by Mikel Kwaku Osei Holt
Is Artieas Shanks a product of his environment? A victim of societal neglect? Or as Police Chief Edward Flynn assessed, “a menace to society?”
Is the 20-year-old Northside ‘manchild’ the byproduct of cultural dysfunctionality, or is he simply the crazed ‘baboon’ recently portrayed in the racist website, VNN Forum?
That White supremacist website provides a photograph of a then 13-year-old Shanks being led into a Milwaukee county courtroom by authorities seven years ago where he was convicted for his participation in the brutal murder of Charlie Young, Jr.
On the VNN Forum website, tears are streaming down Artieas’ face, and a look of confusion and remorse could easily convince observers that he was but an immature, confused child.
Some said Artieas was a nice kid ‘caught up’ in the moment, prodded by ‘peer’ pressure. His only sense of violence was played out through video games and movies. Thus, he didn’t really understand his actions, didn’t contemplate the seriousness of his participation. He was, as the picture illuminated, a scared child.
But was he? Or was he a Damien child?
Did the tears mask an evil callousness? A core that was as rotten as the fruit and vegetables sold at ghetto corner grocery stores?
History would answer those latter questions, but it doesn’t explain how or why Artieas Shanks arrived at the crossroad he now confronts.
What the photo didn’t portray was the gleeful look that Artieas had on his face weeks before when he and 15 other Black youngsters ranging in age from 10- to 18-years-old savagely beat Young with sticks, clubs and baseball bats into unconsciousness. They stomped on him, kicked and punched his defenseless body until he exhaled his last breath of life. And then they kicked and hit him some more, playing an impromptu game in which they would jump away as Young’s blood splattered.
Charlie Young’s crime was that he hit one of the youths after being pelted with an egg. They chased him into a building, drug him out like a lynch mob, and then took turns beating him to death. They didn’t pay heed to his screams for mercy. They didn’t hesitate as he gasped for breath. No images of Jesus on the mound, or Martin Luther King being hosed entered their minds.
The VNN website eerily assesses that Shanks and his colleagues were merely acting out their nature. Their mob murder was a rites of passage; one undertaken by most Black boys, who are, according to the Internet bigots who find a receptive audience, the savage nature of Black people.
The website, and several others I discovered when I googled Artieas Shanks’ name, explains away Black-on-Black violence as the byproduct of a genetic trait of Black people who are prone to violence. Being one step removed from apes, we can’t control our animalistic urges, our facility for self-destruction.
We are the scourge of the earth, living off welfare, breeding like animals, sitting around drinking beer all day and waiting for the government Uncle Sam (who replaced Black fathers) to bring home the welfare check.
We commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes because it is our ‘nature.’ We lack morals, as illustrated by the fact that seven of ten Black women and girls have babies out of wedlock. We live in filthy conditions because it reminds us of our jungle habitat. We don’t work because we’re lazy.
Artieas Shanks epitomized that theory.
Uneducated, undisciplined and uncivilized, the 20-year-old is now beginning the first days of a 15-year prison term for the assault and robbery of an eastside man. Pending charges, for which he awaits trial, could put him away for another 48 years. Not old enough to legally buy a drink, Shanks has been in and out of jail for the last seven years since beating Charlie Young to death.
Offered an opportunity at parole following a two-year stint following the Young killing, Shanks wasted little time in engaging in a series of violent criminal acts that would complete a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Some at this point would question whether Artieas Shanks entered juvenile detention as an innocent young boy and was transformed into a vicious criminal. If he were the son of a middle class White suburban family, he probably wouldn’t have been sentenced to Ethan Allen, but instead would have received counseling.
But you have to wonder, would that template make a difference for Artieas Shanks? Or was he destined, by attitude, genetics and moral makeup, to follow a different, more deviant path?
Even as Shanks’ assault case was pending, he was arrested for robbery and a shooting that were added to additional charges ranging from bail jumping, felon in possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. He was on a bracelet at the time, but it didn’t deter Artieas, who boldly cut it off while apparently fulfilling his destiny.
Police ultimately caught him when he fled from a stolen van, a .40-caliber Glock automatic falling from his waistband as he ran. The joke was that his pants hang so low under his butt that he couldn’t run at full speed enabling even the slowest cop to catch him. Police officers found another weapon, a 9 mm Ruger, a pink telephone and a pair of Adidas in the van, items that linked him to a series of robberies, and may ultimately cost him 48 years in prison.
