Allison Hanes: Stabbing to death, a wake-up call on youth violence

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If the fatal stabbing of a student outside a Côte-des-Neiges high school this week wasn’t shocking enough, a video on social media that has surfaced showing masked youth celebrating the death and taunting friends of the victim is a whole new level of unease.

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Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, 16, was stabbed in the upper body during a fight on Van Horne Ave. near the Plamondon subway station on Monday. He sought refuge within the Coronation School, which housed the Mile End Program where he was a student. Dopwell-Bailey was rushed to hospital where he later died of his injuries.

As Montreal Police investigate the homicide and the Montreal School Board in English sends crisis counselors to help staff and students cope with the trauma, La Presse reported on Tuesday about the existence of an alarming video .

It shows two young men wearing ski masks and brandishing a large knife dancing to loud music while hurling rude insults. The words “Pick me manz up !!” in English it is printed over the footage. It also references “Twizzy,” which was supposedly Dopwell-Bailey’s nickname, as well as “160,” which is apparently a neighborhood clique.

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A rivalry between Côte-des-Neiges 160 and OXB, also known as the Oxford Block, another group that takes its name from Oxford St. in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, may be behind the dispute during which Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed, La Presse. went on to report.

The loss of a young life is tragic, even more so when it is due to senseless violence. But the circumstances surrounding this death are particularly chilling and should sound the alarm about an epidemic of violence infecting the youth of Montreal.

Montreal is already grappling with an increase in firearm crime, largely due to conflict between street gangs. In recent months, a cycle of targeted shootings followed by retaliatory killings has been unfolding, particularly in the northern and eastern reaches of the city.

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Dopwell-Bailey may have been stabbed, and the rivalry at the origin of his murder may not have been related to the hardened criminal gangs familiar to the police, but his death nonetheless fits a disturbing pattern.

Social media video glorifies gangster culture and rampant violence. Whether broadcast by the actual authors or simply by cowardly acolytes, the callousness displayed by the participants is devastating to behold.

It’s certainly salt on the wounds of Dopwell-Bailey’s grieving friends and family, and it’s exactly the kind of provocation that invites retaliation, perpetuating a cycle of futile brutality followed by excruciating pain.

Public safety has become a major issue in the mayoralty campaign and gun violence has become a key priority for the Montreal Police, as bullets fly almost daily. Millions of dollars and many new resources are being invested in fighting the scourge of gun crime.

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But it is the youth in whom we desperately need to invest.

Unruly children are easily drawn to the sense of belonging, money, and power that comes from gang affiliation, especially when they have little more meaning in their lives. Perhaps not all cabals are on the level of organized crime syndicates fighting for drug turf with high-powered weapons, but neighborhood factions can be a gateway to this dangerous lifestyle.

Aspirants can be sucked into an underworld that is difficult to get out of. Lost souls can be pressured to do stupid and terrible things out of loyalty to a cause or to their brothers.

We need to address the cultural influences that extol gang lifestyles and desensitize impressionable minds to violence, be it on social media, video games, television, movies, or music.

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We have to catch the young people who are falling through the cracks of broken homes, disadvantaged environments and a broken education system before they end up with guns or knives.

Many of the community organizations that try valiantly to help at-risk children through sports, recreation and recreation programs operate on tight budgets and lack stable funding.

Last month, the city announced an additional $ 5 million to groups that work to reduce violence among young people, but it is still a fraction of the money that goes to forceful police measures to end gangs that have already become a social scourge.

Montreal police are deploying prevention teams on community patrols in neighborhoods that have seen an increase in violence, but this needs to happen on a much larger scale, across the city, to address the root causes of crime and reach young people. unhappy.

The Dopwell-Bailey murder, and the ghoulish video extolling the murder, are a wake-up call that we can no longer afford to continue to fail the youth of Montreal.

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