Teague: “In unity and solidarity for our children”

Letters

June 7, 2014 by Corey Teague

I was fortunate to stand shoulder to shoulder with the trailblazers of advocacy at the rally on Thursday. This was the first time in a long stretch of time, that multiple Paterson organizations joined forces for one common cause: to protect and defend the children of our community and city. While we strongly detest all forms of cruelty to animals we equally detest all forms of cruelty to children. That was why we were there.

It was amazing to see so many activists, community leaders, youth pastors and elected officials – all standing together in unity and solidarity for our children. Indeed, the group that came to lambaste our children were taken back by the push-back of concerned Paterson residents who were determined not to afford them the opportunity to humiliate, demonize or criminalize our children any further.

Special salute to my colleague, Dr. Jonathon Hodges who spearheaded this effort. Had he not called attention to what was being done under the shadows, we would not have been prepared. He is truly a dedicated public servant and leader in Paterson. Special salute to the Rev. Kenneth Clayton and the NAACP-Paterson Chapter for leading us – the residents of Paterson, to unite our collective voices.

No one was threatened. There were no acts of violence. We were simply exercising our rights as American citizens to assemble and air our grievances as is permitted by the constitution of the United States. I am certain that a follow up will be forthcoming. Many will still seek to critique what was done yesterday. The sum of my opinion is that the children should receive some form of counseling but not juvenile charges.

We don’t condone cruelty to animals. But we especially don’t condone cruelty to children! There must be a more efficient solution to this unfortunate situation than to just throw our children away. That won’t happen, not under my watch. As long as I am alive, I will continue to fight for the rights of all our children. Again, I want to thank everyone who came out and supported this effort. Now, let’s work together as Patersonians.

Corey Teague
School board member

Susan Gordon

In unity and solidarity with victims of violence.

The prayer vigil was held to honor a victim OF your
community. What defines community for you? Geography, ethnicity? Even by such
narrow standards—standards that perpetuate mistrust and hatred—you have failed.
It is your actions that will allow
children to be endangered. Not speaking out against cruelty and violence in
your community will perpetuate it. These killer children (and the parents and
community responsible for creating them) must be held accountable for their
heinous deeds. There has been a total lack of discussion, by your community, in
creating programs to prevent future incidents like this. By negating the importance
of such a vile crime, by negating the importance of the victim, by negating the
feelings of those who care for the victim, and by negating the necessity to
hold the murderers (and their families and the community who created them) responsible,
you are insuring that these monstrous children will not stop at animals and
will grow up to be even more vicious, dangerous adults. There has been no
examination about what sort of community would breed such children and would
force the heroes to have to remain anonymous, for their own safety. I have
donated to a college fund for these brave children, so that they can get
the education to either move out of such a pitiless community, or should they
choose to stay, to change it to one with a heart. Even if you care nothing for
animals (and anyone who does not lacks humanity), ignoring violence against animals
has been demonstrated to foster later violence against humans. My community are
animals and people who advocate for vulnerable, exploited animals and humans,
and who fight against the oppressors (including oppressors who come from
oppressed classes, themselves—it is never morally acceptable to harm those even
more powerless than you are). But even by your narrow standards of “community,”
if a prayer vigil were held in my community for a victim of my community, I
would join the prayer vigil, not a mob supporting the murderers. That is the
difference between people who advocate for universal justice and those whose
concern stops at their diminished concept of community. You can help a city
that lacks money, but not one that lacks a soul. A community that rallies
around murderers, forces the heroes to remain anonymous, and protests a prayer
vigil for the murdered victim has no soul, You have shown the world what
Paterson is, and it is scary.
- BounceSquad426 .
  
  Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes, love—which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies—is the solution to the race problem.
  —Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
  
