Written to the somerville progressive discussion list:

i used to live upstairs from the boy in question. as some of you may recall,

he was put in jail a year or two ago(maybe longer) because he and a

friend attacked some other somerville teenagers in a gay-bashing

attack.

after that first instance happened, i was walking through davis

square. i heard some teenagers talking about the attack on their

friends. . .and how they didn't get it. and i suddenly felt moved to

tell them something- i walked over, introduced myself, and told them

what living upstairs from this family was like.

Almost daily, we were treated to this boy's tired, angry, and overworked

father screaming and yelling at him. calling him names,

including "faggot". slapping him around. that kind of thing. he also

regularly acused billy's mother of turning tricks at tne local

laundry mat. if we made too much noise, he woudl come up, sometimes

begging, sometimes trheatening, sayign he had "little kids

downstairs" and to be quiet. he was stressed beyond belief. a younger

sister aw soften heard crying to her stuffed animals in teh back yard that no one

loved her. and billy- well, he was in trouble all

the time. police came looking for him regularly. in short, his house

was a disaster. no place anyone, adult or adolecent, would want to

hang around. and is it any wonder, that after being slaped about and

called a faggot on a nearly weekly basis this kid would go out and

try it on his peers? of course it doesn't excuse his behavior- but

knee jerk gang ordinances and football loving youth center

coordinators and whatever other idiot politico bandaids dont' help to

solve these problems. such "solutions" are ludicrous in the face of

the complexity of these problems.

a few years back i lived in union square. there was a man who would

regularly clock his wife in the head with a wrench out in teh middle

of the street. the neighbors thought it was good entertainment, and

the police thought it was funny. whaddya think his kids are gonna do

when they get big?

then there's the father in winter hill who beats his kid up daily- i

heard the kid screaming "yes, dad!" yes dad!" " stop dad!" all the

time, acconpanied by more disturbing noises. . . no police ever come

for the father. but you can bet when the kid gets old enough to get

the hell out fo there and join some other kids who are going through

the same thing- and will do all kinds of horrific thigns in the

community- the police will be comign for him.

are we still wondering why there are gangs?

and what about those police? recently a friend, who has been abused

by men since childhood, told me yet anotehr story of somerville's

stunning sense of justice and social well being. she was living an

apartment with roomates, one of whom stole some jewelry of hers- she

claims to sell for drug money(he was on smack). when she called the

police, she was dragged roughly from bed and thrown, without shoes,

into the city jail for the night. upon being let out, she was

told "not to mess with the so-and-sos" the family from whom the theif

had sprung. . . .she moved to cambridge because she is too frightened

to live in somerville now. wouldn't you be? are these the guys who

are supposed to handle our gang trouble with their new curfew tools?

if the police are going to act on behalf on a gang, how will gangs be

stopped?

when we moved to winter hill, some of the neighborhood children came

over to ask us if we "liked it up the a**" a few times. they also

cane by to show us their dogs and scooters and say hello and ask

about the kid who lived in our apartment before. they're fine, normal

kids. they're good kids. and they are replicating everything they see

and hear.

as a kid, i was in a horrible home situation, too. luckily there

were places to go and find "chosen family" elsewhere in my town(ann

arbor MI). there was an amazing youth shelter, which gave me food,

bus tokens,m free phone calls, counseling, cloths, and teh offer to

get DSS involved if i wanted, but not if i thought it woudl make

things worse. I took classes at the university for free, after

telling some sympatheticof alternative learning programs. there were

all kinds of alchohol free places to go and hang out- diners, all

ages shows, coffee houses with all ages shows, parks, and of course

ann arbor's equivalents to the Pit and the Common. there was a

fencing team, community soccer, midnight basketball- food not bombs

came along later and seemed to provide such a refuge, too, and all

the bookstoresm too- there were record stores where you could listen

to records for free(And i had NO money at teh time). . . there were

great music and sports programs for kids, too, notjust orchestras,

all kinds of stuff- you could get credit for having a band fo any

kind and having the music teacher coach you(he won one of those walt

disney awards recently)-=- there was a radio station at teh

university where teenagers could put on shows(i have a friend doign a

project like that in dorcester right now)- all free! teh businesses

were mostly owned locally, so i knew alot of the owners-- and they

helped me out when i needed it, and my friends, too. there was MORE

than a corporate grocery, a mcdonalds,a liquor store, a pizza

parlour, MORE than cell phone shops and dunkin donuts-- more than

even our oh-so-touted davis square yuppie boutiques-- there was a

vibrant community with centers to gather in- so that i could build a

life outside my ailing family. and there certainly wasn't a curfew--

that would have destroyed all these opportunities that saved me from

a far worse life, sonce teh most viatl activities in my life took

place at night. well, i can tell you, it was onyl because of all

these thigns that i did not join a gang-- my friends in the

neighboring town, which was far worse off, ALL did. thank god i was

over the line where there was stuff to do, or i would have joined up

right alogn with them! please don't tell me no one on this list

relates-- certainly with sick american failial life as rampant as it

is, someone here knows what i'm talking about?

this is why there are gangs. gang ordinances do not help to solve

this problem. and we all know its a rampant problem- folks who are

too angry, tired, overworked, and crazy to really take care of their

kids-- they are everywhere. how 'bout a "parent curfew"? how bout

some activities for kids that don't, well, *suck*? how bout some

places to hang out(remember me asking for this before?)other than

Star Market and assembley square parking lot? i was hit on last year

by one of the teachers at somerville high school-approached me in a

tre;' icky way, said i was "cute as a button" and said he liked to

give "opportunities to young ladies, especially teh colored ones"(no

i am not joking or exagerating)- so how bout some teachers for these

kids who also don't suck? wouldn't all these things work better than

indiscriminantly cordoning off all the teenagers- even those who

didn't do anything wrong, but will be taught to take treatment lke

criminals before they get a chance to?

just some thoughts-- i will not be moving back to somerville after

all this year-- so(after reading responses) i will be unsubscribing

from this list soon. . . .good luck to all of you-- katt hernandez