Library to Crack

Recently, I mourned the death of a friend of mine. His name was Nelson "Lotto" Reaves. I'm sure most of you have seen the news of his death on TV or the newspaper. Nelson was only 17 years old, like me. I remember when we were in 6th and 7th grade and we would always meet up in the library after school to read books and play the Nintendo Wii. We were all good friends. He even had a crush on my best friend so he would always ask me for advice on how to get her. As we grew up, we all went our seperate ways, and met up at the library less frequently. Once we got to highschool, we stopped hanging out. I didn't know much of what was going on in his life. This is part of the reason why his death shocked and hurt me so much. Nelson was killed by an undercover cop when he sold the undercover CRACK. When the police officer identified himself, Nelson pulled out a gun on him. The officer shot Nelson 5 times. Apparently, Nelson had been in and out of jail for a long time, and now he was dead at 17 years old. Why didn't anyone help him earlier? Maybe there was a reason why he was selling crack. Now I see why Restorative Justice is so important. Maybe if someone had actually cared the first time Nelson got arrested, he would be alive today. I wish i could have helped him... because to me he was an old friend. But to everyone else, he's just another dead black boy who fell through the cracks. RIP Nelson "Lotto" Reaves.

By: Waheera Mardah, Youth Court Member