Is what I was yelling yesterday afternoon around 5:30 as I was getting off the Orange Line train in Landover....
So I am walking to my truck in the parking lot...I feel something bad is about to happen, a spirit has come over me like I have NEVER felt before in my life...I go for my keys and I go for my cellphone as I hurry to try and get in my truck...He must have been watching me...I saw him, I saw him walk into the parking lot behind me, he got off the same train...let me go ahead of him down the escalator...I thought he was being a polite young man...little thing, NO MORE than 10 or 12 years old....I heard the other little boy that he was with say come on man...lets get on the bus...but like I said he was coming behind me in the lot...
but then I didn't see him anymore...I felt that feeling, went for my keys and my phone and out of no where he comes, he SNATCHES the phone out of my hands and begins to run...
I'm in total shock, no time for shock, my Dad bought me that phone for graduation, my life is in that phone, its MY FREAKIN PHONE I bust my BUTT EVERYDAY...oh HELL naw....I take off after him...purse, work bag and all....in a black dress and flip flops...running across the entire Landover Parking Lot yelling:
"STOP THAT LITTLE BOY HE STOLE MY PHONE..."
I keep yelling this, I keep yelling this...every one is looking at me like I AM the one who is crazy...everyone is just standing around, WHY in the hell are they just standing there...GET HIM, somebody PLEASE help me get him...oh my GOSH I am about to have an asthma attack...I have to stop....I can't run anymore...oh, THANK YOU...for running after him too...OK bump this T, let's get it Thug Motivation 101...OK THANK YOU SIR for getting him AND my phone back...
Upon seeing his face and looking in his eyes, I can't hold it back...I GO OFF...
"what is wrong with you...why did you steal my phone...what was the purpose in stealing my phone..." I know I said more than that...but I can't remember...I just remember snatching him up like he snatched my phone and shaking the mess out of him as if he were my son...I was about to BEAT the BRAKES off that little boy, SERIOUSLY...I was about to whoop him right there in that parking lot...but the lady stopped me...
He is lying saying he needed to make a phone call his name is Christopher all this jazz...all lies...all lies....
Everyone is like turn him in...turn him in...I look at him...I don't want to be the reason another little boy gets caught up in the system...I can't do that...me and the guy who caught him agree...we are trying to talk to him...ask him what is or was he thinking, drop some seeds...
OK I am going to take him to the station and turn him over to transit police and ask that they turn him over to his parents....
As I am walking up, a lady and her daughter who saw the whole thing, had already called the police...THANK YOU...
by the time we make it back to the station...YES the police is already here...
I tell the officer what I want to do and he informs me that this is NOT the FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD time that he has done this...
I want to press charges officer....
Another officer comes on the scene, she heard the call and came in from downtown...she came because she heard that there was a suspect you black male running through the Landover parking lot with a pink shirt on...she couldn't believe that it MIGHT be the same little boy she had just arrested last week for robbery with a "fake" gun downtown...YES it was him...
Again, I want to press charges...
They proceed to handle their police business...he is just standing there with handcuffs on...no taller than 5 feet, no more than 100 lbs...can't be older than 10-12 years old...and he is just standing there like its nothing, NOTHING to him...
I am so upset on so many levels its crazy...I am HEATED...tomorrow is MY birthday, I can't believe its 100+ degrees and I am running after you...what in DE WORLD is really going on....and you don't even care...your whole attitude about life is "whatever" you aren't even 14 years old and already you are a liar and a thief...and you don't care...it doesn't matter to you...who else have you done this to? who else have you violated and victimized all for a PHONE!
Don't you know you can be ANYTHING you want in this life...its up to YOU and YOUR choices...I don't want to hear nobody cares about me, I don't have a mother or my father is not there...but wait, where ARE your parents? Why are you out here riding around on the trains all day long...why aren't you in camp, why aren't you doing something productive...where are those people that you need, if not your parents, an aunt or uncle....what is happening to our kids? Why....why....why....
why is that young guy looking at me, him, and his girl...oh ya'll know him huh...why are you looking at me like I did something wrong...oh I guess I was supposed to just let him go huh...crazy...
His name isn't Christopher, it isn't James Gross and it isn't whatever he said it was last week...the lady that just got off the train says his name is Chucky, at least that's what she knows him as, she knows his family...she is making a call...
I can go now, they took a picture of my phone for evidence I have the case number...here is my business card officer on top of my other information...I will be in touch...
Its Midnight (officially my birthday) I am finally home...I still went and got my hair done...
Dear Jehovah GOD...THANK YOU...Thank you for keeping me and protecting me today...anything could have happened to me, what was I thinking chasing after that little boy over a phone...anyone could have been watching and I could have seriously gotten hurt...Thank you for keeping your blood line around me....PLEASE watch over that little boy who tried to steal from me...Satin is working over time, but I know that with you he can be anything...watch over him, and place something or someone in his life for him to turn himself around...
