North Minneapolis Pt.2 (crime, employment, neighborhoods)

[northsider14]

Hey everybody its me again, and unfortunatly nuthins changed but my age. There hasnt been much crime yet this year on the northside but the crimes that are happening are getting worse. i mean how can you beat a child to death. an innocent child! little demond didnt have a chance. and they say the woman had her kids hold him while she beat them. how do u think they are affected by that. i personally think that they will be forever scarred, and mabey they might become very violent children. north minneapolis isnt getting better its only getting worse. and its going to continue to get worse if we continue to ignore whats happening in our community. our mayor is cool but all hes interested in keeping us in school. what we need is support and something to look forward to. we teens need jobs so that we dont have to hustle and steal to survive. we need mentors so we can have someone positive to look up to other then the neighborhood gangmember and drug dealers. the northside children are growing up thinking that thats all they got going for them. i know i did. we need people to show us otherwise. we need places to hang out at other then the block. can we get a skating rink or something?? u know something to keep us busy. i see all the suburban people on my old post talking bad about the northside but they probably havent ever did nothing about it. they have good resorces they have good schools loving parents and all the other things us northside kids can only dream about having. i know that a lot of people pray for us, but its obviosly not working. can you actually do something about it. on behaf of all northside children, we are now begging. PLEASE HELP US! WE WANT TO BE KIDS AGAIN!

[Sharolu3]

Over the past years I have tried to help Northside children and I ended up robbed by them. My Mother and I , both Northside residents have been robbed over twenty times all by people we tried to help. They somehow seemed to think they were "entitled" have you ever tried Farview Park? What kind of help do you want? I have not sat around andnprayed but now have decided to pray that nthose we have helped willo not continue to rob us every chance they get. Thanksgiving day 2 years ago we were gone for 2 hours and the back door and wall were taken down and we lost all of our computers and 2 high definition TV's. That is jsut one of the times. People are living in fear of the gangs over here and rightfully so.

[JenLee]

northsider14, what exactly do you think that we can do for you? You ask for help, but the problem is that there is only so much outsiders can do for you.

Unless you are willing to work at improving things around you; all of the help in the world won't change things. You say the mayor is only interested in keeping you in school; well, guess what? SCHOOL is the way to improve your person situation. Education is the key for most people in the world; the better you do in school the more doors open for you and your future. Stay in school, study hard, and get good grades; if you do this, when you get your high school diploma you will have a very good chance of getting college scholarships. The other part of that is by studying hard, it will decrease your need to hang out so much: hanging out is usually when kids get in trouble.

I know I'm just an older white woman; but I was dirt poor as a child and raised by foster parents. We were beaten when we did things wrong when we were little kids; I remember being so badly bruised from a beating that I couldn't sit down when I wasn't even 10 years old. Education was the thing that kept me out of trouble and gave me the way to get out of a very poor community and learn to earn a living. I babysat every weekend from the time I was 11 until I was a sophomore in college as that was the only way I had any money for clothes (and later for food in college).

I hear you want to be kids again, but you are now 15 (or older?) and it's time to put aside the toys and take some responsibility for yourself. Get involved in some of the youth and church programs offered in your area, there are different programs that will help you grow and expand your knowledge and world. Check out your local library (that was my refuge: reading books and imagining things were different than they were) and use all of those resources to your advantage.

Stay away from drinking and drugs, and don't get pregnant; teen pregnancy only makes it harder for you to climb up and out of the neighborhood you live in.

I also want you to know that I am as horrified as you are by the death of the 4 year old Demond Reed. Many people mourn his death and are concerned about the mental and emotional health of the 2 children forced to pin him down. My guess is that they were also subjected to the same sort of violence that took Demond's life and I hope and pray they can overcome it.

This may sound like a scolding; but I don't mean for it to be one. I shall keep you in my prayers, but I seriously want you to think about what I've said here. You can overcome your surroundings by getting a good education; and you can help yourself and others too.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by northsider14

Hey everybody its me again, and unfortunatly nuthins changed but my age. There hasnt been much crime yet this year on the northside but the crimes that are happening are getting worse. i mean how can you beat a child to death. an innocent child! little demond didnt have a chance. and they say the woman had her kids hold him while she beat them. how do u think they are affected by that. i personally think that they will be forever scarred, and mabey they might become very violent children. north minneapolis isnt getting better its only getting worse. and its going to continue to get worse if we continue to ignore whats happening in our community. our mayor is cool but all hes interested in keeping us in school. what we need is support and something to look forward to. we teens need jobs so that we dont have to hustle and steal to survive. we need mentors so we can have someone positive to look up to other then the neighborhood gangmember and drug dealers. the northside children are growing up thinking that thats all they got going for them. i know i did. we need people to show us otherwise. we need places to hang out at other then the block. can we get a skating rink or something?? u know something to keep us busy. i see all the suburban people on my old post talking bad about the northside but they probably havent ever did nothing about it. they have good resorces they have good schools loving parents and all the other things us northside kids can only dream about having. i know that a lot of people pray for us, but its obviosly not working. can you actually do something about it. on behaf of all northside children, we are now begging. PLEASE HELP US! WE WANT TO BE KIDS AGAIN!

Northsider 14 - good for you for speaking out and wanting to see change, the world needs more young people like yourself. Your points about what's going on with youth in some North Minneapolis neighborhoods are things that need to be heard. It's undoubtedly very hard for young people to grow up and have hope for a good future if they have no positive role models, mentors, support systems, and are constantly surrounded by a subculture of crime and violence.

With that said, I live in North Minneapolis and I work for a N Mpls based nonprofit organization that directly serves neighborhood residents so I have some experience with what you're talking about-

Although there has been an historic lack of investment in n mpls in years prior, that's not necessarily the case anymore - resources are starting to be targeted at North now more than ever. There are youth programs and youth employment programs in the area, and another poster was right that it is good to get involved in anything you can at school and ensure that you are focusing on school now with an eye towards college.

Similarly, the general theme of your message is "what can everyone else do for us?". By having this attitude, no one is going to get anywhere - you have to find and/or create opportunities for yourself. Unfortunately in this free market system that we have, it's a "to each his own" and "every man for himself" attitude (for lack of a better way to describe it without sexist phrases) - if you sit around and wait for someone to seek you out and save you, you're going to be sitting around for a very long time. You need to take the intitiative (much like what you're doing on here).

The good news - there is help out there if you are willing to seek it and you're motivated to succeed - there are a lot of good people doing good things in North Minneapolis and there would be opportunities for you to find positive activities and opportunities for you yourself to become a positive mentor to other youth in your neighborhood (and who better to mentor kids in school than someone from their own neighborhood, this is what I did when I was in HS). Good luck, stay in school, check out organizations like big brothers/ big sisters, and continue to find more ways to get involved - there are a lot of us out there doing this in North!

[JenLee]

northsider14, don't forget to keep coming back here and develop relationships with people here. Don't give up because we don't offer help or sympathy; you have guts to reach out and ask. Get to know people here, tell us what is going on in your lives and let us get to know you as a person. It is possible for you to form online friendships that may develop into online mentorships even on a large forum like this.

Your first post here was over 2 years ago; I did go back and read parts of your previous posts, but we need more posts from you to get to know you.