Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wendell Pierce sounds off on recent shootings
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 5:03 PM
Today he had a lot to say about the city's recent rash of shootings, tweeting "Violence & murder in New Orleans escalating. We are all complicite (sic)." He continued, blaming "exclusionary" public schools and extracurricular activities that leave out poor children for creating a small, but serious, culture of violence. "We are creating an exclusionary community. And kids are falling through the cracks. It only takes 1 to pull a trigger," he tweeted. "The violence is created by a small percentage 1-2%. But impacts us all. Many see it as poor kids killing each other and are indifferent."
He continued discussing what he sees as a double standard when it comes to outrage and media coverage surrounding murders of poor children versus those of white and middle/upper-class children, tweeting about "those at memorial with Congressman Giffords but will never do the same for 2 poor kids killed in a car today in New Orleans." Pierce then responded to a Twitter user asking if he considered the French Quarter curfew to be racist by saying "We will find out when the police face a bunch of drunk girls from Newman and a group of boys partying from OP Walker."
Check Pierce's Twitter for more.
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Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
First, thank you for all those hours of entertainment, Mr. Pierce. I enjoy watching your work.
However, I am not sure I share your feelings about a rich, poor double standard. If I were shot and killed in the Quarter, the media would focus on the act, with little, if any attention directed to me. If, on the other hand, you were the gunned downee, a great deal of attention would be spent on your passing. You are a person who has touched millions, making the recognition understandable.
But to be fair, the local media has done a commendable job in their coverage of victims and that is never an easy task, rich or poor.
The parents, not government, are keys to a solution. Until we stop offering excuses for aberrant behavior, things are only going to get worse.
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Blame Blame Blame. Those who pull the trigger know full well what they are doing and don't care. How to explain that? Exclusionary system to blame? Please...
I'm not complicit in any violence in the New Orleans area, and no one in my family or close circle of acquaintances are to the best of my knowledge. Cognitively deficient dysfunctionals that can not assimilate into society are the ones tearing their neighborhoods apart. Mr. Pierce is in denial the problem is obvious.
More killing here than in the war somedays ,maybe a counter attack is in order.Blame who you like but wait till someone you love takes a bullet . Then we will see. Murder ,killing,stealing what person doesn"t know it's wrong . Come on man, you that blind and foolish.
If you share my commentary, please share it all. I included failed parenting as a part of the problem. I didn't blame anyone. I never mentioned race. If we are truthful about solving this we have to be sociologist, students of human behavior. We claim our schools are open admissions but the aren't. We say our parks are open but theyre not. We agree these are kids doing most of the violence. If we want to find the root cause realize 5 years ago these criminals were 11,12,13. As a study what makes a kid at that age turn criminal? It's all of the variables people have mentioned: parents, schools, jobs, sports programs, trades better policing, courts, prosecutions. If you believe they were just born bad, then nothing can be done. If we dont change the root causes, be ready for this cycle of violence to continue. I realize twitter is the last place to have a serious discussion but pleas don't edit my tweets to sensationalize a column. I never mentioned race. I never said the criminals aren't to blame. Wendell Pierce
Touche' for the clarification Wendell. While I admittedly do not know much about you, I have heard good things and was dishartened when the article used the race subject. I am glad to hear that it was not true, because I ginuinely think that if the race card was torn up and thrown away in this city ON BOTH SIDES, there would be much more focus on what to do about the roots of these issues.
Hey, Wendell — Thanks for responding to the blog. I am sorry if you feel I mischaracterized your commentary. While I did not include all of your tweets, the tweets I mentioned appear verbatim — they are not edited. Perhaps I should have done a better job of summarizing your commentary. And although you did not explicitly mention race, you did retweet two tweets mentioning it (here: https://twitter.com/#!/NefariousNewt/statu… and here: https://twitter.com/#!/whereishawkins/stat…). I wasn't trying to "sensationalize" the blog by including the race aspect.
Also, I did include a link to your Twitter account so people could see your commentary in its entirely.
Again, I'm sorry if I mischaracterized your commentary and I really do appreciate you reading/commenting on the blog.
-Lauren LaBorde
Lauren
I didn't think it was intentionally sensational. It was my attempt to join you and the thousands of New Orleanians attempting to find a way to stop this culture of violence. I hope to focus on solutions not the blame game. I like your blog and didn't mean to imply you weren't fair. Keep informing us all Lauren. My apologies.
Wendell Pierce
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