TEENAGE GANGS AND WOMEN TRAPPED BY FEAR OF VIOLENCE

I Went with my  friend to a hair dressing salon,in Bronx. As normal with salons,very noisy with different gist,then three young teenage girls came in,every where went deadly quit.Nobody was talking again,the dressers just abandoned every customer and rushed to the girls,all whites.These girls were dressed in a very rugged way,thorn denm,with very long artifical nail.  l got
the drift that these girls are very menacing,it was when we got home that my friend told me that the girls go by the name Tremont Avenue BITCHES (TABS)these girls togather with their male counterpart run the Avenue.These girls carry weapons,as they knew that any fight that starts is to the death. She said that the TABS,recently lost a member,a victim of inter-gang violence.

 Women who live mainly alone are often intimidated in many ways,such that these women are scared of stepping out side their homes,just talking back to any of these girl could get ones window smashed,home petrol bombed,and you just can not report them,if you have young children,who leave for school everyday.

Her next door neighour with three kids,was threatened by a fourteen year old girl,armed with a knife,becourse she claimed,she heared the woman wanted to snitched to the police.The teenage girl told her,that her gang members will fire bomb her house. For weeks,she could not leave her home.Two weeks later,the girl brought her gang who kicked down her door.They were all terrified and still could not tell the police any thing.
 Lots of shop owners had close shop to get away from these kids,some as young as ten.They can set fire to your car or steal it out right , or throw petrol soaked rag through your letter box. Kids dont play outside,people stay indoors and still sleep with one eye open. People dont want to get involved at all.Elderly people are often mugged on the street and passerbys cross to the other side of the street.
An 87 year old lady no longer leaves her home,this made her very angry,her elderly friends could no longer come and visit her as they would be mugged. Like she said,the gangs are no longer satisfied in robbing one,but also beat one up,no mather how old you are.It is indeed a very vicious and a more frightening world.

INNOCENT BUT BEHIND BARS

The courtroom oath---to tell the truth,the whole truth,and nothing but the truth--is applicable only to witnesses .Defence lawyers,prosecutors,and judges don"t take this oath.so telling the truth is relative.
 JEAN LEMALCHANCEUX said that the law protects us from barbarianism, but gives us the barbarianism of the law........A Crusader's journal.  

I watched a programme on Alijazeera,concerning the penal system in America,how lots of innocent people are behind bars due to  false witness testimonies.These testimonies were actually believed to be the truth by these witnesses at the time the case came to court.But with recent advance in forensic science, lot of innocent people had been set free.
 I watched a programme on Oprah Winfry show,it was a sad one. A black man spent 21 years behind bars for raping  a white woman.The poor man who was returning from a night shift was taken to jail. During the trial, the victim was adamant that he raped her.21 wasted years over false identification before he was proven innocent,the woman that accused him was also brought to the programme,she was sorry,but this could not give him those years back. Little wonder that there are thousands of African Americans behind jars.Athough their lifestyle choices, makes things kind of difficult for them.


In America, all huge black men are menacing and intimidating,so it is easy to subsitute one for another. I have always know that been at the wrong place at the wrong time can change the couse of one's life.Judges just act on the evidence before them,if you have poor legal representation, you are a gonna.State counsels are not interested in truth of mathers they are handling,but convictions to help their  career advancement.

 As a legal practitioner who is always in court,we all know that conviction can be faulty, especially  using circumstantial evidence. some judges are also so out of reality .I was in court for a hearing,the judge had to pass sentence on a young man of 26 years who was caught with a bag of marijuna.His lawyer tried his best,to get him off. He gave an allocutus....pleading for mercy for the accused person. He told the court, how the poor boy sick mother was in  the hospital and it was the search for money for surgery that pushed the boy,into carrying the marijuna for a dealer.I was stunned when the young judge on whom most of us female lawyers  have a crush on, sentenced the poor boy to 16 years without any possibilty of parole.I hate drug dealing but 16 years for just a small bag.l just thought of the poor mother in the hospital,waiting for the son to come and save her.
life can be so unfair.

CHILD BRIDES IN AMERICA

I love visiting rural or small villages in any country l travel to.I have never gone to gap at Buckingham palace, White house etc but natural wonders of the world like falls,mountains,canyons,etc .Hundred miles from Washington DC is Horse Creek,Clay county,in the wooded hill side of Appalachian mountain,South Eastern Kenturkey.

Here girls as young as 10 years often get married and have children as soon as they started menstrating.Most of these girls live in pure poverty in dilapidated wooden shacks,or trailer homes without tap water and no Toilet.Those that chose to remain in school,contend with home work,and child care.

One 12 year old,got married to a 74 year old man.They all live in a makeshift shack with his older son and grandchildren.The corner shop is a good place to get all the gossip one need about any small county.As each person is passing,the bored shop keeper will give a low down on the person.

Most of the girls are not working and live on welfare payments and food stamp,this is good as their counterpart in developing country dont get a dime from their government..

This is the bible belt,abortions are seen as sin.Some of the tenage brides are married to older men who had lost their wives.
A doctor in whose clinic a girl was born,later married the 12 year old girl,this is cradle robbing for real.Young boys of 16 years also marry younger girls and start off their own families,while living with mom and dad.

We are not talking about native American or black families here,but European American families.Protections against pregnancy are seen as sin.since most girls start breeding children from 12, just imagine the number of children at 45 or at menopause.Families from well to do homes, also practise this.Early marriages are seen as normal here,legally and culturally.

The essence of this story is for international bodies to stop their blah,blah about child marriages in poor countries, scratch the surface of so called first world countries,you will also see their own can of worm.The campaign to stop early marriages should be world wide, what is wrong in one place, cannot be right in another place, or over looked in another.A Girl of 10 years has no business with marriage and should focus on school.Most girls at this age still play with toys.
most of these girls give birth though cesaren section,as the birth canal are not well develop at this tender ages.