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BACKGROUND
September 10th: A 15 year old boy, along with another male on a bicycle, was at College Avenue and Aikins Street at about 2:40 a.m., when they met a group of males and a fight broke out, resulting in the teen being stabbed. Police said the teen is known to police and the incident appeared to be "a street-gang related matter." Three days later, he died... No arrests...
His name is Clarky Stevenson…
I AM PISSED OFF
I keep a blog of the 2011 Winnipeg murders (http://floydwiebe.ca), and I added this horrible murder this week... As I was doing my research, I came across various news agency videos and still shots of the paramedics transporting the dying boy, with no shirt, and no sheets covering him, to an ambulance. WHY? Why does the reader/viewer need to see this? But that's hardly the point. WHY DOES HIS FAMILY HAVE TO? If they have to have a picture of Clarky, why could it not have been the one in this blog?
Does it actually sell more newspapers? Do people rush to 7-11 to buy a newspaper to see this? Do they PVR the scene for instant replay?
I have never seen my son TJ’s dead body. The medical examiner said, "It wasn't advisable." I took her advice. The juries in the case all saw him. The murderers saw him and had a whole book of pictures to look at him at their disposal. The lawyers all saw him. I did not. Why then does all of Winnipeg have the ability to see a dying 15-year-old boy, possibly before his parents may have even known he was even stabbed? THIS HAS HAPPENED!!!
The police, and I understand their logic, say, he is "known to police", and "a street-gang related matter", and I cringe... as right away, "SOME" people react with a "Oh, he’s a gang kid… Oh well, at least its one of them killing their own." Then, more people, upon finding out he's aboriginal, dismiss it even further, and combined with being gang-related, “SOME” people will instantly forget what they read.
More people will exclaim, "Where are his parents at 2:40 am?" and say, "I damn well know where my kids are at 2:40 am! " SO WHAT? Does that mean we should dismiss this poor kid? We need to wrap our hearts around this little boy. Oh yes, then there are “OTHERS” who will "think" the above words, but will not verbalize it, for fear of not being "politically correct".
I remind the “SOME” and the “OTHERS” and ANYONE ELSE that,
"It takes a village to raise a child."
The village has leaders. There is an election looming. I can just see “SOME” political pundits saying, (in whispered voices) "Oh shit... We don't need this now..." Well, to the "SOME" political pundits... FIX IT... Now is your chance...
If you are not “SOME” or “OTHERS” but are the… “ANYONE ELSE”, then lets work together as a community to HELP our politicians FIX IT.
I AM PISSED OFF... I hope you are too.
From my dear friend, Jessica Dumas:
I think this is great and I totally agree with your opinion. Media definitely adds to normalizing the violence and continues to add blame to 'video games' and 'music'. Because of the baggage the media has added to this young baby's death, few people will care, his life has been deemed meaningless and just another story. It’s disgusting. I'm pissed off too. I was shocked and furious when I saw a picture of my dying brother on the front page of The Sun. At least in death, can he have some dignity?
- Jessica Dumas, sister to Matthew Dumas killed in 2005 by WPS.