I am drained I can't believe this happened to me...I feel violated...I don't feel safe...Lord protect me...Thank you...Good night...Amen
Well I KNOW I won't be parking at Landover anymore...regardless of how careful you are, you can never be too careful...Keys in hand ready as I get off the train...nothing else...EXCEPT for when I get my spray...is my door locked...OK...let me go to sleep now...or try too...
yes its MY day...but I appreciate it so much more than I would have ever thought...
THANK YOU GOD for letting me see another day...and for making me who I am...
21 comments:
Hi I am Kiana's cousin and I just wanted to say that I liked your blog and that I probably would have ran after a little boy also for my phone, especially if I had flip flops on. God was truly on your side and remember to put your trust in him.
Thanks for the birthday wishes and blessings guys...I really appreciate it...
its just really sad, but I prayed for that little youngin and I am going to keep praying for him because he DOES have a choice...I just hope that one day he can see that...
First off happy birthday secondly I commend you for sharing and for being so strong. I tell you one thing if it was me I would have tore a whole in his little behind. I was there not even 30 minutes after this happened to you and saw the little boy as you said with a straight face like it didn't even bother him and I approached the arresting officers to see if they were harassing him, they simply told me that he was a criminal. When I was 10 I got caught stealing from the Chinese store and I cried from the time I got caught until the time I got my butt beat in front of everyone in the store by my mother but this boy stood there like he has been there before. Lord please give our kids some hope. I have 4 boys of my own oldest 11 and I can only pray that I am giving the guidance needed to keep them away from little fools like this because peer pressure is still alive and children fall victim to it so often. So I again say thanks for being so strong, and lets both pray for our youth.
Thank you...well I was still standing there...the light skinned woman with hair all over her head...If I would have seen the five officers around him I would have had concern for the young brother too...but now...I can see why...I felt protected with all of them officers...his face I will never forget his face...or the look on it...the I don't give a flyer fart look...
YES I am going to keep praying...
Apathy, sex, pride, and despair are our young men's greatest advesaries. We've got a lot of work to do, Tiff.
Happy Birthday, Homie.
Peace,
Kep.
that's powerful Tiff
Everything starts at home...children copy what they see and hear...and IF the home enviroment isn't countering what the outside world is doing...then you have a whole lot of kids just being lost...as much as I am a victim to him...he is a victim too...how I don't quite know...Is his mother not around because she is too busy trying to find a man? Is his father out in the streets? Does his big brothers or cousins have him stealing the stuff for them?
Like I said I was and AM mad for so many reasons...but that's why I will keep doing what I do and I will take every opportunity to use my life to be a lesson...THIS will be a teaching moment in Kiamsha or with every young person AND old person for that matter...who thinks that buying "hot" stuff (a stolen phone or goods) is ok...
Nothing that I go through is without a purpose...
Rock on
geez, u never cease to amaze me. I wish someone would steal my phone... yeah, okay. u kept it cooler than I thought u would, weigh me in, did kiamsha teach u that lol. I could see you going off as I was reading. Anyway, I'm glad ur okay and that all he wanted was ur phone. ENJOY ur day and Hap... happy... ummm hap-pyyy oh forget it I'll call u.
This was sent to me as a forward. Thanks for sharing. Information is POWER!
That's just sad. What is going on with our children out here? However if it had been me, I probably would have beat the hell out of him and asked questions later. I've been victimized enough by all these youngins out here thugging and robbing over the past 5 years and in that situation I would've taken it out on him. Material possessions can be replaced, but what is being stolen is our sense of comfort and peace in our own communities.
Looks like you've had an interesting start to your birthday weekend. I think you were right to turn him in, even if not to get him in trouble, but to bring light upon the situation. He needs help. He needs to know that things like that can't be done without remorse at such a young age. It's not to early to teach him about consequences, but the healing needs to start also. Hopefully he can be taught or mentored by someone who will implant some morals and get him started on the right track. I say this because when I used to get my ass whipped for doing wrong, if I bled or bruised, or even lost a limb, the healing would come afterwards. That is what is most important.
*drops mic and hobbles off into the sunset*
We had a 10 yr old boy threaten to burn our house down once cause he didn't like my Oldest, who was also 10. I met his mom not too long after (was a neighbor kid who was always home alone) and realized that they were in a rough situation. She was a single mom working 2 jobs trying to support her two kids. She told me that she didn't play like that and since her kid was up at our house so much, for me to jerk a knot in him whenever he needed it. She said that if I couldn't, she would and that even if I did, she'd still do it. I never could discipline this boy (by choice...didn't feel right about it). When he stopped hanging around our house, he eventually started hanging with a tee shirt gang, was always in trouble and, I hear, started breaking into houses.
