A glimpse into the underside
We at The Sun have provided extensive coverage of the deadly Saturday night drive-by in the Westside that killed 22-year-old Deivon McGee and wounded three children.
The brazen drive-by - surveillance video footage from a nearby liquor store recorded nine rapid-fire gunshots - was just the latest burst of violence in a Westside community riven by gang violence.
At least three children have been killed by gunfire in this area since last year.
But what should be underscored here is more than the ugly numbers. This reporter can say unequivocally - for I have walked all over these streets and written a slew of dispatches from them - that this is a community under siege.
By that we mean that violence, poverty, fear and disillusionment are so pervasive here that all conceptions of normalcy - of freedom from this savage urban confluence - is nearly inescapable.
This is an especially grave circumstance for the youths growing up in this environment. When violence and death is an external fact of life, a destructive cycle of thought and perception is often internalized at a young age.
Better off letting the people speak for themselves. Below is a video clip I shot on Monday with a group of neighborhood kids milling around the sidewalk bloodstains marking where McGee was slain two nights before.
Listen to this child, who can't be more than 13 years old, talk with cool cynicism about life in his world:
. Betty Dean Anderson is running on the same premise as Ms. McCammack and Mr. Kelley have now, and in the past. That premise, and promise, to the taxpayers is to represent them, their constituents, and ultimately the entire City, not just the Mayor’s little 20 block community.
She will be a great experienced asset to our City Council. If Betty is elected, she will serve the 6th Ward very well, and also the entire community. Please do not stay home on election day, the City of San Bernardino needs you to go vote for the survival of our City. Please vote for Betty Dean Anderson, Chas Kelley, Wendy McCammack, and James Penman. They have real life values that are true to you, your families, your neighborhood, and to the City of San Bernardino. You can be proud of their service. As Betty Dean says “Check the record”.
Again, I must remind many who did not know about the scam a former council woman’s assistant in the 6th Ward pulled in the past. This was before Betty Dean served ac a council woman. This scam involved going to apartment complexes and going to people who normally would not vote, paying them for a favorable absentee vote, and then winning the election .with these votes making the difference. This happened because hard working citizens did not go vote and assumed incorrectly that the right candidate would win. It took Mr. Penman to investigate and uncover that fraud, but by the time the investigation was finished, the election was behind and a lot of harm was done. Your vote will make all the difference in the world.