Some would say “thank God,” he was caught. Others would probably proclaim, “Oh my God, where did society go wrong?”
Artieas Shanks, according to the latter propaganda, is as much a victim as he is a perpetrator. Some racists say he is merely playing out his savage, uncivilized nature.
Who is right?
A local website I studied points to a series of murders and assaults in the last few weeks as proof positive that the ‘natives are running amok.’ Fortunately, the website notes, most of their activities are confined to the ghetto, “they mostly kill each other,” the site said.
One website that followed Shanks put blame for his actions on ‘liberals’ who don’t understand the savage nature of Black people, making excuses for them, or otherwise placing the blame for individual actions on socioeconomic factors.
The site takes a quote by former Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann out of context, noting he said following the Young murder that he felt “Sorry for everybody, including Shanks.”
So, to keep this puzzling dichotomy going, I ask, which side do you fall on? Is Artieas Shanks a victim? Is he an aberration? Or is he part of a growing subculture that now defines the Black community?
Is he the product of the criminal justice system that failed him? Or should the blame for his behavior and lifestyle be blamed on the educational system, the church, or poverty?
If we follow that latter train of thought, are we all partly the blame for creating the hundreds of Artiera Shanks who rule our community? Simply put, either the village failed to raise the children, or our racist society is breeding a generation of Devil Children?
Before you attempt to answer any of these questions, ponder the reality of the two extremes (and the grey space in between). At one end is the growing number of bigots who view Artieas Shanks through the prism of racism. At the other are those who feel he is a product of racism. If either of those assumptions is correct, our country, our community and our culture are in serious trouble.
In truth, given this country’s priorities and the apathy of those of us in the middle, we’re in deep do-do no matter who is right.
For the next question is how many Artiera Shanks are living among us? How do we explain the dichotomy of proportionality, a problem far too many of us fail to come to grips with.
Obviously, Shanks is a psychopath, a social deviate and a misguided soul without the moral foundation to function in a civilized society. Statistically, the army he is a part of is growing faster than our excuses.
Should we concentrate on the Artiera Shanks of the world, or shift our focus to another sub cultural group who make up a much larger segment of our community?
There are literally thousands of young Black men among us who could just as easily find themselves behind bars; who look for an easy way out. Who don’t have the family foundation to arm themselves against the temptations of criminality? They are the brothers who fit the 20% profile who find themselves without criminal records in part because of what, not who they are.
As we ponder their circumstances we cannot ignore the contributions of institutional racism, of inadequate educational opportunity, and a biased criminal justice system. Statistically, they can be saved, redirected, salvaged if we intervene.
Truth is, most of us navigate through, under or around the same barriers these brothers and sisters encounter.
That’s the story that is infrequently told, along with the success of the overwhelming majority of productive citizens who achieve in spite of being brought up in a single parent household, limited by poverty and witness to cultural depravity.
We must first accept the truism that poverty is an excuse for violence. We must recognize the lack of values far too many of our children grow up without. We must accept the fact that our plight is complicated because we have abandoned tried and tested cultural paradigms ranging from our belief in universally accepted religious tenets, African communalism and appreciation for education.
I also have long ago accepted the reality that most of us continue to walk under a cloud of slavery, a fact that is manifest by the fear, despair and stagnation we witness everyday, on every corner.
That cloud not only warps our vision and our worldview, but also is witnessed every time you hear a parent call their child a ‘nigger,’ ‘bitch’ or ‘bastard.’ It’s a manifestation of every child who brings home a poor report card, or prefers dope to diplomas.
It’s evidenced every time a 15-year-old girl gets pregnant because she wants some(thing) to love, or every time a 20-year-old man buys himself a new pair of Nikes instead of diapers for his child(ren). And it’s illuminated every time some young punks disrespect our elderly, speed though our streets without regard for the safety of citizens or sit on the church steps sharing a 40-ounce.
Given that cloud, our dysfunctionality, and the continued system of inspirational racism that binds us with paper chains, is it any wonder that our community is terrorized by hundreds of Artiera Shanks?
They will always be among us; they are part of every society. We need to weed them out the barrel and focus instead on making sure they don’t infect those other apples. Even if they are bruised, with a little loving care, we can still use them to make a tasteful apple pie.