  I am going to practice what I preach and not lay into you.
  - Susan Gordon
    
    You are not going to lay into me? Why would you even
    consider doing so? Because I mourn the torture/death of an innocent, who was
    already a victim of Paterson, by being a stray? Too bad those kids did not show
    some love to a homeless animal. Too bad the community did not show some love to
    him after his brutal beating. Your reaction to this killing shows “love”, if
    you can call it that, for vicious killers, but none for their victim. I have
    not heard even one person say that whatever is going on in the homes of these
    kids should be looked into, as emotionally healthy children love, not torture,
    animals. Animal cruelty, in childhood, is one of the main ways to predict
    violent behavior as an adult. Have even one of you considered that these kids
    came from abusive homes and that is why they are acting out on animals? No
    healthy family produces children who commit such monstrous behavior. You want
    to sweep under the carpet an incident that makes your community look very bad. That
    is not love. Deal with it. Don’t attack outsiders who are dealing with it,
    because Paterson is not. There was nothing creative, redemptive, or uniting
    about a community taking the side of victimizers over the victim. Yes, physical
    force destroys—that is what those children did. Tell me how quick you would be
    to forgive them and talk about love if they killed someone you cared about? How
    will you feel in the very possible case that they turn their violence on
    people, because you did nothing to stop them, when you could? Would you trust
    your children alone with those kids or with their families? Where is the love
    for the hero kids? As I have asked others, here, what constitutes community to
    you? Does being part of an exclusive (as opposed to inclusive) community demand
    that no matter how horrible an action is committed by someone in the community,
    that community members are forbidden to speak out against the act and are expected
    to take the side of the victimizers? It appears that this is the unwritten, but
    agreed upon, rule. It is not a specific fault of your community. It is a human
    fault. Humans are a selfish, greedy species. Their concern, if it extends
    beyond themselves, rarely extends beyond their family or immediate community,
    with community defined in a very limited way. Paterson’s behavior in this is a
    model of how not to be a global citizen. If someone in your community (however
    community is defined) commits an act of violence against someone in another
    community, decency demands that the sympathy belongs with the victim. Ignore that
    and the world will continue along its present path of violence and
    self-interest. Here is a video that
    shows how another community, Brooklyn, reacted after another vicious attack on
    an animal—a cat who was lured and kicked, but who survived, because of
    compassionate people who spent a good deal of time looking for him. Watch the
    video and see people who were shocked by the cruelty compared to people who
    laughed or did not care. Watch this video and tell me which group you want the
    world to see you as.
    https://screen.yahoo.com/community-reacts-cat-kicking-video-222301203.html
    
    Since you quoted MLK, I will, too: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about
    things that matter.”
    
    As despondent as I am
    about Paterson’s reaction to this despicable crime, I am still open, as I know
    the rest of the humane community is, to dealing with this situation together,
    instead of continuing to be at odds. I am open, as are most others, to
    discussing what the best course of action is for the children who committed
    this violence. I don’t pretend to know, but I do know that they must take
    responsibility and receive mandatory individual and psychological counseling.
    If they do not show remorse, however, I do not know if anything can be done as
    far as redemption. You confuse justifiable anger on the part of most people who
    hear about this case with a demand for pitchforks and torches. Emotionally I am
    enraged and, frankly, would not trust myself within a mile of them, HOWEVER, I
    am an adult and do not think that law or policy should be based on the heat of
    emotion, but must be based on reason.
- Aspectre
  
  The reason local venues have control of local events is because people from the outside have NO idea what goes on in someone else's community. You made wild and unpleasant assumptions about how we feel about the events surrounding the death of this poor cat, assumptions that speak more about the baggage you harbor than to what the people in Paterson feeling. It is true, the majority of Paterson's citizens cannot look at children as young as 6 and 10 years of age and call them killer children, monsters, and murderers etc. We cannot discard their lives with the relative ease and detachment that you can as we recognize that they are salvageable and will have to be saved as they are not going to be punished in the many vicious, nasty and horrible ways that you and your kindred souls have demanded. We still can see them as "children," children who have made a horrible mistake that must be corrected, taught what they have done is wrong and why it is wrong. But their mistake, their terrible act does not require the death penalty as some of you good people, overwhelmed with "compassion" for the cat, insist on. Additionally, you have NO way of know what this community has said about this crime to its children, as you seem to view this community through prisms of hatred and contempt, with no true knowledge or understanding of what we actually feel. Thus your assertion that we are negating the victim, that there is a "total lack of discussion on this subject in this community serves to highlight your abject ignorance and lack of objectivity in this matter, all the more reason to ask that you and others like you stay home with your vigils. You have NO idea how we have wrestled with this issue or how conflicted we are. But yet, you are prepared to hold an "entire" community responsible for the wrongful actions of several of its young children. And all of this to you demonstrates your moral superiority to us. Well. that is breathtaking in its puritanical nature and exactly why we did not want our children to fall victim to your level of humanity. This country does not sanction "collective punishment, but you do. Our community does not look at little children, even those who have done things terrible wrong and discard them as unredeemable and that is why we stood shoulder to shoulder to protest you. You cannot judge us from afar, and you have. You cannot judge use collectively, and you have, You cannot judge us on extremely limited information and you do. Anyone as eager to write off a whole community in this manner, has NO business telling us how to handle our kids or anything else for that matter…
  - Jan Fredericks
    
    Lots of good points here. Hope all turns out well. There are many wonderful people in Paterson. My Grandmother worked in the silk mills. I enjoyed visiting her there and enjoyed shopping as a kid there. I hope the children involved will become the heroes needed in our world. It's never good to judge a community or group of people from the actions of a few on both sides.
    - Aspectre
      
