"This Is A Stick Up!"
Kelvin Wade:Crime has long-term effects
Tuesday night, my girlfriend's daughter Sheryl and granddaughter Lauryn were leaving a dance studio in Sacramento. They dance for a hula halau, performing at events all over Northern California including the Pacific Rim Festival. They and about three members of their troupe were robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot by two thugs. Sheryl originally thought it was a joke until one of the assailants put a silver revolver in her face.
We talk about crime all the time in this community. We base elections on the topic. We come up with strategies to combat it. When it happens to someone you love, statistics and probabilities don't mean much.
I told the story in a column years ago about some punks who were playing road rage games with me on Interstate 80 towards Cordelia. When the passenger in the front seat waved a big revolver at me, I hit the brakes.
For a long time after that incident, I didn't feel safe unless I was armed. And my friends were always armed. That's one of the effects crime can have on you. Fortunately, my friends and I decided that we were potentially making a bad situation worse by being armed and we stopped carrying.
When 10-year-old Lauryn whispers to me, 'I should've been taking taekwondo instead of hula' it ticks me off. That's not an experience anyone should have, let alone a 10-year-old girl with her mother. It's not a thought a wonderful hula dancer should have to express.
I told her that it wasn't time for martial arts, that she, her mom and friends in that parking lot did the right thing.
When we pick up the newspaper and read about a gang fight, a robbery or something like the killing and shootings on Holly Drive last weekend, we're horrified. But now with this incident, I'm thinking about the victims we read about. We read their stories one day and the next we're on to something else. It's not so easy for the victims. These criminal acts leave lingering scars. Sheryl will have to get a new drivers license, new cell phone, cancel her charge cards, and open a new bank account and so on. But that's all replaceable stuff. What isn't so easily replaceable is she and her daughter's sense of safety and peace of mind.
She worries about the two thugs who have her address and other personal information. She worries about a daughter who was rudely introduced to how random and brutal this world can be.
Sheryl is telling friends to be aware of their surroundings especially during the holiday season. When these two criminals first walked by them, casing them, Sheryl felt there was something wrong. Go with your instincts.
Do your best to stay safe during this holiday shopping season. I can only hope what goes around comes around and those felons get what's coming to them. Peace.
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NOTES: This is taken from The Other Side Daily Republic blog.
"THIS IS A STICK UP!"
When the two black males, who'd walked by the hula troupe earlier came back with their shirts pulled up over their faces and one holding a small silver revolver yelling, "This is a stick up!" my girlfriend's 35 year old daughter Sheryl thought it was a joke. After all, they'd seen the guys' faces already. And in a moment like this, there's always a surreal quality to it. Most of us have no experience with being crime victims.
When the armed assailant grabbed Sheryl's purse, she reflexively tugged back on it. He put the gun inches from her face and said, "Don't mess with me!" Sheryl let the purse go. All of this transpired with her 10 year old daughter Lauryn at her side screaming, "He's got a gun!"
The two thugs took their loot and ran off, barely able to run because their pants were sagging so much. The Sacramento sheriff's response time was incredible. In minutes there was a helicopter up above the scene. No less than five units responded within ten minutes.
When something like this happens, you feel powerless. You want so bad to be able to do something. For those of us who weren't there, we wish we had been there. And I don't know why. I'm not impervious to bullets. I don't know how it would've gone down any differently but it just ticks me off that it happened.
It makes me angry that anyone has to go through something like that, not just my loved ones. I'm thinking about the people something like that is going to happen to this holiday season and its distressing. It's distressing that there are so many lowlifes who don't want to work for what they have. They'd rather take the shortcut and take what someone else earns.
Vigilance is important. It's important to be aware of your surroundings. And it's not always wise to assume there is safety in numbers. We sometimes develop a false sense of security thinking that others will come to our assistance but that's not always the case. Some studies have shown that the more bystanders there are, the less likely they are to come to your rescue, thinking that someone else will do it.
This happened in Sacramento but we're all too aware that something like this could take place here or anywhere. Pay attention to your surroundings. Listen to your instincts. Have your keys ready when you're going to your car after shopping or going anywhere at night. Don't dawdle in parking lots. One doesn't have to become paranoid. Just some prudent precaution.
Lastly, I want to thank Councilman John Mraz for his support and help during this time.
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