by Sandra Hong
NARR: In front of the Louis Armstrong Houses on Lexington Avenue, a group of young men in their late teens and early 20s stand around, watching people and the occasional car go by, maybe cracking a joke or two. They do this pretty much everyday. But lately, troubling thoughts over a friend's death have left an unsettling mark on their ritual.
Raheem Smith is 19 years old and grew up with Timothy Stansbury in the Louis Armstrong Houses. They shared similar struggles and similar lives.
TAPE: Smith: I used to chill with that boy everyday and now I can't even do that no more, so how do you think I feel about a cop now?
NARR: Smith and others his age say Stansbury's death is a disheartening message, one that reminds them that to grow up in a so-called tough neighborhood is to grow up against the odds. Smith said Stansbury was trying to beat them before he died. He was back in high school, working a job at McDonald's and trying to save for college.
TAPE: Smith: I'm doin the same right now, you know what I'm saying? Got a job right now, going to school, ain't really nothing negative we was doing. So now even people doing good things, they can go, too. It really don't make no difference.
NARR: For others, the shooting reaffirmed long-held prejudices. Sixteen-year-old Shay Smalls says it gives her all the more reason not to trust police officers.
TAPE: Shay: It's so much cops that don't even care about us that I think all cops is like that. Even though I know not all cops is not, that's how I think. They have no way of treatin young kids with respect, that's it. .. they'll shoot, just like they did ... they'll shoot you.
NARR: Smalls' friends, Shanice McNair and Tiffani Sanchez, have similar worries.
TAPE: Girls: When I see the police I get paranoid ... that's really sad you can't trust the people who supposed to watch over you, supposed to a cop who supposed to protect you, role model you.
NARR: Sanchez says not enough police officers make an effort to understand teenagers.
TAPE: Tiffani: If you really want to know what teenagers go through, why don't you stand on the corner and chill with them teenagers, see what they talk about, see what their life is like. Some of them don't talk about, oh, we about to get that money, some of them talk about oh, I'm goin back to school, I'm about to get that education, I'm doin big things. I plan on being somebody. That's what most of them talk about. But cops don't see that.
NARR: Bed-Sty residents say Stansbury's death has at least renewed their sense of solidarity. In the vestibule to the building where Stansbury was shot, personal messages are scrawled on a collage of lottery tickets and newspaper headlines. One message promises, "Timothy, we will all peacefully fight for your justice. Your life is not in vain."
For Metro Beats, this is Sandra Hong reporting