      I respect you for that and had others taken that position, we all could have addressed this situation differently, for the sake of the children and other animals.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Jan (I have known Jan for years), would you say that your attitude was typical of those present at the prayer vigil? As you know, I was dealing with another animal situation and could not be there.
  - Susan Gordon
    
    No community can be trusted to police itself. Humans are
    too flawed for that. The public has every right to weigh in on every case. They
    will not be the ones making the decision, but they have every right to give
    their input, especially if the victim has no one else to speak for them. I ask,
    again, would you react the same way if a child in another community brutally
    murdered someone in yours and you were told it was none of your business? And
    it is not only in cases of animal abuse that communities could ever be assumed
    to be able to police themselves. Do you think that when the victims were gay,
    in hate crimes, that any progress would have been made unless the public
    demanded it? Would you have left the policing to the community that committed
    the hate crimes? The courts are horribly flawed, but that is all we have now. I
    can only go by the comments I saw from Paterson. Not more than a handful of
    people (and most of those were animal lovers who happened to live in Paterson)
    expressed more than minor upset at what happened to the cat. They acted far
    more concerned about the victimizers than about the victim, because the victimizers
    were part of their community. That, for me, is the crux of the matter. The
    victim comes first, period.
    
    Going by the comments, again, all we had to go on, Quattro’s
    killing was simply not being taken seriously. Animal abuse cases that get a lot
    of publicity that are on your radar, involve your community, precisely because that, not the animal abuse,
    is what is on your radar, which is understandable. There are animal abuse cases
    every day, but only a very occasional one becomes a news story. If your radar,
    like ours, were on the animal abuse, not the race or nationality of the perpetrator,
    you would have noticed, very recently, the extreme outrage against Liam Neeson
    for supporting the inhumane carriage horse trade. He is white and most of the
    people protesting him are white. I am boycotting his movies, as are many others.
    In the last few weeks, I had very heated disagreements with socialists,
    atheists, a woman who runs a medical charity, and a woman who runs a so-called “green”
    group over animal unfriendly things they’ve done. The arguments I’ve had with
    Republicans are too numerous to count. All were white and some were women, and
    I especially consider myself part of the women’s community. I am disabled and I
    cannot tell you how many times I have written letters when the disabled are
    used as excuses to harm animals. When an animal suffers (or a human, due to
    someone in any of my communities) that trumps any identity group I belong to.
    Standing up for the victim is infinitely more important than a community I
    belong to that supports abusers. My most important community are animal
    activists, but I have publicly repudiated them when they have done something unethical.
    If your disapproval over actions of your community are not made public, it
    appears you are closing ranks and you cannot blame others for thinking that.
    
    Of course we were not objective in this matter and
    neither was your community. That is why hopefully impartial courts need to be
    involved. I admitted that I am angry as hell at these kids (as I would be even if these kids were ones I personally knew),
    and I have said that I do not expect or want my anger to determine policy—that,
    again, is what the courts are for, and that is what everyone from your
    community who has made a public pronouncement seems to oppose.
    - Aspectre
      
