Warning signs
I was 15 or 16, I can't remember which, and I needed a job bad. I was walking home from school through the bad part of town (inasmuch as Lewiston has a bad part of town) because I wanted to pick up a few applications down that way, when three kids approached me. There was an older white kid - he looked maybe 11 or 12, and two younger black kids. The youngest couldn't be older than seven.
"Hey, what's your name?" the older kid asked, strutting up to me. The two younger kids looked nervous. I answered and he asked if I thought I was tough. Getting fronted on by little kids is ridiculous, and I was hoping they'd lose interest.
The white kid kept up the tough talk, and the little kids kept trying to look menacing, and I was a little annoyed. They talked shit about my clothes and my glasses, but I kept up my pace. Then the white kid told the older kid, who he called "Serj," to get his knife out.
Instead of three kids following me, I had three kids with a knife now. I acted like I wasn't fazed. It was just a little jack knife, and anyway I could handle three dumbass kids. But still...
The white kid (who I should mention had a rat tail) asked me if I thought I was cool. "No." I told him. "I think you're cool." He told me Serj had a big dog that would rip my nuts off. I told him I wouldn't like that. Finally, I got to Sabattus Street and told them a hair salon we'd reached was my house. They believed me and ran back down the street, and I hid out a few minutes until I was sure they were gone.
I told the hairdresser I'd been followed by little kids brandishing a knife, and he said something about how the neighborhood was going to shit. When I got home, I called the police. Back when I'd lived in a public housing complex, I'd had kids come up to me in a similar way, acting like thugs and threatening me. If these kids were anything like the ones in Hillview, they probably had no male role models and had to find new ones. God knows where these kids got the thug personalities they were emulating, but it was disturbing. I wanted someone to talk to their parents so their parents could set them straight.
I don't remember how, but the cops found them quickly. I identified the kids and the cops found the black kids' mother. She yelled that it wasn't her kids. I said that Sergio had a knife, and that his rattailed friend told me he had a huge dog that would bite my nuts off. I relayed the dog's name, and she said the dog was a sweetheart, then again insisted it wasn't her kids.
I tried to clarify that I just wanted her to talk to her kids of something. "This is because my kids are black!" she shouted to the police and to me. She was white, but that didn't stop her from playing the race card.
So unfortunately, the kids probably never got a stern talking-to. God knows what lessons they learned by having the police called on them, and then seeing their mother shout at the police until they left. But I saw this article recently in the Sun-Journal, and Joe confirmed it's the same kid.
I feel bad for the kid. When you see a 10-year-old whose idea of play seems to be brandishing a knife at bypassers, or at least watching your older friend do it, things are going to be fucked up if nobody intervenes. Maybe I should have bought the kids ice cream or something like in "Bulworth."
If you scroll down on the Sun-Journal story to the comments, there is one from 'family' attacking the guy he allegedly stabbed to death. "Family' even brings up race and racial profiling. I assume it's Sergio's mother, of course, and I can't imagine the pain she must be feeling. But it's not like nobody tried to warn her.
"Hey, what's your name?" the older kid asked, strutting up to me. The two younger kids looked nervous. I answered and he asked if I thought I was tough. Getting fronted on by little kids is ridiculous, and I was hoping they'd lose interest.
The white kid kept up the tough talk, and the little kids kept trying to look menacing, and I was a little annoyed. They talked shit about my clothes and my glasses, but I kept up my pace. Then the white kid told the older kid, who he called "Serj," to get his knife out.
Instead of three kids following me, I had three kids with a knife now. I acted like I wasn't fazed. It was just a little jack knife, and anyway I could handle three dumbass kids. But still...
The white kid (who I should mention had a rat tail) asked me if I thought I was cool. "No." I told him. "I think you're cool." He told me Serj had a big dog that would rip my nuts off. I told him I wouldn't like that. Finally, I got to Sabattus Street and told them a hair salon we'd reached was my house. They believed me and ran back down the street, and I hid out a few minutes until I was sure they were gone.
I told the hairdresser I'd been followed by little kids brandishing a knife, and he said something about how the neighborhood was going to shit. When I got home, I called the police. Back when I'd lived in a public housing complex, I'd had kids come up to me in a similar way, acting like thugs and threatening me. If these kids were anything like the ones in Hillview, they probably had no male role models and had to find new ones. God knows where these kids got the thug personalities they were emulating, but it was disturbing. I wanted someone to talk to their parents so their parents could set them straight.
I don't remember how, but the cops found them quickly. I identified the kids and the cops found the black kids' mother. She yelled that it wasn't her kids. I said that Sergio had a knife, and that his rattailed friend told me he had a huge dog that would bite my nuts off. I relayed the dog's name, and she said the dog was a sweetheart, then again insisted it wasn't her kids.
I tried to clarify that I just wanted her to talk to her kids of something. "This is because my kids are black!" she shouted to the police and to me. She was white, but that didn't stop her from playing the race card.
So unfortunately, the kids probably never got a stern talking-to. God knows what lessons they learned by having the police called on them, and then seeing their mother shout at the police until they left. But I saw this article recently in the Sun-Journal, and Joe confirmed it's the same kid.
I feel bad for the kid. When you see a 10-year-old whose idea of play seems to be brandishing a knife at bypassers, or at least watching your older friend do it, things are going to be fucked up if nobody intervenes. Maybe I should have bought the kids ice cream or something like in "Bulworth."
If you scroll down on the Sun-Journal story to the comments, there is one from 'family' attacking the guy he allegedly stabbed to death. "Family' even brings up race and racial profiling. I assume it's Sergio's mother, of course, and I can't imagine the pain she must be feeling. But it's not like nobody tried to warn her.