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Theresa Lumpkin was, until Thursday, the Mother of 13-year-old Robert Freeman Jr. of Chicago. Her tenure as his parent ended when the young boy was shot and killed on the South Side of Chicago in what many believe to be a case of mistaken identity.
Witnesses say, though, that the murder was deliberate, as the gunman shot the young boy multiple times.
"My baby was just lying there,'' said Lumpkin. "He tried to get up. He tried to fight for his mama. He tried to fight for his life.''
Neighbors who saw the incident did not want their names to be published.
"I was running out [of] the door to say, Stop shooting that baby," one neighbor said.
Robert had 22 bullet holes in his body, according to doctors. The people of the community say that he was apparently targeted because he had the same complexion, height and hairstyle of another boy who was the actual target. Police are investigating whether the shooting was due to a dispute over drugs or money.
This was the fourth teen shooting in the area this week.
The amount of violence occurring in Chicago over the past two years is shocking and simply disgraceful. The number of youth murders in Chicago over the past several years parallels the number of soldiers who've died in Iraq. If this does not call for a state of emergency, I don't know what does. The federal government must become involved, since young people should not have to endure such tragedy at any age, let alone at 13 years old.
The murder of Robert Freeman is also disturbing because it almost seems as if people would be less sympathetic if he were not a victim of mistaken identity. Let's be clear: No 13-year-old child should be the target of homicide. Kids that age should not have to worry about being shot on the way to school.
Have we become so insensitive as to forget the long-term psychological damage that this kind of trauma can cause to the children in this neighborhood? If four kids had been shot in my neighborhood in such a short amount of time, I would have seriously considered carrying a weapon to protect myself, even as an eighth-grader.
When I was younger, my best friend was shot in the head in a case of mistaken identity. Some people were looking for drugs and money and he was shot and killed in front of his 3-year-old daughter. Since he was a black man who lived in the poorer side of my hometown, the media overlooked his case and the police only worked part-time to find the killer. In fact, his family has known for years who the killer is, but neither the police, nor potential witnesses, have been willing to step forward.
That same week, a white woman was murdered in a wealthier part of the city. The public approach to her murder was dramatically different from that of my best friend. Her death was featured as the lead story on local news for several days. There was a $25,000 reward put out to bring her killer to justice. The suffering of her family was featured in the local newspaper, while my friend's death was mentioned in the bottom of the very last page, likely in the "Another ni**er died this week" section of the paper.
It was disheartening to watch the suffering of my best friend's family go completely ignored, primarily because he was a lower-class black man. It is equally disheartening to watch the public and the federal government ignore the deaths of scores of black and brown youth in the city of Chicago - all because they are not wealthy kids from Martha's Vineyard.
Hundreds of millions of dollars needs to be invested to provide additional resources to fight youth violence. Also, the neighborhood where almost no one will speak up publicly on who killed Robert Freeman must find unique methods to police their communities to ensure that predators are extracted from their cities. This murder was tragic, painful and shameful.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
Comments: (65)
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By: John Telford on 8/04/2010 9:57AM
Detroit is in similar or worse straits than Chicago in this regard. The schools must deal with this problem, and I outline how to do this in my 2010 memoirs on Detroit and the schools, A Life on the RUN - Seeking and Safeguarding Social Justice (google wwwlAlifeontheRUN or request the book at your local Barnes & Noble store).
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By: Deflateddreamer on 8/04/2010 11:52AM
My heart is deeply broken, in pain and ashamed. I empathize with the grief of the family of this 13 year old child. I feel their grief. I feel the fear of the people who witnessed the horrendous act of murder in their own community. I understand their fear. I find it so very difficult to understand what kind of anger, ignorance, or misguided mindset can make it "OK" for any human being to rationalize killing a 13 year old for any reason under the sun.
This and other acts like it are not the acts of real people. They are the acts of mindless, heartless, empty vessels trying to find a way to ease their own doubts, fears and lack of purpose. They think they are upholding a system or something that seems to give them life, group acceptance, status, but they don't know that they are just instruments of evil. How misguided can one be? And then, how do we reach anyone who would murder another, then stand over him and continue shooting until the weapon is empty? And a thirteen year old? Who and what has entered the mind and convinced this lost and bewildered " entity" that it has demonstrated power, strength, or anything as noble as that? How long and what will it take to make any such "thing" realize the hurt, the pain, the shame, the uselessness, the loss, it has caused a world of others? And for what reason?
Forgive me, but I can't even fathom a mind that works in this way; not even if it were in a mob mentality to feel OK after such an act.
Blacks were horrified by the crimes against Blacks, perpetrated by Whites during the suffering of the days of slavery and the created racism of that time. Today, Black on Black crime seems even more random, vicious and senseless. At least the Whites had a reason they thought was noble, they believed in and merited such action to open the straight path to their own "righteous" community goals. What is the Black excuse?
I wish I had the words, the acts, the thoughts, the solutions, the power and influence to make a difference in all of this. I grieve for the people who suffer these losses, the parents, the community, US, because, in truth, with each such action; each one of us loses something. Not one of us is untouched, unaffected, free of the effects.
This sort of senselessness reverberates through every decent heart alive, and takes some of its life away with each violent and shameful occurrence.
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By: mystia2004 on 8/06/2010 11:01AM
This is a very sad story. My prayers goes out to this family.
It is really crazy the stuff that is happening in our community yet we do nothing about it but complain and now we are asking for the governments help. These type of crimes have been going on for years amongst us and when will the people in the community stand up for themselves. I know we don't trust the police and for good reason. But in order to do something about crime in our communties we have to get more involved in these cases especially when innocent kids are being killed.
Of course nothing will happen in this case as usual nobody will come and make it national news. Where is the Al sharpton and Jesse Jackson at when it comes to these type of crimes in our community. If the issue was one of race say a white preson had of shot this kid 22 times they would be all over it. But since we know that the person is black they are not stomping for this.
People please wake up we have to start making sure these type of issue become news. We have to make sure that these crimes stop occuring as much in our communities. Not the government or the police you know we don't trust them.
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By: gftb4 on 8/09/2010 3:02PM
America where are you? How do we stop this? It pains me to see people line the streets across this country to protest the mis-treatment of animals but no protest to the slaughter of children.You spend your tax dollars to employ people who don't care about these children but you can get outraged over the killing of a dog(it's wrong) but you don't care about these babies. Is it because you have and care for a pet but you don't have or care for the life a black child?
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By: Tamron on 9/23/2010 1:47PM
When you give evidence against any individual,The police say,they are required by the LAW,to let that individual know who turned them in.So ..that's why no one knows nothin!
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