As New York and the entire country find themselves in a maze of discussions about legal formulas to stop gun violence, a simple expression of a Hispanic grandmother who resides in Upper Manhattan, seems to sum up part of the trigger for a complicated problem: !Please. We are going to be more aware of what our children do!
This spontaneous comment and sense of Dominican Iselsa Ugalde, 80 years oldwho raised three children in Washington Heights in the 1970s, when part of that neighborhood was a hotbed of violence and drugs, It makes sense in the face of a sequence of massacres and bloody events in recent days, which have also had children, adolescents and young people as perpetrators.
“Let’s see what happens. The biggest criminals now turn out to be they are 15 and 16 year olds who are supposed to be under the guardianship of their parents. Part of this tragedy is not the fault of the police, nor of the laws. It is that something very big is failing in these families, ”she stressed excitedly, who assures that she fulfilled her task of “monitoring” 24 hours a day the steps of her children when they were minors.
The opinion of Iselsa, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who was leaving this week from a prayer of the Encarnación Church on Saint Nicholas Avenuewas immediately supported by neighbors and fellow worshipers, who include in their daily prayers a special request so that none of their relatives are touched in any way by the criminal violence that has caused so much pain to innocent victims.
“Many families are failing in education. They neglect the children. I am a single mother and I managed to raise my children well. I guided them to study. But that is achieved when you are on top of them, ”she shared the Nicaraguan Rosario Blandonwho warns that he is terrified to go out into the streets of a city where there is news “stained with blood” every day.
“They cannot be allowed privacy”
The Big Apple arrives in the first days of heat, in the midst of an abyss different from that of the previous two years, defined by a public health crisis caused by COVID-19.
In addition to the national impact of Buffalo, Ubalde and Tulsa massacresAlready in recent weeks in New York City, some facts had been showing that the possession of weapons in the hands of adolescents was one of the most common factors in the profile of criminal violence that most strongly plagues neighborhoods in the Upper Manhattan, The Bronx, and Northern Brooklyn.
And what is also predicted take a more dangerous flightas is historically normal, in the coming summer.
A couple of weeks ago, eleven-year-old Kyhara Tay was murdered as she left a hair salon in the Bronx by accidentally meeting at the crossroads of a gunfight. And, in addition, one of the suspects in that shooting is allegedly a 15-year-old teenager, involved with gangs, who has already been arrested. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) suspects that the other person linked to this event is also a minor.
According to the investigations, the accused were looking for another minor, 13 years old, to liquidate him for matters related to criminal gangs.
“You pray for these tragedies to end. One has grandchildren. Imagine the pain of these families. But that is why we are in times in which our children and adolescents they cannot be allowed privacy. I am in favor of your parents checking your emails, your phones, your belongings. All! How can a young man have a rifle and his family will not know?commented the also mother and grandmother from Quisqueyana, Bernarda Vargas, a resident of Upper Manhattan.
The opinions and anguish shared The newspaper by Iselsa, Rosario and Bernardado not distance themselves from some reactions from the same municipal authorities and organizations that monitor criminal violence, particularly inflamed by the statistics that account for the rise of confiscation of weapons in schools in the Big Apple.
Gun proliferation in schools
NYPD school security officers seized 5,546 weapons of various types between September 13 and the end of last week. A 124% increase from the 2018-2019 school year, when 2,473 were seized.
Twenty of the 5,546 weapons were pistols, including two 9mm pistols that a 15-year-old student took to high school ‘York Early College Academy’on 167th Street, in the Jamaica neighborhood in Queens, on May 18.
Last month they also found a .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol loaded inside the backpack of a 13-year-old boy, at a high school in Brooklyn.
“We are asking parents to sit down tonight and have an honest conversation with their children, to save their lives,” Mayor Eric Adams himself cried out in the face of the increasing number of criminal acts carried out by children in the past month of May.
“Don’t trust anything they tell you”
Although the recent painful mass shootings have put the issue of juvenile delinquency in perspective, the truth is that it is an “old wound”, especially in big cities.
According to a balance released by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice (OJJDP) in 2016, the most vulnerable age that young people join a gang is around 15 years old.