      At least you are "civil." However your basic premise about no community should police itself is exactly what happens EVERYWHERE in this country. But what you don't know is exactly what our community was responding to. And by our community I mean the city of Paterson. We were very upset about the actions of these children. But what we publicly responded to was the excoriation of these children, their parents and our community. The local newspaper, that was partially responsible for the public nature of this mess(>7 stories on this in a week) had remarks in its online comments sections that were so derogatory, so obnoxious, so racist that the newspaper took the unusual step of removing all comments and shutting down the comment section just on this issue. But Patersonians read those comments and our innocent children read those comments, comments aimed not only at the children who did this but everyone in Paterson. And when the "Justice for Quattro" page opened up, we saw more of the same. And we were not focused on "race". No one in the city knew the race of the boys as all juvenile cases are kept confidential by the school district( which is why it is ludicrous to say the kids are kept anonymous because they fear for their lives. That is pure projection). The racial concerns came from the comments of the people in the newspapers online and on the FB page. That was why Paterson circled its wagons. There was no uniformity of opinions here except that the children needed to get help. But the vitriol spewed at them and Paterson as well left us no choice but to defend them. People from your groups were calling for their deaths and seeming to getting a prosecution that appeared to us, TOTALLY motivated by the same voices that were only seeking vengeance for the cat. We could respond in NO other way to this situation. There was no rational conversation back and forth. Your side assumes that if we are defending our children that we condone what they did, which is absurd. We linked all of you together because you spoke the same language, which we saw as detrimental to the long term well being of these children. And you did this from a vantage point where you could not know what was actually happening here. That is why you cannot make "judgements" from where you live. The children were getting help. We just didn't want it in the atmosphere that was being created. We could not tell you details as it is a juvenile matter, not subject to public review.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        OK, I understand where you are coming from, so let me
        just give a historical perspective of where we are coming from. It is only in
        the last maybe 10-20 years or so (and I have been doing this for far longer) of
        the human race that animal cruelty crimes ever received any punishment, no
        matter how heinous. I think it was you who earlier said that most animal abuse
        occurs by whites. That is true, certainly when talking about institutional
        animal abuse, which is probably 99.99% of all abuse (at least those who own the
        industries are probably almost entirely white, while the hands-on abusers, in
        places such as slaughterhouses, are probably mostly minority). When it comes to,
        say, dog fighting, it would be in urban areas and rural areas (the latter being
        primarily white, and also engaging in cock fighting). So, the industrial abuse is
        mostly white, while the hands-on abuse is all groups. We have not gotten far on
        industrial abuse, as the powers-that-be are called that for a reason. They have
        attempted to, and sometimes succeeded in, criminalizing even investigation into
        abuse. Very democratic. Our community, like yours, has been singled out by the
        police and courts, in our case because we pose a threat to their profits. We
        are also beaten and jailed. Activists have received shockingly long jail terms
        for peaceful actions. Many of us are also activists for other causes and have
        been attacked by the cops at those protests. Police intimidation and attacks
        are common to us both. I have been permanently injured by cops in riot gear,
        because I was simply in their way and they flung me out of the way to try to
        arrest someone behind me. Trust me that there is no white privilege here! Many
        people I know have been subjected to abuse by the police, being spit on,
        photographed at protests to intimidate us, to pepper spray, and/or abuse by the
        animal abusers, with the cops protecting the abusers. We go into very dangerous
        situations to do hands-on rescue. Years ago, we protested year after year in
        Hegins, PA (remember the movie, “Deliverance”—it is like that) at pigeon
        shoots. Pigeons are captured in places like NYC and kept starved and dehydrated
        in dark boxes and then let loose in bright light to immediately be shot out of
        the sky, when they are dazed by the sudden light and by hunger and thirst. We
        were there in 2 groups (I served in both capacities). One group was inside with
        these hillbillies, with us running, literally running, for the birds’ lives to
        catch them after they were shot and fell to the ground, so that we could take
        them to our other group, who has set up veterinary tents in the parking lot. We
        had to run, because if we did not get to the bird on time, the children in this
        community ran out and pulled the wounded birds’ heads off in front of us and
        they all laughed while we cried. Alcohol was served. And, at least one year, the Klan was present,
        in support of the shoot. So we, unarmed, mostly women, were face to face with
        drunken, armed, violent, extremely racist, homophobic, women-abusing men, the
        entire day. While we managed to shut down that particular town’s event, pigeon
        shoots are still legal. One year, a pigeon killer intentionally rammed his
        vehicle into a protester, giving him serious injuries. Mostly women activists,
        unarmed, also routinely face armed, drunk hunters. Guess who gets arrested,
        even when the illegality is all on their side? Guess who the courts side with? Women activists, myself included, get
        frighteningly vile and violent messages from hunters, threatening us with stuff
        that would take your breath away. We go to court with convincing evidence in
        clear-cut abuse cases and see the case dismissed or found in favor of the
        abuser time and time again. People who abuse their animals are given their
        animals back by the court. When it comes to confronting hands-on abuse cases,
        no matter the community, the community can be counted on to always claim that
        they are the victims of racism, whether (as I have previously mentioned) the
        abusers are Jewish, gay, black, Latino, Irish, Amish or any other group you can
        name. Why am I telling your all this? Because, just as you are angry that we
        don’t get what is going on in your community, you don’t get what is going on in
        ours.
        
        The racist posts, I would bet mostly come from men. The
        day-to-day activists for animals, however, are mostly women. In any case, I
        strongly oppose such posts.
        
        You said something about us going back to pristine
        communities. You also make assumptions. I assume that by pristine, you mean
        white. I live in a mostly minority neighborhood in a mostly minority town and
        have lived here for many years, but that is not even relevant to the discussion.
        
        I know full well the courts are not impartial (I know
        that first-hand and I know that it is not for minorities), but as the decision
        on crime in a community cannot be left up to the community of either the abuser
        or the abused, that is what is presently available. That needs to be changed,
        but that is what is available now. As I posted elsewhere, I am presently
        reading a book on the racist court system (and am knowledgeable about it, in
        general, through my human activism), so I know it is not impartial, but as I
        said, neither are your community or ours.
        
