Girl In DC Killed By Stray Bullet

[DJ Ryan]

Senseless and Sad

July 27, 2004 -- A bullet piercing through the darkness of a Washington, D.C. neighborhood last week snatched the life of a 15-year-old honor student who was once embraced by First Lady Hillary Clinton as a bright star in the future of Black America.


Myesha Lowe, the third of seven children, recently finished ninth grade, and was involved in the Upward Bound program at Trinity College. Besides her academic achievement, Myesha was said to be happy and playful.

Myesha Lowe and two other girls were sitting in a parked car when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up and blasted 10 shots. The bullet missed the two other girls but struck Myesha, who was sitting in the back seat, in the head, The Washington Post reported. Myesha, however, was not the target, said police, who had no suspects in custody as of Tuesday.

Francine Lowe, Myesha’s mother, made the painful decision to take her daughter off life support at Howard University hospital Sunday afternoon.
“I saw my baby’s brain coming out her head. I knew she was gone,” said Lowe to the Post.

Now stands a family shattered by the death of yet another young African American.
“My daughter’s death is a senseless death… It was probably random,” said Lowe. “My daughter is dead. She’s gone.”

What should be done to curtail violence in African American communities?

I can't stand it whenver I hear of things like this,
It's sad that we would go to a point and kill someone just outta disagreement, I know she wasn't the target but still, this man/woman inteded, to shoot and kill a person.

If only people had common sense to settle out their problems the old fashoin way.................by kicking each other's asses

[CaptHayfever]

I know, man, if you really gotta get violent, at least do so with a little bit of honor, or skill, or something like that. Heck, my 81-year-old grandmother could shoot you, and she has a hard time picking up the Sunday paper.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[imported_]

This is gonna sound, you know, cold and heartless, pretty much because it is, and I am, but, is this really news? This is a tragedy, but one we unfortunately face on a daily basis.

[c_jks]

And some people think it's cool the be a "gangsta"...what utter losers.

[Prince Toad]

Yeah, guns are for pussies.

This is sad, of course, but... I have to agree with Steppenwolf up there. This does happen pretty much daily, or something similarly depressing.

[[sage]]

that's gotta suck to get shot randomly.

[DELICIOUS POISON]

Originally posted by Fire All Your Guns At Once And Expl:
This is gonna sound, you know, cold and heartless, pretty much because it is, and I am, but, is this really news? This is a tragedy, but one we unfortunately face on a daily basis.

That was the first thing I thought upon the title of the topic. It's just deemed newsworthy because the killer was an imbecile and shot the wrong person, who also happened to be a good target for tears. Everyone will say 'OH NO NOT THE HONOR STUDENT!!' while her friends and relatives pour their hearts out in front of channel whatever cameras about the 'bright future' she had ahead of her. I hate media exploitation of tragedy. To quote the infamous Marilyn Manson: "Some children died the other day...You should have seen the ratings that day.."

[Juliet]

Of course, we all know it wouldn't have been so tragic had a non-honors white male been hit with that stray bullet...

God bless Myesha and her family, though, and the countless, unnamed others who go through this same tragedy.

[Link47]

Originally posted by CaptHayfever:
Heck, my 81-year-old grandmother could shoot you, and she has a hard time picking up the Sunday paper.

Shooting a gun is a lot harder than you think.

[Juliet]

It is harder than you think. Kind of painful, actually. It feels like the thing's going to fly out of your hands.

[Cornell J]

Originally posted by Elphaba: Wicked Witch of the West:
Of course, we all know it wouldn't have been so tragic had a non-honors white male been hit with that stray bullet...

Not attacking you but:

1. Non-honors student period, they'd have a brief report about it period. I don't see why all the sudden people think that whites are being "ignored", had a white honors student (male or female)been killed my a stray bullet it be emphasized (ESPECIALLY if the killer was non-white)
2. Maybe it was so emphasized because it was BET.com?

[homer]

This is just like the JonBenet Ramsey thing. Someone dies, so what. Everyone is going to die some day.

Killings like these happen everyday. You don't see other peoples families being interviewed, now do you? Get over yourself.

[CaptHayfever]

I know exactly how hard it is; I've shot a gun before. And I know exactly how firm my grandma's grip is. She may not be able to lift the gun quickly, but once her arm's up, firing would be simple.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Link47]

Firing the gun, and firing the gun accurately are two different things.

[Princess Zelda of Hyrule]

This is gonna sound, you know, cold and heartless, pretty much because it is, and I am, but, is this really news? This is a tragedy, but one we unfortunately face on a daily basis.

True, but there's no harm in being reminded of our species' own stupidity every now and then. The more these stories bother us, the more we'll want to prevent them from happening again.

[Mushroommarioman]

That's obviously a tragedy.

July 27, 2004 -- A bullet piercing through the darkness of a Washington, D.C. neighborhood last week snatched the life of a 15-year-old honor student who was once embraced by First Lady Hillary Clinton as a bright star in the future of Black America.

What should be done to curtail violence in African American communities?

That's a good question.

Some would blame poverty for the high murder rates in black areas, but I disagree.

Prince George's County is relatively affluent. The media per capita income is $24,000. Only 7.7% of the population lives in poverty. However, the per capita murder rate is 17.6 per 100,000 people and MUCH higher than the national murder rate. It's 63% black.

Allegany County is close to Prince George's County. The poverty rate is 14.8%. However, the overall murder rate is only 1.35 per 100,000 people. It's 93% white.

If poverty is responsible for a high murder rate, why does this rich black area (Prince George's County) have a murder rate 13 times higher than a poorer white area ( Allegany County) in the same state?

[ August 05, 2004, 10:26 PM: Message edited by: Nintendo Revolution ]

[DJ Ryan]

First off, just curious, is DC in that county?

Because honestly,
When it comes to decision making (This is ALL MY OPINOIN)
I think we're not too great at making the BEST desicions,
And it won't always be poverty that's a factor, sometimes it'll be environment. Just because you grew up with more money than so and so doesn't mean your going to be a sophistacated person,
you could be rich as hell and still have the "ghetto" like attitude.
Hell, I sure don't live in a ghetto nor did I grow up in one, (sure my environment wasn't the best),
Basically what I'm trying to say is:

I CAN make good desicions, but sometimes, if I'm not givin much time to think I react negatively, which IMO, is a basic instinct, not only for humans, but Black's mostly (Once again, my opinoin, cause I know that's gonna recieve SO many attaks)

But you're pretty much right MMM, Ican disagree wtih you there

[Mushroommarioman]

Originally posted by 8289: The Sign Of Andre:
First off, just curious, is DC in that county?

Washington D.C. is very close to Prince George's County.

I don't neccessarily disagree that environment could be responsible for the high black crime rate today. It's important to remember that the black crime rate today is much higher than it was in the 1960s.

I mainly brought up those statistics to show that the assumption that poverty causes people to become murderers isn't neccessarily true.

[KirbyKing]

Originally posted by Nintendo Revolution:
I mainly brought up those statistics to show that the assumption that poverty causes people to become murderers isn't neccessarily true.

Erm, I don't think any of us said that poverty (or at least poverty alone) causes people to become murderers. In fact, I think most of us here have enough sense to know that.

[DJ Ryan]

Originally posted by Nintendo Revolution:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by 8289: The Sign Of Andre:
First off, just curious, is DC in that county?

Washington D.C. is very close to Prince George's County.
</font>[/quote]But it isn't then, as far as I or anyone that has the same amount of knowledge as I do on this subject, there could be a poor black county or even a rich white county right next to it,
just somethin I wanted to point out