Dreams Snuffed by Bullets

The most ancient and heinous of crimes, the taking of another’s life, visits Los Angeles and every other major city with numbing regularity. Last week many Americans were shaken from their shoulder-shrugging and forced to again consider the horrible consequences of gun violence.

Two young people from different walks of life, two bright students, two loved children, were cut down by assailants with guns. Ennis Cosby, 27, and Corie Williams, 17, came from starkly different circumstances--he the son of wealthy entertainer Bill Cosby, she the daughter of Loretta Thomas Davis, an administrator in the Los Angeles school system’s maintenance department who lives in South-Central Los Angeles.

Bill Cosby knew his loss was no more nor less tragic than that of any other parent who has lost a child, and he graciously said so. Still many Americans sat sad and disturbed about the personal loss suffered by one of America’s premier father figures. Ennis had overcome a problem with dyslexia to earn a master’s degree in special education and had begun a doctoral program in that field. His college advisors said he had a gift for teaching and had dreams of becoming a teacher.

Corie Williams had dreams too. The senior at Centennial High School in Compton was looking forward to graduation. She was killed by a gang member who shot into the crowded MTA bus in which she was riding. In her back pocket was the form to order her graduation gown. She had been measured for it at her school on the day she died. “I never worried about her taking the bus,” Davis said. “I thought the bus was safe.” Corie was described by her high school principal as “one of our brightest stars.”

Two young people who stood to make a positive difference cut down by gun-toting fools. How much longer will we all tolerate it?