“But the early teen years (ages 12 to 14) are a very risky time. Although it is more common for boys to get involved with gangs, girls can also be seen connected in some way with criminal groups. Parents should pay attention at this age, even to small changes in behavior”, highlights the Parent Guide of OJJDP.
A situation experienced by Puerto Rican ‘Jacinta’, resident of Harlem, clearly describes how some parents might even be “innocent” of their children’s risky activities.
“It turns out that my 16-year-old daughter with a whole future ahead of her, going through her things I find a gun hidden in the carpet that was under his bed. I thought I would die that day, ”she recounted.
After seeking help from counselors at the same high school where her daughter attended, the islander, who recently decided to move to Florida, confirmed that she was hiding the gun from the father of her “boyfriend” in the same neighborhood. Even the boy was younger than her. She was 14 years old.
“She confessed everything to me. And she went against me. You know how boys are when they fall in love. They lose their minds. In the end, I got her out of that hell. It is very difficult to raise a boy in a poor neighborhood in New York. That’s why I always tell my sisters. Don’t trust anything they tell you. Check!” sentenced ‘Jacinta’.
“Money power and respect”
In this sense, the president of the organization ‘Bronx rise up from the guns’ (Brag), David Cavajoins the thesis that armed violence must be addressed as a public health crisis. And, precisely in this wave of 2022, all families must be “doubly committed” to get involved in confronting this evil, from various fronts.
“I was part of gangs, when I was a kid in the 70’s. These criminal groups supposedly invite you into a world of power, money and respect. And the access to be tempting that offer is what we must break. And there we invite everyone in the communities to participate. It’s not just a police matter.”plays one of the activists of the “Cure Violence” model, which creates crime interruption programs in the most vulnerable areas of the city.
David went through all the painful circumstances suffered by those who for different reasons start a criminal career: From jail to suffering the murder of his brother.
“We are overcoming a pandemic that locked up millions of people and caused them many emotional, financial and addiction difficulties. That is why New York is now experiencing this new repowered epidemic. I remind parents that the City has programs to help them. Don’t ignore any changes in your children,” Brag’s spokesman recommended.
“I never let them out”
The Dominican ‘Luisa Vallejo’, 50 years old, came from the island 15 years ago with her teenage sons, ages 12 and 15, at the 174th street and St Nicholas. On the advice of his relatives, he did not allow them to even get close to the corner.
“This is surrounded by homeless shelters, drugs and everything. We have seen many who have ended up on Rikers Island or with criminal records as children. Today that my boys grew up, they thank me for putting a heavy hand on them. Sometimes it makes you sad to see the mothers of children taking drugs. Sometimes their parents are criminals and have gang ties. What can you expect?said the immigrant, who assures that she lives in anguish for her two grandchildren.
Last January, 17 alleged members of three rival gangs who came together to form a super gang known as YPF, face a total of 118 charges, including murder, possession of weapons and other crimes related to shootings with an estimated 14 victims, including four murders.
What is relevant in this action, carried out by the New York Attorney General’s Office and the NYPD, is that the alleged criminals involved in the criminal group, they were between 14 and 20 years old.
There are resources to help parents:
¿Do you have teenagers?: Turn on these alarms!
The OJJDP Parent Guide suggests that families pay close attention to the following behaviors to raise alarm bells about their teen’s involvement with gangs or criminal activity:
- They avoid family activities.
- Poor academic performance and decrease in school attendance.
- Defiant or confrontational behavior, such as talking back, verbal abuse, name-calling, and disrespect for parental authority.
- stay on the street up late for no reason.
- An unusual desire to keep their secret affairs.
- Concern excessive for security constantly scan environments for hazards. Sudden negative attitudes about the police or adults in positions of authority (school officials or teachers).
- Change in attitude about school, church, or other normal activities or change in behavior when you attend these activities.
- Drastic changes in personal style. Break away from old friends and form alliances with new groups.
- Suspected drug use, such as alcohol, inhalants, and narcotics.
- Possession of firearms, ammunition and other weapons.
- Non-accidental physical injuries (such as evidence of being struck or injuries to the hands and knuckles caused by fighting).
- Cash/money or goods with no logical explanation of their originsuch as clothing, video games, or jewelry.
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