This week we are supposed to get into something more personal. I can't think about anything more personal than what I have already put out in the open...I'm an open book really lol.
So I will write about an experience I went through this week after work while coming home from picking my son up at day care. It put a spin on things I though wouldn't matter and didn't matter until that day.
If any one googles Salinas,ca they will get probably a million hits on gang violence in the last 4-5 years. We have been featured on shows like "Gang Land" and President Obama mentioned the city at one of his public addresses.
There are NUMEROUS shootings and most involve gangs or are gang related. I moved to Salinas in 2007 ,besides living here off an on in my childhood. My mom and I moved from my dads house and we got an apartment in the "nice"side of Salinas, the south side.When I was pregnant with my son in 2009 the shootings were RIDICULOUS, 29 in a year. There was one week where I remember 5 in one day. Not only were they happening on the "bad" side of town but on our peaceful block.
Usually I don't pay attention to the everyday news broadcast that someone was shot...AGAIN. I think it doesn't effect me because I'm not a gang member and I don't affiliate with anyone who is.
Wednesday I was driving down the BUSIEST BUSIEST street in the city at 6pm, which is when everyone is driving home from work. I'm talking with my son and notice a man laying on the sidewalk right in front of the salvation army and think to myself, 'dang a homeless guy is passed out! Why isn't anyone there?' which isn't unlikely. I then notice his clothes are VERY CLEAN! A black tee, dark jeans, and white tennies. I slow down but wonder why NOBODY else is on their brakes... they have to have seen someone laying there! Right? Ethan asks me "He's nigh-night?" At that exact moment I'm directly on the side of this man and he is laying on his side with blood on the sidewalk coming from his head and NOT one person is near him. I immediately sped up, not wanting my son to see him, and I called 911. Apparently I was one of the first callers to 911, other calls came through after I had started talking to the dispatcher. My house is about 2 blocks from this. I pulled into my driveway and told my boyfriend what had happened and the look on his face was blank.
It ends up that the man who was shot was a 22 year old and the suspect was walking behind him on the sidewalk for quite some time before he pulled out a gun and shot him in the back of the head and ran off.
My boyfriend and I had a talk and we are looking for new homes OUT of Salinas as well as my mom. We want to move back to our hometown Gonzales which is about 20 mins south of here.
So now looking at this situation I see how we can all be effected in direct and indirect ways and it shocks me.
I am still kind of shocked at the whole situation and wonder what is going wrong in this community that murders are going unsolved like they are, when they are happening in BROAD daylight and on a BUSY street right in front of the salvation army, that was busy?
Wow Sheila... I can't even imagine what that experience must have been like for you. What are your thoughts on why this happens? What do you think is the difference between you (a person who called 911) and all of the others who just kept driving? What factors contribute to our choice to help others or take action?
ReplyDeleteI wrote a big response but it was lost.=[
ReplyDeleteI think people in our community are scared. They fear that if they intervene they will be targeted and possibly killed. The fear that people live their lives in is very present but I cannot pass by someone and not see that they need help. I believe fear is the one and only factor in these situations.
I know personally I could not drive by and not help. I do not think I could personally stop because I am not trained to do so and I have a tendency to carry over emotional feelings and dwell on them, but calling 911 could save someones life.