        At this point, Aspectre, with each additional post, the
        page is getting more difficult to read. I saw that you had a post about
        Columbine and those murdering kids being treated differently because they were
        white. I actually think you posted this to an entirely different story, but the
        way it displayed I could not quite tell. Either way, since I did see it, let me
        just say that you would be hard-pressed to find ANY group, other than gun
        safety groups, that spoke out more against the Columbine and other school
        shootings than we did, as we tried to make the connection for the press and the
        public, that these kids who committed school shootings were virtually all also
        animal abusers, to make the connection between animal abuse and human abuse.
        
        I think enough posts have been made—feel free to
        disagree, however. So where do we go from here? I am open to suggestions.
      - Aspectre
        
        No I did not say that. I said it occurs in less urban settings. And I did not mean "pristine" to be white, but rather pure and well mannered, spotless in terms of sin. I am not overly focused on race. I do have to confront a lot of obnoxious people who are. It is tiresome hearing it. This is my bottom line. I am focused on how to reclaim these kids. They have been exposed to an enormous amount of mind numbing garbage, rhetoric that is chilling beyond belief from my point of view. If the goal is to help these children, and that is ALL I care about now, I want the rhetoric turned down and the confrontations eliminated. As I have mentioned, these kids can read ALL the things said about them and if you think that doesn't have an effect on children then you are not as humane as you think. (that goes double for the tens of thousands of innocent who are accused and denigrated in those comments, despite being innocent. – they read too) I want to make sure that we can straighten their heads out, get them to understand why all this occurred and enable them develop the ability to move forward from this. That's not your responsibility but we see it as ours. But when we see the comments, and you might not have seen them, it is hard not to respond, especially when we know ALL our kids are seeing them. Trust me your message of love of animals is buried under all that other stuff that speaks of ANYTHING but love. We want to get back to our jobs, that of taking care of our kids. We don't want to be part of your agenda. I do understand the school district takes all of this very seriously but cannot do what they would like to do in terms teaching about animal cruelty as this is way too charged an environment.(which would been their approach had your group not intervened. We have learned valuable lessons in this city from this. Your group should learn that when you attack people's children, they will respond, especially when in your vanguard are some vicious and unthinking people who don't share your values. Because you may feel justified does not mean that your outward assault will work to your benefit. A more responsible and measured approach would have been received very differently here. Our next step is to focus on helping our kids get better and to send, in the long term, a more comprehensive message about this issue. But we want to do this WITHOUT the outside help. And I thank you again for your civility. I could not have this conversation on Justice for Quattro as they have vowed to block people who don't share their opinions. Having similar values doesn't seem to be as important there as having similar views. Thank you again for the conversation
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Hi Aspectre. I read, and understand, your current
        comments and hope to change your mind about working with outsiders.
        
        I think I have come to an understanding of what is
        causing the difference of opinion and rancor, here. Yes, I know there are many
        reasons for distrust between communities, and reducing it to a couple of
        sentences might seem folly, but for this specific sort of disagreement, I think
        I have found the key difference, and that understanding the opposing community’s
        reasons for their stance is the beginning of allowing them to work together. We
        have all danced around the key, without quite nailing it. I am speaking in
        generalities, and not everyone on each side will agree with this, but I think that
        the majority opinion on each side can be summed up by the following (making
        assumptions, which I hope you will excuse, in order to make my points):
        
        For the humane community, the focus is entirely on the victim.
        For the Paterson community, the focus is entirely on the community. When we see
        a crime of this magnitude of cruelty and of intention (i.e., not an accidental
        killing), our sympathy (if the victim dies) or support (if the victim lives)
        goes entirely to the victim and her/his community. For violent, cruel crimes, we
        feel the perpetrator has forfeited the right to be part of our, or any,
        community (other than a community of other violent offenders). For crimes such
        as this, committed against a totally defenseless, innocent victim, there is
        real doubt amongst us, that the offender can ever be reformed. For the Paterson
        community, every member of the community is considered forever a part of the
        community. No matter what they do, they will be lent support and help and will
        be welcomed back to and by the community, after they have being given what the
        community feels is necessary to get them back on the road to good behavior.
        While the community may feel badly about the victim, their focus is on the
        community member and mending him/her.
        
