From a local newspaper
Teen homicide victim eulogized
The contrasts between the way those who loved homicide victim Jaquan D. Allen wanted his life to be and the way it was were on display at his funeral Monday.
There was the 17-year-old Allen – gunned down Dec. 27 around 4 a.m. in a car on State Street – lying in a coffin. When they closed it, some of the approximately 200 mourners at Kingdom Door Christian Worship Center became hysterical and had to be restrained. “I just want to see him one more time!” screamed one young man, who had to be wrapped in a bear hug by a family member.
There was Taron Causey soulfully singing, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper, it won’t work,” causing women in the crowd to sob.
And there was the image of Jaquan Allen on the T-shirts of several audience members, including one worn by his father, Jesse Allen. On the front of the shirt Jaquan Allen flashes a gang sign. On the back, with a cigarette between his lips, he points a pistol.
What the hell is wrong with this guy? How can the father of this dead kid glorify gang banging, and at his kid’s funeral?
AWB
No related posts.
Entries (RSS)
Dan:
I see this played out more than most people, and I think it gives me some perspective as to all the “hub-bub”, Bub…
To many of these people, EVERYTHING in life (and even death itself) is ALL about being ENTERTAINED.
In MY day, we called it “acting like a damn fool”, and it was relatively shunned.
But today, it’s all about “status” AKA bling, power, street cred, rep, whatever you wish to call it.
Now I can see ELVIS on a t-shirt, or Dr. martin Luther King, but the average punk thug?
No way, but it’s “entertaining” to them, nonetheless.
(Betsum peeps gotswun helluva collekshun b’now)
We’ve got this multigenerational entitlement program in place to KEEP these folks where they’re at, with NO ambition, NO motivation, and NO self worth…so they turn to entertainment, in some form or another.
Theyrather should be EMPOWERED to do something to turn these kids’ lives around, but as long as the “gub’ment” keeps handing over working peoples’ wages to lazy-asses (that would be most of the people who surround “Fortress Bob” down here), this will go on…and on.
He never really had a “father” as WE know the word…he just had a sperm donor to his baby-mama.
Because if he DID, Dad wouldn’t stand for the crap he got into…if HE even cared, that is.
Like the songs goes….”It’s entertainment”!
Bread and Circuses all around.
B.G.
I think I’m going to get sick. I can barely stomach Evan Goodenow as it is and then he writes this crap. You may as well glorify the gang behavior in this city.
So ridiculous I can’t believe it….oh wait yes I can, it’s the NON-News Sentinel.
What is sad is the younger kids within 2-4 yrs in age of this kid see him glorified for his deplorable behavior that ultimately cost his life and whose footsteps do you want to bet they are going to want to follow in? There is no end in sight to the ultimate stupidity. We are destroying our own, and when adults follow along in this “mainstream” and glorify it too it just lends more credibility to it for the younger ones to follow in.
I am fighting in my own battles to save my children that thank heavens (at this point at least) does not include gang activity, drugs or violence. But my little world could be shaken at any moment of any day also. As parents we just have to continue to talk ourselves blue in the face to our kids about the evils of the world and every action has a reaction or a consequence. I don’t know, we are not in it alone but sometimes it sure feels like it.
Gotta agree with you on this one Dan. Not too smart.
As a very close friend of Jaquan’s father Jesse Allen I am sickened by this article. As his father’s words “God will make the judgement” It is very sad that during a private moment that is made for family and friends was put on display by the media. Maybe the media should take some responsibility for the violence continuing as well. How many times do positive things get posted on the front page of the newspaper? During the service there was one thing that stuck with me “IT TAKES A NATION TO RAISE CHILDREN” And our nation glorifies violence!
I pray every day that the family heals during this time, it isn’t about you it is about them!
Rebecca,
Private moment to display gang signs and possessing illegal weapons? Save me. Just what is positive about that?
It doesn’t take a nation to raise a child, or even Obama. It takes two parents that are equally committed to raising children with a core set of values, which is something his father (Jesse Allen) openly displayed he was not capable of doing.
Doesn’t it strike you as odd that they even had a picture of him posing with gun? I’ve been to his MySpace page, it pretty much removes any doubt about how he was raised.
For someone that didn’t even know who the family was until their son was murdered you are making a whole lot of accusations.
Well Im ah give it to you from ah street nigga point of view…You may call it foolish of some of the shit we do…You may even call it ” Down Right Stupid of Us”… But its ah way of life…Do you think we want to live the way we do?…Come on now the mans son was murdered in cold blood…How do you think he feels right about now…Imagine if it was you in the same situation and people that didnt even know your son was callin him a punk ass thug and dont know shit about him…How would you feel?…We get fucked everyday by the fucking police and the system thats suppose 2 be here 4 us…The police know they in a position 2 take the rest of our lives from us whenever the fuck they want 2?… Ok im getting a little off subject but who cares…The Whole Point is the media should have never made this public this should have been a time for his loved ones to grieve but the media doesnt give a fuck about them…All they care about is a fuckin Story!!!
Rebecca;
I didn’t (and still don’t) know the family, but I knew Jaquan pretty well. He spent a lot of time selling drugs in front of my house last year.
I have gotten to know a lot of these guys over the years, and often their families also. What I have seen from the parents ranges from encouraging this behavior to indifference to outright opposition. I know that several years ago, there was one woman here who was willing to cooperate with me in an attempt to get her son sent to Wood Youth Center because I had convinced her that was the best way to possibly stop him from ending up in prison or dead later on.
What I have seen from most of the families though is an attitude that says “Do what you want, just don’t bring the problems home with you.” There are two kids who have regularly sold drugs in front of my house for years. They (and their mother) live with their grandmother, who lives a little less than a block away. Although both the mother and grandmother frequently expressed their disaproval of this behavior to me in private, I never once saw them do anything to discourage the kids.
Then, this past July, one of the kids got chased into his house by one of his buddies who was shooting at him. Two days later, both the mother and grandmother came to the corner in front of my house and started yelling at the kids to quit what they were doing before they (mother and grandmother) got hurt. What this said to me is that their concern for themselves was way greater than their concern for their kids/grandkids or the innocent neighbors who these kids constantly harrangue.
Many of the guys who regularly sell in front of my house live in this neighborhood. If their parents fail to take significant action against this type of behavior, then it is fair to say they are encouraging it. Regarding Jaquan, I am not certain, but I do not think he lived in this neighborhood. Regardless, selling drugs was not just an occassional event for him. He was dedicated to it. If his parent’s were either unaware of this, or if they encouraged or simply ignored it, then they are partially responsible for their son’s death.