JUNGLE GYM SENDS OUT WRONG MESSAGE

PICTURE TAKING UR KIDS TO A NEWLY DEVELOPED PARK IN UR NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE MINUTE U GET THERE, U NOTICE THE JUNGLE GYM HAS A MAKE SHIFT JAIL SECTION WITH THE WORDS "JAIL" PRINTED. WOULD U STILL ALLOW UR KIDS TO PLAY AT THAT PARK OR WOULD U FORBID THEM? THE REASON I ASK THAT QUESTION IS BECAUSE TODAY I WAS READING AN ARTICLE IN THE DAILY NEWS AND I WAS APPALLED AT WHAT I WAS READING. I DISCOVERED THERE WAS SUCH A GYM CONSTRUCTED IN THE TOMPKINS PROJECTS IN THE BEDFORD-STUYVESANT AREA FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS. I REMEMBER GROWING UP WE USED TO PLAY A GAME CALLED "MANHUNT" WHERE TWO TEAMS WOULD PLAY AGAINST THE NEXT. ONE TEAM WOULD RUN WHILE THE OTHER WOULD TRY TO PUT THE PLAYERS FROM THE OPPOSING TEAM IN "PRISON". ONCE A MEMBER FROM YOUR TEAM IS CAUGHT, IT WAS UP TO SOMEONE FROM UR TEAM TO FREE YOU WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT FROM THE OTHERS. THIS GAME WENT ON FOR HOURS AT A TIME AND WE HAD ALOT OF FUN PLAYING IT. WHAT I DIDNT KNOW BACK THEN WAS THE FACT THAT WE WERE SUBCONCIOUSLY SOCIALIZING ONE ANOTHER INTO THINKING GOING TO JAIL WAS A NATURAL PART OF GROWING UP, HENCE LIFE. EVEN IF ITS A GAME, THE THOUGHT OF IT STAYS WITH YOU LONG AFTER YOUR DONE PLAYING SO BY THE TIME YOU GET OLDER AND WELL INTO YOUR TEENS-YOUR ALREADY PREPARED SINCE YOU'VE BEEN CONDITIONING YOUR BODY TO ELUDE FRIENDS AT A SIMPLE GAME. WHEN UR OLDER, YOUR NO LONGER RUNNING FROM FRIENDS. INSTEAD YOUR RUNNING FROM THE COPS AND AS A KID YOU'VE BECOME QUITE ADEPT AT RUNNING CIRCLES AROUND PEOPLE. WHY NOT THE COPS? I CAN IMAGINE THESE YOUNG INNOCENT KIDS PLAYING AT THAT JUNGLE GYM NOT REALIZING THE SOCIOECONOMIC EFFECTS THAT WILL HAVE ON THEM LATER IN LIFE. FROM READING THE ARTICLE, THE KIDS SAID THEY LOVED PLAYING COPS AND ROBBERS. OF COURSE THEY DON'T KNOW THERES A SYSTEM SET IN PLACE TO SEE TO THEIR FAILURE, ITS CALLED PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. IF U DONT KNOW THIS BY NOW, THEN UR SUSPENDED IN TIME! THESE PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER AFTER US, THEY WANT OUR KIDS! THEY WANT YOUR KIDS AND WILL DO ANYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO SEE TO IT THAT THEIR MISSION IS ACCOMPLISHED AT ANY AND ALL COSTS. SOME RESIDENTS COMPLAINED ABOUT THE OUTLANDISH GYM AND SOME EVEN WENT AS FAR AS TO PAINT OVER THE WORD "JAIL" TO NO AVAIL. IT WAS PAINTED BACK OVER TO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE. WHY DO THEY DO THIS IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND CONTINUE TO GET AWAY WITH IT IS BEYOND MY SCOPE. THAT SAME GYM IS STILL STANDING AND ONCE COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS GOT INVOLVED, THE PEOPLE'S VOICE WAS HEARD. WHY DID IT TAKE EIGHT YEARS FOR THAT TO HAPPEN? IMAGINE TRYING TO DEPROGRAM ALL THOSE KIDS WHO PLAYED ON THAT GYM FOR THE EIGHT YEARS THAT IT WAS THERE? THE BATTLE IS ALREADY WON, THE WAR IS NEVER OVER!