        While my main focus is, and always was, animals, I think
        the above holds for our side’s reaction to other violent crimes, such a rape,
        the spate of recent crimes in which teenage girls decide to kill one of their
        group of friends, and bullying cases in which the bullying drives the victim to
        suicide and the bullies show no remorse. For us, it is irrelevant what
        community the perpetrator or the victim are from (either or both may be from
        any of the communities we belong to, or not)—the concern will always be for the
        victim, and the perp is on his own—he has violated the basic code of decency necessary
        to be part of our communities. The same is true of the family of the offenders.
        The Paterson community sticks with the offender and their family, as part of
        the community dynamic that they honor. We, however, expect the parents or
        spouse or other family (and the community) of the offender to repudiate,
        publicly, what the member of their family or community has done and to reserve
        all of their concern for the victim. When they do not, our anger extends to the
        offender’s family and community, for whatever the family/community might have contributed
        to turn this person into what they have become, and if they stick with the
        offender and close ranks, we see that as caring more for victimizers than for
        their victims and as complicity in the crime. The Paterson community, on the
        contrary, thinks the offender, with the proper counseling and love and care
        from his family and community can turn his life around. Their code is similar
        to the military’s, in that they never leave a community member behind.
        
        Can we agree that this (with possible assumptions on my
        part that need to be corrected or modified) sums up the basis of the
        differences between us, which has caused such rancor? If so, then I think we
        can agree that neither side is right or wrong, but just comes from a different
        mind-set or world view. If so, that can be the basis for working on a solution
        together.
        
        A meeting between the Paterson community (with the
        community to decide who will represent them) and the animal advocacy community
        would be arranged, to work on an understanding and to iron out a solution, not
        just for this case, but for any future cases that might happen. A solution, of
        course, would have to satisfy both sides. Given the gulf between what we each want,
        it would perhaps have to be a compromise. Where I see the value is more in the FUTURE
        than the present. If another event occurs, the 2 sides could immediately meet (even
        by phone, by designated leaders of both sides), before verbal attacks start
        flying from both sides. What I envision, but others might have much better
        ideas, is an immediate joint press release from both groups, stating that the
        situation is in hand and a mutual solution is being worked on. There will still
        be some people, on both sides, who will make offensive comments, but hopefully
        they will be in the minority and will be ignored. In addition to the meeting, I
        envision programs being set up to lessen the chance of this happening again.
        
        If this works, I hope that this can be broadened, beyond
        crimes against animals, so that if, say, a member of your community is attacked
        by someone in another community, the same process can be in place. And not just
        in Paterson.
        
        Justice for Quattro is an ad hoc group, and has
        angered many here, so perhaps it would
        be best if they do no participate (though I am not in any position to decide
        who participates and who does not). What
        I can offer is, if you want a group of longer-standing to take that role, I
        would be willing to ask the director of the group I am with (I am a board
        member), which has been around for about 30 years and covers the entire state,
        to serve that role. I think that Jan, who has posted here, and runs a group
        herself, would be a valuable asset to this, too. I think you have seen how easy
        she is to work with.
        
        I am not interested in arguing, any further, but in
        working out solutions. Feedback on this will be welcomed. And if I misspoke on
        the feelings of either side, I apologize in advance, and want to know where I
        made incorrect assumptions. I thought this up yesterday and was anxious to get
        things rolling on working together on this, but I was too ill to do so until
        literally minutes ago, when I ran to the computer and started typing (funny
        sight—I have not eaten in 24 hours, but getting to write this, as soon as I
        could get out of bed, was all I wanted to do, LOL). I hold high hopes that this
        will work. I don’t think that retreating into our corners will aid healing,
        though I do understand why that is what you presently wish to do.
      - Aspectre
        
