we somehow destroyed every single gun in existence, these youths would use knives or some other weapon to kill each other. There is definitely a deeper problem that must be addressed.

I was actually along Finch West last night and it seemed very nice. As a young adult who has no affiliation with any gangs, I would not mind living around there, and would rather live there than say Parkdale. At least the gangs just kill other gangs and if you mind your own business, you should be okay. Who knows what some mentally unstable crackhead would do. However, to raise a family there must be torture, since your kids might be tempted to join gangs since their friends might be joining them and as a parent there is not much you can do.