Jonylah Watkins: An Angel Died In Chicago

The death of this six month old angel, Jonylah Watkins, reminds me of a night years ago in Georgia, far removed from the Chicago minivan where she was hit five times.

Speculation is her father was the intended target.

On this night I’m recalling, while talking on the phone, a lot of high-caliber gunfire exploded nearby.

So nearby that I dove and crawled for my pistol like it was a war movie.

Because I lived in a Southern state, I was able to legally keep firearms at home and, with my license, carry concealed if I chose.

This angel died while having her diaper changed! Will anyone demand her killer’s head on a platter?

Will Black lobbyists for chocolate Klansmen take at least one day off to protest this outrage?

Imagine if she weren’t Black in a low income area? Suppose she was the bouncing blonde pride and joy of a young White man- would public response differ?

This latest shocking sacrifice is laid once again at the feet of Black America, a community that often ignores homegrown horror stories to focus on bad cops or White boogeymen in distant boardrooms and elected offices.

I have said there should be a mandatory federal sentence for killing juveniles.

While state laws can be introduced to accomplish the same, a federal life sentence means just that: life without the possibility of parole.

That’s not always the case with life sentences under state law. Plus, streets so unsafe that babies die demand the highest level of prosecution.

Sadly, some Black folks’ sick love affair with criminals means infants can die so long as we don’t come down too hard on their killers.

Sympathy goes in the wrong direction with such “thinking.”

Thank God Chicago has a brother-like activist/Congressional candidate, Paul McKinley, to shake heaven and earth until people most affected wake up and take action.

An angel died in Chicago… and it seems she won’t be the last!

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Photo credit: Gravitywave (Creative Commons)