        I do hope that you feel better. I also appreciate your attempt to seek solutions for this issue. We do as well and are working on them. As to what you think are the differences between our two groups, I have a different view. No, we are not totally focused on the community. Many people, as am I, are concerned about what happened about the cat. Its terrible fate does have some unfortunate implications for us. However in the greater scheme of things, we do not view the death of a cat as the same as the death of a person. We have endured many children dying way too young and those feelings are very raw to us. But yes, we do see "part" of your group as focused only on the poor dead cat. But another part of the people joining your group spewed nothing but nasty, vicious, hate (see World_War_Me below, which I noticed appreciatively that you commented on). We were confronted by BOTH and unable to distinguish between the two. We are also not unaccustomed to being similarly attacked online. And not only did this combination attack our community, but you came after our children, No matter how flawed, from ,my point of view, they are our children.
        Paterson, a city of 147,000 people is not a monolith. We do not all act as one. But those of us who responded, read what was happening, were forced to DEFEND both our city and our children. Remember, we were already dealing with the children locally, before your group came on the scene. The city was not involved in this process as they respected the public school officials to address the matter, those who even knew about it.
        Layered on all this is the fact that we, who suffer from having so many of our children exposed to the legal system for doing many of the same things people in other communities intentionally protect their children from getting arrested for doing, were being attacked by people from those same communities, people calling our kids some very dark things. And no, many of us do NOT feel that cats are as important as children. That doesn't mean we weren't shocked by the mistreatment of this animal. But we also don't discard children because they make a mistake in their lives, and in this case, very young lives. As adults, we understand that children will make many mistakes, even horrible ones like this. We actually try to live the Christian ethic, and it surprises us that others, who also say they believe in this ethic, have no problem discounting the possibility of redemption. Remember, we are talking about 6, 10, and 12 yr olds.
        I find it interesting that you seem to expect the parents to come out and publicly repudiate their own children, especially when the people demanding this repudiation are calling the parents disgraceful things and their kids demon spawn, savages and scum, etc., and insisting they be locked up forever as adults so they can be raped in perpetuity. Plus if the parents came forward, they would identify their children and expose them to the many threats of mistreatment or worse being called for by people on your side. They did have their children issue apologies to their classmates and to the school.
        Also you cannot judge an entire community (I have never met the kids or the parents), for the actions of a few people, let alone the actions of several little boys. It would be like me blaming the city of Columbine for the school shootings that took place there (first of it's kind in recent memory) and subsequently across the country ever since (another one just today). If you attacked them for creating demon spawn that caused all future school shootings, I doubt you would be warmly embraced, let alone, welcomed with open arms to hold a vigil there.
        The city didn't circle the wagons as much as respond to the nastiness(which you may not have seen in the online versions of our press), combined with the serious attempt by an outside group to hurt their children. (Understand not everyone in Paterson agrees with me.) I don't know if you have children, but there is an instinct that develops when children are threatened, irrespective of how badly they have acted.
        We have access to animal control and I understand that the school district wants to send out a more comprehensive message to its students after the summer. I suspect there will be NO interest in having anyone from the "Justice for Quattro group" interact with our children. The district seems to want this situation to calm down. They are still getting calls and messages from people in your group, on a daily basis. I don't imagine they are interested in any public moves around this issue in the short term, especially as portions of the community are so upset about the way the impending prosecutions came about, resulting from pressure from your group. Had that been the prosecutor's intent all along, there would NOT have been the same outcry against it, except for the 6 and possibly the 10, yr old. The district said they would not involve itself with the prosecutor either. So I don't think they view further engagement on this issue as helpful. Long term there are other possibilities, as tensions ease. But we still have to address what is to happen to these young children.
        I do view your voice as a positive one and wish this had started as a conversation rather than what happened. We would indeed be further along. Now might not be the best time for that joint venture. But in the future, we will probably view things very differently. We want our children to do the right things and will help them understand what that looks like. But in the short term, there is too much fire and not enough light to help us bridge this gap.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Hi Aspectre. I do know that your community, as every
        other, is not a monolith, and I spoke in generalities just for simplicity sake.
        We are also not a monolith. While I understand you calling us a group, we are
        actually pretty much just individuals. We may—or may not—each belong to one or
        more animal-related groups, but pretty much everyone involved or posting (even
        on the Justice for Quattro site, which as I noted, was an ad hoc site/group),
        did so as an individual. Messages from actual organizations, or even
        individuals from organizations, would not (with rare exceptions that got through
        the “filters”) have been racist or offensive in nature. We differ very greatly
        in our beliefs. Many (likely, most)
        postings came from people who care about certain species of animals, while
        eating/wearing other species. While that could be called hypocritical, I would
        just say that you don’t have to be 100% on an issue to speak out against a
        cruelty. I, myself, am a very long-time vegan, so for us the life of a cat is
        as important as any other life. I don’t want to debate this here (this is not
        the forum for this sort of discussion), I am just explaining where I come from.
        For us, saying a person is more important than an animal is no different than
        saying a man is more important than a woman or a Swede is more important than
        an Italian. You don’t have to “feel” equally about all groups (I, personally, “feel”
        much more for animals than I do for any other group), but I also acknowledge
        that every group/individual has equal right to live their lives free of
        exploitation. Both logic and ethics led
        me to that position so many years ago. There can be a difference in what we
        personally feel and what we abstractly/intellectually believe and that is ok.
        Have your preferences, but they should not, in the abstract, at least, lead you
        to believe a group that you personally don’t feel as strong a connection with,
        matters any less than a group that you do.
        
        BTW, there are many people who, because of the severe and
        historical exploitation that the human group to which they belonged was subjected,
        became animal activists—and/or activists for other human groups than their own.
        The experience of personal exploitation caused them to fight against the
        exploitation, not only of their own, but of every other group, including (or
        especially) animals. The view, by some, of us as privileged white people with
        nothing else to worry about, is not only condescending and offensive, but
        incorrect. The common enemy is those who enslave/exploit others, not each
        other, and by making enemies of each other, we play into the hands of those who
        profit from exploitation of all groups. That is why I spend a very large amount
        of my free time, posting on FB to other animal activists about voter
        disenfranchisement and other such actions by the Republican Party. I find it
        intolerable, I must say, to see any woman or any animal advocate vote for a
        party for whom all of us, humans and animals, are just resources for their
        greed. Every time we fight amongst ourselves, we hand them a victory.
        
