Deontae Mitchell, Someone Please Tell Me What's Happening Here!

**dguy4evr** · June-02-16, 12:45 PM

I don't care what color you are or what background you come from or what your station in life is.
How can you as a human being take a child's life? I don't believe it is human nature to take the life of a child.
This is not just about Deontae, but it's about all the children that have been taken from this earth by people that have no respect for life.
You can cite all the demographics, single parent households, and lack of opportunities that were afforded these animals, someone please explain how this happens. There is just no way these actions can be justified.

So sorry for the rant, I'm just pissed off and frustrated when someone tries to make the city a better place to live and you read about this.

**Bigdd** · June-02-16, 01:19 PM

I agree.

And you have to wonder why Deontae and his cousin were hanging out at a liquor store at 10:30 pm on a school night. Where were the parents?

Parents in Detroit [[or anywhere) shouldn't have to worry about their children not coming home safely at night, each time they steal from someone at the liquor store. There are bad people out there that will hurt or even kill you if you steal from them. Heck,. there are people out there that will kill you even if you don't. People get shot just because someone looser wants their shoes or their jacket. It's a sick world.

**iheartthed** · June-02-16, 01:48 PM

Not sure why this needs to be discussed in racially coded language. Abducting and murdering a child is not an ordinary event for any racial group.

**1953** · June-02-16, 01:50 PM

This story made me want to throw up a little too.

**dguy4evr** · June-02-16, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Not sure why this needs to be discussed in racially coded language. Abducting and murdering a child is not an ordinary event for any racial group.

How is this racially coded? This has absolutely nothing to do with race, why do you feel a need to go down that road. Not everything on the forum has to do with race issues. Read the first sentence of this thread.

**iheartthed** · June-02-16, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by dguy4evr

How is this racially coded? This has absolutely nothing to do with race, why do you feel a need to go down that road. Not everything on the forum has to do with race issues. Read the first sentence of this thread.

Not sure how I got the impression that you were talking about race.

Originally Posted by dguy4evr

You can cite all the demographics, single parent households, and lack of opportunities that were afforded these animals, someone please explain how this happens. There is just no way these actions can be justified.

**Bigdd** · June-02-16, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Not sure how I got the impression that you were talking about race.

It should be noted that the word demographics does not refer to race specifically,.. but rather all sorts of data relating to a population.

Certainly race is one of the things demographics measure,.. but so is average income, percent employed, number of single parent households, percent on welfare and food-stamps, education level, home ownership v.s. renting, Democrat v.s. Republican, percent with prison records,.. etc, etc, etc.

The OP "could" be referring to race,.. or perhaps he's referring to the combination of things such as the hideously high percentage of children born to people who are not married, not educated and living in poverty [[and therefor have little chance of properly raising a child), that then either don't attend school or just cause trouble and drop out, commit crime and get arrested, etc.

**Bobl** · June-02-16, 03:28 PM

I am older than most on this forum. I learned, long ago, that demographics often do not matter. Some people are just no damned good.

**kathy2trips** · June-02-16, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by Bobl

I am older than most on this forum. I learned, long ago, that demographics often do not matter. Some people are just no damned good.

You are so right, Bob. People where I live now [[in Texas) often ask me why Detroit "fell apart" and assume it's race. Sure there was some of that with kids, but mostly, especially among adults, that's the propaganda and hype. The REAL reason was crime.

I don't care what color you are, nobody wants to live in a place where you could be robbed, beaten, stabbed or shot at any moment, much less your kids. I tell my nieces and nephews that live in Michigan about when we used to sit on the front porch and drink Boston Coolers at our old house by Mack and Gratiot and they look at me like I'm crazy!

Just go on the internet and read some of people's memories of living in Detroit and their experiences before they were driven out by crime. Lots of black people were killed as well as white people. All four of my European born grandparents had black friends as did my parents. Pre-1967 riots, Detroit was an example of many different ethnic neighborhoods and how everyone got along.

It's when people stopped teaching their kids respect for other people's property and lives that things start going downhill. Getting a slap on the wrist for destroying buildings and robbing people only made the situation worse. It told people that nothing would happen to you if you ruined the city....go for it. And they did.

**softailrider** · June-02-16, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Bobl

I am older than most on this forum. I learned, long ago, that demographics often do not matter. Some people are just no damned good.

Cant argue with that.

**Ray1936** · June-02-16, 05:40 PM

Well, naming a child "Deontae" to start with tends to hang a racial lable on him from the git-go, seems to me.

**G-DDT** · June-10-16, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Well, naming a child "Deontae" to start with tends to hang a racial lable on him from the git-go, seems to me.

Maybe naming him Latimore or Ichabod would've swung things in another way, perhaps?...

**Zacha341** · June-11-16, 07:36 AM

Yeah, I was thinking just that. Thank you for pointing it out!

Originally Posted by G-DDT

Maybe naming him Latimore or Ichabod would've swung things in another way, perhaps?...

**Scottathew** · June-02-16, 06:08 PM

This crime is just senseless.

Folks need to do everything they can to prevent their child from being in this situation.

