post by John Hoff
Click here for PDF showing the Facebook discussion.
"Always making friends, aren't you?" said the sarcastic title of an email I opened this morning.
Attached to the email was the PDF, linked above, of a Facebook discussion set off by yesterday's blog post about eleven "straight" guilty pleas by Antonio Timberlake. The pleas to robbery charges were announced in a press release by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
The Facebook discussion in question took place on the page of Jamica "The Driver" Holden (who goes by Jamica Ripskitz on Facebook) and mostly centers around visceral dislike of Johnny Northside.
The discussion is illustrated, at times, with amusing (though crude) internet memes. My personal favorite is the root vegetable shaped like...
...male genitalia.
What I find interesting about the discussion is that Jamica's anger is mixed with a kind of pride; pride in the "fame" this blog gives to certain criminal elements in our community, this as a kind of unintended side effect of writing about matters of public concern like, well, half a dozen young people breaking into a senior citizen's house on Thanksgiving.
This socially deviant pride reaction only serves to underscore a point made in a community-wide discussion during the previous mayoral campaign about half a dozen "crime families" living in North Minneapolis. Some Minneapolis families are surely passing down a "culture of crime" to their children. Taking pride in your family's criminal prominence, instead of being ashamed, is surely part of a "learned culture of criminality" passed from parents (and uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins) to innocent little children...who then grow up to become "turd burglars" and go to prison.
You'd THINK part of that teaching of "negative family values" would involve holding out for a plea bargain instead of taking eleven "straight" guilty pleas. Is there some mysterious, hidden calculus in the criminal justice equation I don't understand? TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, OH THIRD GENERATION MASTERS OF PETTY CRIME!
Though former city councilman Don Samuels did not win the previous mayoral election (he sure did win a school board seat, though) the issue of half a dozen "crime families" remains an important matter of public concern.
Normally, I would just shrug off this kind of Facebook discussion but I actually want to take this golden opportunity to APOLOGIZE to Jamica "The Driver" Holden, formerly Jamica Timberlake. You see, in a previous blog post I made an unkind remark about her hairstyle. This was not my finest hour (audio tribute link) and in light of negative feedback I've received from people I respect, I have come to regret writing those words.
Therefore, I have issued an apology on the original blog post about the hair style remark and removed the remark. I was contemplating doing this for a few months, but this is the first time Jamica's name has come to my attention since that particular blog post...so today is a good day to apologize.
I will say it is a terrible thing that Antonio Timberlake will be facing such a stiff sentence at such a young age. His friends and family are understandably upset. The burning question of the day is how do we turn young people who are on the wrong path away from crime and into more productive pursuits?
I continue to think Don Samuels may have a key piece of the puzzle with his idea about identifying and concentrating resources upon half a dozen particular families who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the crime. Samuels has spoken of both a "carrot" and a "stick" approach, starting with a "carrot" of special help and assistance with, for example, obtaining education and employment.
We need to find a way to rescue these young people before their lives are ruined like, well, see top of blog post, Exhibit A.
23 comments:
Hey Johnny keep up the GREAT work. Listen this little shit was part of a group of the males who stalked a man getting off the bus 2 short blocks from my home. One of them stabbed him and the others kicked him. And the took his cell phone. The bastards are just now being sent on a forced vacation.
I LIKE IT IN U KEEP IT UP.
He wasn't even a part of the turd burglary fyi. And I know this because I'm the family he was with on that day. Get your facts straight before you post another stupid ass blog
Antonio was not involved in the turd burglaries,and his father has been in his life all his life. Just because he is listed as unknown doesn't mean he is absent. He is just unknown to ya'll. Antonio knows his father well. You write false information about allot of things. You should do more research before blogging. Cause your information is only partially true. My son is not a monster,he is a troubled Teen. You don't even know these people you blog about,or even the environment they are forced to live in.
His father is none of your business,he has been in his life all his life.
Antonio was not arrested at the turd burglary seen or convicted for it. One of the people arrested with Antonio at Southdale was involved in those burglaries. Not Antonio. Where are you getting your facts cause they are false.
You are correct. I looked into the matter and as it turns out, Antonio Timberlake's robbery accomplice Navarr Ross was one of the original turd burglars. Antonio Timberlake DID NOT commit the turd burglary with Ross. No, rather Antonio committed ELEVEN ARMED ROBBERIES, and in one of those robberies Navarr Ross was his accomplice.
I have removed two references to the turd burglary in this blog post.
For the record, Timberlake is not a turd burglar. He is more like an "honorary" turd burglar because he was a criminal associate of Navarr Ross, of the original turd burglar ring.
I'm glad this discussion came up, because I noticed the link was dead to the "father unknown" document. I have fixed the link. Here is the "father unknown" document.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9H9qHQSBx7vX3pQeXZoZlN1dlVJdmhzWi01ZnlYYjJsM2Rz/view?usp=sharing
So his father is known to the family but when police and social workers come a-calling, they are told, "Gee, don't know who that is?" Is that how it works?
I bet if I had the name of Antonio's father the man would have a criminal record as long as my arm. And nobody "forces" you to live in a bad environment. You should see how people in Third World countries live where they DO NOT have food stamps and Section 8. Many of those people would walk through a desert barefoot and crawl over fences topped with barbed wire to get to this "terrible environment" you are supposedly "forced" to live in.
You are so full of shit,what you say about us doesn't make us or break us. You are a non factor. You have nothing better to do than to slander people. I'll pray for you
Antonio was only involved with four robberies not 11. Just cause he had 11 counts does not mean there were 11 robberies. I thought you were smarter than that.
While you're praying, ask God how you can pull your family out of this destructive lifestyle.
Johnny on the spot...I love you man and hope you get a blogger contract extension or some cash falls in your lap.
You are such a bitch
Someone who is arrested for 11 armed robberies at age 17 is not a "troubled Teen". He's a criminal!!
Father unknown so they do not pay back all the benefits the State thus tax payers pay for the losers.
How you gonna help the family tho johnny?? U helping them now???
Helping them FACE THEIR ISSUES.
Both the blog posts link near the top to the press release by the Hennepin County Attorney. But just to be super clear how these were eleven charges associated with four robbery incidents, I have made a point of going back and tweaking what was written.
JNS blog strives not only for accuracy but clarity and I am happy for reader feedback, even critical reader feedback.
He may not be a Turd Burglar, but he certainly qualifies as a degenerate piece of shit.
All of you sideshow bill's need to shut the fuck up and let Johnny do his job. Hey, UNKNOWN, you are full of shit and other radioactive elements.
Only four? gee that makes it Better...you dumb asshole suckin' fux.
shame on you!
I don't see where you get the "degenerate" part of your critique.
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