By now, you've all witnessed the emotions of a heartbroken mother, which we've become so used to that it's a surprise when we don't see something like this every few weeks.

It's the subject matter of numerous editorials, church sermons and discussions among people who murmur, "I don't know what's wrong with these kids these days." I'm used to it because violent deaths, such as Derrion Albert's, in the photo above, were commonplace among black youth when I was in high school and long before.

Since that time, you've talked about it, shook your heads and continued to shovel chitterlings in your mouths. So in a way, YOU killed Derrion Albert with your cavalier attitudes. None of the kids that were killed were yours, so you didn't need to act, right?

For all the talk, though, guess what? None of it stopped his death or any other youth murder in any of our cities, and certainly none of it will give solace to his mother or any parent who has lost a child to such a heinous tragedy.

There are tons of "commentators," preachers and others talking about how we need to open community centers, enhance education, create job opportunities, bring the black family back together and blame rap music for the murder of this bright young honor student.

But you know what? That's not going to bring him back, and it's not going to stop the next murder, which is probably happening as you are reading this.

Not that some of those things don't help. They do, but they only help over a long period of time. Right now, though, there are two things Derrion's mother needs immediately to bring closure so that she can heal: justice and to know that the next mother is being prevented from crying.

Whenever one of our young people winds up dead, especially when it's because of something he had no involvement in, as in Derrion's case, there are volumes of rhetoric that do not equal solutions. So as far as I'm concerned, since the violence has not stopped, it's all a waste.

How about for once taking a look at what really brought this horrific incident to fruition, based on witnesses and news reports.

The South Side of Chicago had seen multiple school closings and shifts over the course of the past several years. Students from the Altgeld Gardens projects and an area of Roseland called "the Ville" had been fighting for as long as two generations. When Carver High School completely transformed into a military academy, Altgeld kids had little choice but to go to Fenger High School, automatically setting up a showdown between the two groups.

The morning of Derrion's death, a Roseland student shot at some Altgeld kids and was subsequently arrested, but that heightened already high-running tensions, which spilled over on to a bus stop that Altgeld kids had to use to get home.

The fight started and became increasingly vicious until Derrion walked through, not realizing he was walking right in to a brawl. Young people from both groups pummeled him, with one striking him with a railroad tie, knocking him unconscious. When he came to, another group in the melee jumped him again, killing him.

So here's what pisses me off: This whole thing could have been avoided if at some point -- especially when the schools knew they'd be bringing together two warring factions -- there had been some type of intervention to squash the beef.

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about why street violence is not just the product of a bunch of drive-by gang bangers, but rather, the result of violent retribution and oneupmanship. I later found out that programs that are organized by community organizers (you know, the kind that conservatives hate) do volumes to reduce the incidents of violent crimes like this.

To me, that's a hell of a lot better than a bunch of preachers, "black leaders" and water cooler chatter that simply talks about what we need to do. What we need to do is shut up for a change and focus on what works.

Would intervention have worked? It's not a cure all, but if you ask people who implement and study CeaseFire programs across the nation, they'll tell you putting concerned OGs in the street who work with the youngbloods, giving them a way to circumvent the stupid "no snitching" rule, would be a welcome alternative to creating extra space in morgues and building new jails.

If you read a Chicago Tribune article from Oct. 6, it shows that both sides were fighting to defend themselves from each other, the way they normally do in that area, not necessarily seeking out victims. So two things are obvious here:

1) Longtime violence between two rival neighborhoods, which continued unchecked for years, inevitably resulted in young Derrion's death.

2) The Chicago school system was grossly irresponsible (and possibly culpable) in not anticipating that something like this was bound to happen.

(To be fair, the system did plan a Safe Passage program designed to help students who had to pass through hostile territory get to and from school safely, but it was not implemented to coincide with the Carver closure.)

With all that said, a mother is still left wounded for the rest of her life and at least four people will likely stand trial and add to the numbers of imprisoned black males.

So that still leaves us with the justice question. Since this incident, everyone has been pointing the finger of blame. Some point at Mayor Richard Daley for focusing on the Olympics rather than the "hood." Some at President Obama, because everybody is bitching at him lately.

Nonsense.

Yes, I laid the accountability on your shoulders for not being the village that looked out for Derrion, that helped beefing teenagers, cresting manhood, find constructive instead of destructive ways of representing their neighborhoods; that didn't hold the politicians feet to the fire when it comes to public safety; that didn't try to heal the dysfunction that has been bred in our culture by Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome.

But let's make it plain: the only people directly responsible for Derrion Albert's death are the people who pummeled and bludgeoned him to death. They should go before a judge. They should all receive life in prison. POINT BLANK!

These cats were not 3 years old. They were teenagers who were old enough to know that what they were doing could result in exactly this. There are no excuses for them, because while they were busy engaged in the fight, the vast majority of the other students were not. They stayed out. They kept their noses clean. They don't get a record. They get to continue their educations. Hey, if ain't nobody else gonna give them props for that, I will.

But in the streets, you see, nobody holds cats responsible for their mistakes. They are just written off as people who can't help but behave in a sociopathic way: "Hey, this kid is from the 'hood, so naturally he's going to be a criminal...hey she's from the projects, so she's definitely going to have her first baby by age 15."

It's bad enough that society believes this about us, but why do we have to believe it about ourselves?

That's why the cats who did this get the direct blame. Because of their failure to stay on the straight and narrow. Since they failed, they must pay. That's what justice is, and that's the only way Derrion's family can be served.

Bottom line: Neither poverty, welfare, politicians, parents, schools or anything else is responsible for people who are able to make choices about what they do. These cats CHOSE to kill Derrion Albert, so they should be held responsible. I'm tired of us making up excuses for people and their witless behavior. If we actually demanded that young black men set and meet standards for themselves then we wouldn't be worried as much about things like dropout rates, violence and high-incarceration rates.

I doubt it will provide much solace to An-Janette Albert, but maybe seeing the kids in her neighborhood graduate out of high school and away from the violent tempest of their world would do her heart some good.

Chicago owes her that much.