**dguy4evr** · June-02-16, 08:35 PM

What I was trying to convey is that harming a defenseless child flies in the face of normalcy. Maybe I'm oversimplifying this but when I lived in Detroit on the lower East side not too far from where this happened, there was a sense of belonging in the neighborhood. You knew your neighbor and you knew you were being watched. It was that simple. If an adult intentionally hurt a child other than a swat on the pants, he could look forward to an ass beating. This was just something that did not happen. Sure there were the psychos out there but you never heard about them, not to say they weren't out there. It seems that there is no sense of moral outrage, it seems like it's the new normal to grab a gun and shoot not caring who or what is in the path of the bullet. How did we get to this point?

**Hypestyles** · June-02-16, 09:32 PM

something else to make me more depressed about still being stuck here...

**313WX** · June-02-16, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

something else to make me more depressed about still being stuck here...

Pretty much my feeling.

**detroitsgwenivere** · June-02-16, 11:02 PM

This is pretty shocking, even for Detroit. We all saw this boy alive on the news last night, and I for one thought that he would've been found alive today. SMH

**RaumVogel** · June-03-16, 12:26 AM

I can,it is all about demographics. People who "fall through the cracks" end up in areas were they are tolerated.The "they were born evil"theory sounds fine,but would they still behave this way if they had been born to rich parents in a nice neighborhood that bothered to raise them with certain principles?If all they knew was how to survive like an animal..maybe society shouldn't be surprised when they behave like one. It's the "Gran Torino" effect.Strong people keep their principals and suffer at the hands of the weak who take the easy way out and become animals.

**dguy4evr** · June-03-16, 06:26 AM

Originally Posted by RaumVogel

I can,it is all about demographics. People who "fall through the cracks" end up in areas were they are tolerated.The "they were born evil"theory sounds fine,but would they still behave this way if they had been born to rich parents in a nice neighborhood that bothered to raise them with certain principles?If all they knew was how to survive like an animal..maybe society shouldn't be surprised when they behave like one. It's the "Gran Torino" effect.Strong people keep their principals and suffer at the hands of the weak who take the easy way out and become animals.

I'm sorry, I cant buy into this argument. Where does wealth come into this? I've come across so many underprivileged families who make family values such as respect and education a priority. It doesn't cost a dime to raise a child to have family values. What it does take is a family environment.

**belleislerunner** · June-03-16, 06:46 AM

It's a sad story but it could have been prevented by the victim.

The person killed was a thief, having stolen money that a man who was urinating against a wall dropped. Had he picked up the money and returned it to the man - nothing would have happened. Sometimes you don't know who you are messing with until it is too late. In this case it was an ex con and the victim learned the ultimate lesson. Hopefully his family and friends learn that crime doesn't pay.

**sirrealone** · June-03-16, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

It's a sad story but it could have been prevented by the victim.

The person killed was a thief, having stolen money that a man who was urinating against a wall dropped. Had he picked up the money and returned it to the man - nothing would have happened. Sometimes you don't know who you are messing with until it is too late. In this case it was an ex con and the victim learned the ultimate lesson. Hopefully his family and friends learn that crime doesn't pay.

A 13 year old kid sees money laying on the sidewalk and he's going to have just one thought..."OH WOW, LOOK, MONEY"

That's it. And it's not just him, it's going to be pretty much every 13 year old kid in existance.

All the rest of the thoughts you mentioned, that isn't there yet for a young teen to think about. Nor should he have to. He's 13.

The guy that dropped the money was able to catch him. He got his money back. That should have been the end of it. Killing the kid was completely unnecessary and in a city where horrors are commonplace, it was one of the most savage and unnecessary things imaginable.

For him to be blamed even a little bit for this is completely unimaginable.

**Honky Tonk** · June-03-16, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by sirrealone

A 13 year old kid sees money laying on the sidewalk and he's going to have just one thought..."OH WOW, LOOK, MONEY"

That's it. And it's not just him, it's going to be pretty much every 13 year old kid in existance.

All the rest of the thoughts you mentioned, that isn't there yet for a young teen to think about. Nor should he have to. He's 13.

The guy that dropped the money was able to catch him. He got his money back. That should have been the end of it. Killing the kid was completely unnecessary and in a city where horrors are commonplace, it was one of the most savage and unnecessary things imaginable.

For him to be blamed even a little bit for this is completely unimaginable.

What B/S. I know a handful of 13 year olds, and younger, that would have said "Hey mister, you dropped something", and not taken the opportunity to burn a guy taking a leak. It says a lot about the kid's upbringing, and yours. Now that I'm done with that, it's horrendous this asshole decided to put a slug in a 13 year old's head. Big man.....

**Wesley Mouch** · June-03-16, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

It's a sad story but it could have been prevented by the victim.

The person killed was a thief, having stolen money that a man who was urinating against a wall dropped. Had he picked up the money and returned it to the man - nothing would have happened. Sometimes you don't know who you are messing with until it is too late. In this case it was an ex con and the victim learned the ultimate lesson. Hopefully his family and friends learn that crime doesn't pay.

I also noted that stealing the man's money seemed like an incredibly bad decision -- which the media seems to ignore in favor of focusing on the criminal doing what criminals do.

Am not blaming the victim here, but just wondering why the kid poked the beast, and why it doesn't seem to be worth discussion.

**Shai_Hulud** · June-03-16, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

I also noted that stealing the man's money seemed like an incredibly bad decision -- which the media seems to ignore in favor of focusing on the criminal doing what criminals do.

Am not blaming the victim here, but just wondering why the kid poked the beast, and why it doesn't seem to be worth discussion.

Because a teenager doing something stupid isn't comparable to an adult murdering a child?