Senseless gun violence that claimed the life of three young Americans

Many of you are aware of my affiliation with my college fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Unfortunately, we (APA) have lost two educated productive, young men to random gun violence.

All members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity are mourning the recent cold-blooded murders of Brother Michael Muchioki, 27(and his fiancé Nia Haqq, 25) of New Jersey, and Brother Steven Lee, 32 of Chicago.  Brother Muchioki and his fiancé were shot and killed after returning from their engagement party in Jersey City, N.J. on Saturday night. Brother Steven Lee, was shot while walking on South Ingleside Ave. in Chicago’ East Chatham neighborhood. According to police, Brother Muchioki’s incident appears to have been an attempted carjacking.

It is very sad when one is more likely to die in some American cities than in combat in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, both situations are unfavorable and saddens American families each and every time we lose one of our young Americans.

So far this year, eighty eight U.S. solders have died in Operation Enduring Freedom as of April 3rd 2010. Those Afghanistan casualties are a high price but pale when compared to the losses in the undeclared war in our inner cities. As a nation we have decided that the Afghanistan price, as hard to take as it is, is worth the price. But the price we are paying in our inner cities pays no return. The lives lost there are squandered-wasted. LA reported 145 murders for the first three months of 2010. Chicago reported 76 homicides. Baltimore had 38. The small area comprising our Nation's Capital, D.C., reported 24.