Targets? The bullets just keep on flying

Where do I begin?

A 12year-old Bridgeport boy is dead, another urban black kid whose life was ended when a bullet tore through his chest and stole his future. Police said he was an innocent bystander who was simply standing outside his home; the target of the drive-by shooting had been his older cousin who also was standing outside the house.

So, once again, the trajectory of a bullet has ended an innocent child’s future with headlines, lit candles and wails of grief.

I could curse and rant my way through this column about the unfairness of his life being cut short, but it will not make a bit of difference.

Another mother is distraught, more brothers are grieving, and friends will never get a chance to say goodbye.

And so it continues. More bullets. More deaths. More funerals. More press conferences. More arrests. More soundbites.

The boy’s name was Clinton Howell; he was a charter-school student in the seventh grade, and teachers described him as “bright” and a “joy to be around.” He would have turned that magical age of 13 this month — not that it really matters to anyone, except his family.

As I have written before about other young black boys and men whose lives end on the concrete of urban streets, eventually the tranquillizer called time will settle in and only Clinton’s family will remember his face and his name.

And like so many other black children who are victims of black-on-black crime, there will be no serious outrage from the black community for him. There will be no stampede of black parents in the streets demanding that something be done to protect their children.

Al Sharpton won’t come calling, and leaders from Black Lives Matter won’t stomp into the city.

After all, Clinton wasn’t shot by a cop. Had a cop shot him, hell would

follow the fury in the headline.

But he was allegedly shot by what has become a far more deadlier force for black men — other black men.

An 18-year-old illegal immigrant from Jamaica, Tajay Chambers, has been arrested for allegedly pulling the trigger in the driveby shooting while in a stolen car. There were three other occupants in the car — 16-, 14-, and 12-year-old juveniles.

But since there is no one but other blacks to blame, there will be nothing but pockets of anger and muted indignation about this deadly contagion that has infected young minds and

So, once again, the trajectory of a bullet has ended an innocent child’s future with headlines, lit candles and wails of grief.

torn asunder victim’s families and segments of black neighborhoods.

And at least one of my readers — who happens to be a police officer — wants to know why.

As he wrote in an email to me, “if this kid was white, and killed a couple of miles away in Trumbull or Fairfield, the National Guard would be called out. If a police officer had shot the kid, every cable news outlet in the country would cover it 24/7! But black on black genocide is just expected behavior.”

He concluded his letter with “THAT IS RACISM!!”

I am not so sure I disagree.

Since 2001, more than 90 percent of black men killed were killed by other black men, according to the FBI. I am not confused here. I know that white men kill white men, black men kill black men, Hispanic men kill Hispanic men and so on. That is just the way it works.

But the ages of those involved in these senseless killings are becoming younger.

And I don’t get it. It is not as if black people are not concerned about this. It is the topic of conversation in barber shops and black churches, and every black man and woman I talk to is concerned about this menace, where ending a life is an instruction that has no calculation.

I have written so many times about this topic in my Sunday column that the column at times reads like a Sunday sermon from the print pulpit.

But the bullets just keep on flying.

Clinton Howell is dead and the faint outcry over his death — from community to politicians — reminds me of the response to Tyrick Keyes, a 14-yearold boy with no gang affiliation but big dreams, who was shot and killed two years ago in New Haven. There were headlines, vigils, and tears shed, and a reward for his killer has been posted. A street sign now bears his name, which must be a comfort to his mother that he won’t be forgotten.

But a street sign can’t talk back, it can’t hug back and it can’t give back.

For Clinton Howell, instead of being remembered for what he brought to his family and friends and what he could have brought to the world, he will be remembered in the annals as Bridgeport’s 11th homicide of 2018.

That is an unimaginable end for a young boy who greeted classmates and teachers each morning with “a smile and either a high-five, handshake or side hug…”

We must find a way to bullet-proof these young boys and men. Their bodies must stop becoming the final resting place for bullets naked of allegiance.

We are all to blame for this mess — with poor government leadership at the head of the line with failure to provide the key ingredients for success: real jobs, safe housing and better opportunities — but it is the black community that must lead the way out.

Because if we don’t, parents beware, we can only expect more bullets, more deaths, more funerals, more press conferences, more arrests and more soundbites ...

... and many more Clinton’s and Tyrick’s.

Targets? The bullets just keep on flying.