His mom and grandmother were good God fearing people and wanted the best for him....but they both worked so much trying to support the kids, they just weren't home much. My heart breaks for this family...never was sure what to do to help other than pray.
I received this in a forwarded email which was truly welcomed. I don't ride the subway system; I drive everywhere, but I am very proud of your reaction to the situation you found yourself in. I feel that the biggest problem with our children these days is not so much because they are poor, they are deprived of material things, etc., etc., ..... I could go on and on.....but I truly feel that when they "removed GOD" from our schools and our "environments" it took away it all. We need GOD to survive and that includes our children. NUFF SED!!
After looking at your profile, I see the hills of PR mentioned.....where in PR? Just curious!
A couple of things:
I believe in discipling kids, straight up...my brothers and friends know, if you leave your child with me you need to know that they may get a beating...period! If they act up, Imma get wit em....
Secondly....I think that its time for us as a country to take back the position "it takes a village to raise a child"...if you are in my presence under my care, understand that I am going to love you as my own and that includes discipline...
Children just need to feel like they are cared about, they need structure and sometimes it can't always come from the parents...they may be too busy just trying to keep the house going and/or they may not be equiped...it can be any number of things...but that is why IF you have the ability to provide those things for a child you do....
Its up to us to bring back the TWO parent house hold, the family, and thus our kids...BUT in cases where that's not the case...we need to be that extended family...
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I don't know if I am "really" for PR...I just have a feeling that I am...I am in the process of looking into my family tree
REPEAL GUN CONTROL IN DC AND THEY WILL RETINK THIS BEHAVIOR: Look, all people have to do is start fatally injurying some of these people. This is of the pitfalls of gun control in this city. Our police are so busy taking 1/2 a day breaks at 7/11, AutoZone, CVS, Rite-Aid, MacDonalds, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, they don't patrol the streets properly. But, I don't want to put all the blame on the police because their parents contribute to this behavior early on as well.
I agree that it takes a village but, I've also found, it's not always possible. In my case, I wasn't babysitting this kid. He would just come up and hang out. When I got on to him, he would go home. He wasn't that big of a behaviour problem MOST of the time, but when he knew he'd done something wrong, he was out my door quicker than lickety split.
Now, if you leave a child in my care, then yes. I'm going to discipline them and I'll make sure you are aware of that before you leave. I don't believe in discipling other people's kids otherwise. That doesn't mean I won't communicate to their parents what has happened, but to physically punish someone else's kid....not me. My home has always been overrun with neighborhood kids and I go out of my way to provide a safe environment and as much fun as I can. If you're not my kid I'll talk to you, and if need be, send you home.
This kid I never sent home but he never gave me a chance either. Some kids, like this one, can't be reached easily because they are closed off to it. In his teen years he would once in blue moon come sit with me on the porch and talk for a few, but we never really had that kind of relationship where I could help him. Maybe that was my fault but I did what I thought was right at the time.
I know you tried...and I can totally understand that some kids can't be reached....you are RIGHT about that....We just can't stop trying...
Hey Tiff,
I'm glad you got your phone back. And that GOD was with you. You listened to the Holy Spirt with in you. I'm glad you ran after that little punk. IT just makes me so mad that children that young are doing such bad things as this. I know that little boy can be anything he puts his mind to. He has a great mind obviously. He just needs to use it for good and not evil. Yes he needs positive motivations in his life. There is one thing in this story that puzzles me. He has done this few times already so why wasn't charges pressed on him before, especially since he tried to rob somebody with a fake gun? And just maybe you would not have experience this situation.
I also blame the parant(s). Parents need to teach their children we all have to take repsonibilty for our actions. That little boy knows right from wrong.
Where was his parent(s)? They need to beheld accountable as well.I am glad you pressed charges on him. I hope this situation will be a turning point in this young boy's life and that hewould want to turn away from a life of crime.
May God look after him and you.
I honestly think because he is so young, and because he probably does it to his own "people" that there is a certain level of "I don't want to be responsible for putting another young brother in the system" train of thought...you know...so its but so much that the police can do IF people don't press charges...but that's just my "take" on it because I really don't "know"
So you Know Jehovah, do you? Well that is certainly a good thing. But let me suggest you get to know him a little better. Then you will understand why what happened to you happened to you. As the Bible (Jehovah's word) tells us, we are living in the last days,... "critical times hard to deal with will be here. Men will be lovers of money, lovers of themselves, having no natural affection"...meaning having no love for his fellow man. This is what Jesus (GOD's son) told his disciples (while he was on earth) when they asked him, "Tell us Lord what will be a sign of your second presence?" So if you can, read your Bible every day and Jehovah will give you the understanding you search for. To be quite honest with you, without that understanding, man would have no hope for the future.
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