2 teenagers held in killing

[meegbear]

Two teenagers were ordered held without bail yesterday in the death of a Randallstown High School student who was stabbed and stomped to death after his fellow Bloods gang members found messages on his phone that suggested he was gay.

Steven T. Hollis III, 18, of Randallstown and Juan L. Flythe, 17, of West Baltimore - both of whom are members of the Bloods gang, according to police - were arrested and charged Thursday evening with first-degree murder. They are accused of killing a fellow gang member days before his high school graduation in May.

The body of Steven Parrish, 18, was found May 29 in a wooded area near his parents' home and Woodlawn Cemetery.

"It's awful," Baltimore County prosecutor William B. Bickel said in an interview after yesterday's bail-review hearing in Towson. "You're talking about a gangland-style execution because he was gay. They took him out back in a field and stabbed him to death."

An autopsy revealed that Parrish died of both blunt-force and stabbing injuries, according to court records. He suffered 50 superficial cutting wounds to his arms, neck, head, wrist and hands in addition to one stab wound to the chest that injured his heart and caused significant blood loss. He also had bruises on the left side of his neck.

<snip>

On the day before Parrish's death, several members of the gang met at his home, according to charging documents. There, Hollis and Flythe discussed finding what they believed to be "gay" text messages on Parrish's cell phone.

Angered by the messages and a photograph they found, they worried that their Bloods group would appear weak to others if word got out that they had a gay member, according to court records.

<snip>

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.gang19aug19,0,6897709.story

[dsc]

1. It would be hard to imagine a worse situation to be gay in

than that. He had no way out.

[Mabus]

2. This type of news is always depressing

Homophobia destroys so many lives.

I'm giving this a K&R for visibility.

[LeftHander]

3. tortured and stabbed in the heart....

:sob:

so many are being killed...

[SacredCow]

4. Sad. Gangs ARE just like a lot of biological families...

worried about what others will think if they knew one of the flock is gay.

:kick: and rec

[freestyle]

5. Another example of the crisis of hyper-masculinity

and the failure of family. I've read that article several times, and still come away with more questions than answers. What hole in these young men's lives was the gang filling? Where were their families? There is no mention of family in the article, which is highly unusual. Often there is someone to at say "he was a good kid" and the like. None of that here.

Although these were gang members, the story highlights a crisis of masculinity in America. Maintaining credibility as tough does not permit association with or existence of homosexuality. Manhood is too often defined by destructive power rather than creative power. The article did not specify race, but knowing the Baltimore area as I do, I'm pretty sure all three were Black. Black men especially struggle with masculinity, with a very limited range of possibilities, all heavily focused on physical power, regularly advertised to us. It seemed as if the victim made a bad choice of joining a gang, but had made a good choice to stay in school when his running buddies did not. He was just getting to know himself, and that journey was cut short.

I know I'm rambling, but this story hit close to home geographically and in thinking of how devalued Black life is, often by ourselves. Joseph Beam wrote over 20 years ago that Black men loving Black men is a revolutionary act. It still is. Let the revolution begin, televised or not.

[closeupready]

6. There was a book written a few years back, "Random Family" which

explored the life of minority families in New York in poor neighborhoods, and weak families and moving around seem to be the norm for a number of minority kids, often with absent parents, i.e., growing up on the street. There has always been that, and I suppose there has always been homophobia in minority communities. Maybe we just hear more about it these days because the media takes it more seriously than they used to?