I won't use his name. You see, after receiving threats, and out of fear for their safety, Mr. "K's" wife felt it best if they left Chattanooga. I didn't find out until much later that was the reason they moved away.
But Mr. "K" had a vision for struggling communities and the young men being sent to jail and prisons, only to return home when let out with little to no job prospects because they had criminal records and a sketchy or long absence in work history (employers don't like to hire when an individual has been out of work for three to six months or more. Many of these mainly young men returning may have as much as a year or more absence from work).
Mr. "K" wasn't from America. He and his family moved here from another country. Believing in the country's ideas and dreams of equality, and hard work always paid off. So he was disturbed to see how Chattanooga treated its poor and especially minority poor population, and he had a desire to do something about it.
Mr. "K" had plans to take an old abandoned recreation center and turn it into an educational plus job training center, using his own funds to make it happen. The city refused to allow him to purchase that old run down building because they were angry with him for standing up for the poor. H'e done so on many occasions. Even filing a federal complaint, and that's why he and has family began to receive threats to the point they felt their lives were in danger and they felt compelled to leave.
Mr. "K" and his family never revealed if they knew exactly where the threats were coming from, but it's not all that difficult to figure it all out. There are some who want these struggling communities to remain at a level where they can never uplift and better themselves. Unlike so many of these programs that seem to be all self-serving, and just to get the grant dollars flowing in, and there are usually so many strings attached and restriction that most either do not qualify or they're kicked out or give up before they can finish the program, Mr. "K's" vision had no strings attached. Only a sincere desire to right what he saw as severe wrongs taking place against vulnerable individuals who were sometimes forced into situations just to survive and barely make ends meet.. He didn't care what religion anyone belonged to, or if you had no religion.....those things weren't a requirement to qualify for what he had in mind.
Mr. "K" was everything and then some America claims to be about, until the curtains come down. I learned a lot about the why of so much suffering going on around the world and the cold self-serving hands involved in much of it.
All in all, Mr. "K" and his family were the true/honest essence and epitome of all the things a humane society is suppose to stand for. Unfortunately, his honesty and care got him threats to the point his family felt compelled to leave the city.
Brenda Manghane-Washington
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Brenda, you said "Mr. "K" wasn't from America. He and his family moved here from another country." Great and admirable and it is wonderful that Mr. K (whoever that is) wanted to help. It's great that Mr.K would move to this country with aspirations of helping with the Chattanooga gang violence but what's wrong with the local citizens helping with the problem and the communities that are plagued with the problems doing their part. Then you said "Mr. "K's" vision had no strings attached. Only a sincere desire to right what he saw as severe wrongs taking place against vulnerable individuals who were sometimes forced into situations just to survive and barely make ends meet."
Really Brenda? Vulnerable individuals forced into situations just to survive? Of the 32 individuals arrested how many of them completed high school? How many of them really ever attempted to hold down a real job? How about instead of committing crime because they didn't have a job they join the military and serve their country. How many of them fathered children out of wedlock with multiple partners? Are we to believe that these poor downtrodden souls did everything within their power to be productive citizens before they turned to a life of crime? Maybe you should take a look at these 32 people see what their history of arrest are. Why don't we look at the hundreds, even thousands, of young people in the same age group who have graduated from high school, gone to college or vocational school, become productive citizens and not turned to crime even though they grew up in the same neighborhoods.
You said this Mr. K and his family were threatened and that everyone knows by who. Who Brenda? You point your finger but fail to put a name to your accusations, why? So typical of someone who just wants to point the finger of blame without putting the responsibility on the offenders committing the crimes.
I think for the most part the people of Chattanooga and Hamilton County are sick and tired of hearing the blame game. How about accepting the fact that there are just some bad folks in the world who are going to commit crimes and nothing is going to deter them from it. These 32 individuals, along with hundreds of others committing crimes in our area, are simply responsible for their bad choices and now it is time to pay the piper. Don't blame me or anyone else because we didn't provide them jobs or education because they had the same opportunities as the next person, but made the wrong choices.
Mike Cox