Gun crime

I was just going through the papers and came across an article that caught my attention. A girl was shot in the neck in Hackney. The first thing that came to my mind is that this must be black on black crime. Surely, when I got to the bottom of the article, it said that the shooting is being dealt with by detectives from the Met's Operation Trident - the unit which investigates gun crime in the black community. I have to be careful how I voice my opinion here but what is it with black people killing one another? I am a black lady and proud of my achievements. I am always proud to see other black people doing well for themselves. However, there are some black people especially teenagers that are just a shame to see. I can never forget the day I was violently attacked on a bus by these two black guys. They wanted to get my attention and I refused to give them any and that was how I was called all the names in the world and subsequently attacked. During the commotion, I kept my cool and was just wondering why two young guys (from Nigeria) would have nothing better to do than to fight a young innocent woman. Their mates are busy working overtime and they are busy attacking a young defenceless woman. I was so ashamed of them, I felt the people in the bus was just laughing at us black people. The shame I had was that it was a fellow black person attacking me.

I tell you that that event affected me emotionally and physically. Then, if I saw any two black male, I just started shaking. I didn't want any black male seating next to me on the bus or making conversation with me because of that event. I was so affected that the Uni made me see a counsellor. Thank God I am over that now and I must add that one of the guys saw me on the same bus they attacked me and begged me to forgive him which I did. Forgiving was all the healing I needed because once I said I forgave him, all the heaviness left.

I was just discussing this black on black crime issue with a friend and she said, black people hate black people. they cant stand one another. In Africa, they are busy killing one another for one reason or the other, the leaders have no regards for its people and people have no regards for their fellow human being. Outside Africa, the hatred continues. They kill one another with guns, knives etc. Why cant we stand one another? Why cant teenagers stay out of the gang? Why must they kill to be "THE MAN"? Why all these killings? I pray that God helps all the victims of such crime.

My next question is who do we blame for these crimes? The society that has neglected these black youth? Their parents? Black community? Or the black youths themselves?