A Boy’s Promise Is Stolen Away on Streets of L.A.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, 11 people were killed in Los Angeles. Christopher Jacobs was one of them. He was only 16.

Christopher was a remarkably bright student who made his classmates smile and brought hope to his teachers and the administrative staff at California Charter Academy, Los Angeles. The staff at CCA-Los Angeles always enjoyed his beautiful spirit as he bonded with them. Their bond far exceeded traditional schools; it was like family.

Christopher excelled academically, receiving A’s in his classes, and as a student government member passionately voiced his plans to improve student morale. He motivated his fellow classmates to participate in class and to stay on task with their studies.

As his teacher, I found Christopher’s charm and grace profound. He assisted me when no other students volunteered. Whether it was correcting sentences in our daily lessons or reading aloud when no one else dared, I could always depend on Christopher’s warm support.

Christopher, like most of our young men, was fed up with the violence that marks our streets. He frequently said that he was sick of not being able to walk in his own neighborhood and that he wished the madness would just stop. Christopher wanted to leave Los Angeles and get away from all this violence. He wanted to go to Virginia, but now he’ll never make that journey.

Just months ago, he and I discussed how a young man was killed at Western and 48th, near his home. I never dreamed I would be writing about my student with the big, bright smile and Bugs Bunny backpack. Christopher was just an innocent boy walking home when he was shot in the back seven times.

Christopher and I will not be able to celebrate our December birthdays together again, but I will keep his mother’s smile in my heart. Her tenacity as a strong black woman who continues to work for her children’s safety will not be in vain.

We must take our streets back and let our voices be heard by our children, who think we don’t care. We lost more young people to violence in L.A. city and county in 2002 than soldiers in the last two U.S. wars in Iraq combined.

Our children do not sit around and wish for death and violence. But they are not being motivated; their minds are not being challenged. The war in Iraq is horrific but the war on our streets is a travesty. It is a mockery that we as a people are allowing this country and its policies to let this happen. We must work to create more jobs, technological and educational programs and fun, yet stimulating, culturally enhanced activities for our young people.

They are waiting for us to help them. We can’t wait for the police to take our youth back; we must do it ourselves. One or two little sporadic programs are not going to do the job. We must work collectively to make a mass difference citywide and, eventually, statewide.

It is ironic that one of my best and brightest students at CCA-Los Angeles was taken from us less than one week before the Mothers of Youth Lost to Violence Walkathon, sponsored by the Nation of Islam’s Mosque No. 27. This event takes place today in Leimert Park. The walk will demonstrate the need for us to take our children’s lives to heart. Let’s take back our streets. We cannot afford to lose any more children to them. Please participate, in the spirit of Christopher and so many other murdered young men.

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On-site registration for the walkathon begins at 7 a.m.; the parade starts at 8 a.m. Marchers will go from Leimert Park to Edward Vincent Park in Inglewood (formerly Centinela Park).