Today, a letter was released by the Rocky Mountain News of the proposed trigger man who killed Broncos Cornerback Darrent Williams. If you want to read the letter, here's the link...
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/pdf/053008clark_letter_to_hicks.pdfBut I'm having a problem with several issues since this happened and let me name them off. I'm familiar with the area that Williams was killed in having lived five blocks from the club and knowing what trouble is always brewing there. The club that Williams was killed at historically has trouble between Bronco players and the public. There are four things that I struggle with.
Fact Number 1: Was Williams still active in gang activity? All signs point towards YES but in a remote fashion. I believe that you can set up public programs for gangs but dealing with a gang by yourself? Good luck. let me define "remote". Still having all of your "homeys" cell phone numbers and hanging around even though you might not be in the trade. Just like Carmelo Anthony did in Baltimore when they caught him on film with a drug dealer laughing, joking and rapping. Gee, you can't do that anymore because your status has changed.
Fact Number 2: Supposedly, Kenyon Martin was at the scene that year when he should have been in rehab (now you see why the Nuggets will never win an NBA Championship). They were supposed to meet up and party. Couldn't you party somewhere else?
Fact Number 3: You're talking about millionaires. They could have called John Elway up and went to the classier side of town (Cherry Creek) and partied at his restuarant. Denver people have always had a history of TRYING to clash with outsiders that supposedly "pick up their girls" whether they are military or foreign.
Fact Number 4: Broncos Receiver Brandon Marshall is a knucklehead. He does DUMB stuff and I'm surprised it's not caught on the national AP wire. He started all the confusion by cussing a gang member out and challenging him to a fight in which that is a sign of disrespect to gang bangers. He's the second coming of Chris Perry.
Fact Number 5: If you think Metro-Dade cops are something else, try the Denver PD. The only cops that I know that can't tell the difference between a Coke can and a pistol. They barged into the wrong apartment and shot an 81 year old man who could barely move while he was drinking a coke. We're on the verge of a gang war (a shopping complex was burned down by the Bloods last week in retaliation of the founder being killed) and they say, "nothings wrong"...our communities are peaceful.
There's something missing in this whole Williams situation. Williams had a myspace site that was taken down months ago that was full of gang symbols and language. It was his original site but now it's gone replaced by memorial sites.
The Dolphins had a player years ago named Charles Jordan. He was a WR. Great in practice, non-existent in games. He was known to flash gang signals and run around with gangs off the field. That's what derailed his career...lack of attention on the football field.
I feel that when you leave a bad situation , you leave it there. There is so much talk about people reaching back and helping their communities and that's fine but gangs are almost a different story. Some of these gang bangers, you cannot help at all because they feel that they are judge, jury and executioner.
And the cops don't care because some of these gangs are set up in the minority community to be an
extra police force. The theory is to let most gangs rule in their own community (less work for the cops). Who cares about low-income people? Let the gangs have the neighborhood. You know something is wrong when the cops have a budget of giving cell phones to gang members! There are also cops on the take getting money from gang members in exchange for turning their heads from violence and drug deals.
And you thought that Chamberlain appeasing Hitler was bad.
There is more to this story than what's being reported. Yes, Williams WAS with the wrong people, in the wrong environment, at the wrong place at the wrong time. He should have went home or somewhere else where it was safe. When you get to a certain status, you have to change the environment and the friends that you are hanging with. It's kind of rough to deal with because he was a charming guy but a charming guy that made a fatal decision that night.
It's still something eerie about this case and I guess that we'll never know what's going on.
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