        Aspectre, in addition to the mounds of negative energy
        that have built up, here, I think there is also some momentum for positive
        actions. If things are just left to sort themselves out, and another incident
        happens, I think it will take the same unfortunate trajectory, unless some work
        between the communities takes place. As difficult as it will be to get groups
        that distrust each other to work together, I think it should be tried. The next
        incident may be (will likely be) in another city, but Paterson could be the
        model for how to effectively deal with it, instead of it being just another
        place where something bad happened, which escalated into racial tensions, and
        nothing was resolved. Problems not dealt with between communities don’t go
        away, but fester.
        
        You said that you were confronted by both racist and
        reasonable members of our community, but could not distinguish between the two.
        I am hopeful that now you can. If there were a meeting between us, I can assure
        you that you would only be meeting with the latter, if I have any input (due to
        my disabilities, I might not be involved past the initial stages of setting
        things up, which if others agree to, I would be interested in taking part in).
        
        You mentioned that you were not used to being attacked
        online. I have to laugh, because if you were an animal activist, you would be
        sooooo used to it. Just being introduced as a vegan is enough to set forth a
        s— storm of invective that you would not believe. Same thing face-to-face.
        Living one’s life consciously, and in ways that most people do not, sets people
        into a rage. So, I do know how it is to be attacked, online, both personally,
        and as a member of various identity groups. As I have previously mentioned, my
        life has been threatened.
        
        I know that you do not understand how I expect people to
        speak out against family, but that is a difference that will be part of any
        discussion. It is not just with animal issues. When I see a rapist being
        supported by parents or a spouse, I wonder how they can possibly do so. Again,
        I think of the victim, and would never stand by a family member who did such a
        thing. Family for me is a mutable thing—it is not written in stone. You do
        something like that (a violent assault on another) and you are no longer part
        of my family or community. That might seem harsh from your viewpoint, but from
        mine it seems like post-collusion (I made that term up—I know there is no such
        thing) in the crime, to support the person.
        
        You brought up Columbine. I actually do hold the
        community partly to blame for what happened, there (and I wrote about it, at
        the time), and in all the other towns where white, male children killed
        classmates, teachers, and/or family members. In pretty much every case, the
        kids had tortured and killed animals and had talked about killing animals and
        had never been stopped. They also came from communities in which hunting was
        rampant—an activity that is inherently violent and inherently takes lives of
        innocent victims. Yet, the communities were shocked when children who already
        had proven themselves to be cruel and violent and were not stopped, and were
        encouraged in sadistic activities like hunting, then turned to hunting human
        victims.
        
        You mentioned access to animal control. I am not familiar
        with the particular animal control in Paterson, but I have volunteered at
        shelters and I would not necessarily trust them to handle humane education. The
        animals in such facilities are sometimes treated as badly as those on the
        street and there are a number of cases where we sought charges against the
        people running, and working in, shelters. Also, if it is a kill shelter (I
        assume it is, as there are very few no-kill shelters in NJ), it would not be
        suitable for them to be the ones teaching loving treatment of animals. It also
        takes someone specifically trained in humane education to do the job. While I have
        decades of experience in many facets of animal advocacy, I am certainly not
        qualified to do this. It takes very specific skills and training.
        
        Let’s stay open on working on this together, please. It
        would likely take more convincing on your part than on mine, to convince our
        respective communities, but let’s be open about it.
      - Aspectre
        
        You are either up very early or like me, up very late. I recognize that different people have different viewpoints and can let it go at that. Not everyone thinks as I do. ( I cannot figure out why), But I have decided a while ago that it is ok. I actually said that I was "not" unaccustomed to being attacked online. We see these comments wherever something untoward occurs here in Paterson. So we are "hyper sensitized to it, especially when it involves our children. What I meant about the two groups is that some people expressing outrage over the cat's treatment also said unnecessary things about the city and who lived there. The Justice for Quattro people(JFQ), especially early on, said similar things which caused us to lump the two groups together (by groups I mean people who seem legitimately upset over the cat vs those trolling the pages to get in provocative comments). There are still people on the(JFQ) page making unfortunate comments which make it hard to distinguish them from the people you say you represent.
        Family in NOT mutable for me or many people like me. We often accept people not related to us as family members. They live in our homes and we take care of them because at that point in time they may need it. It doesn't matter that they are not directly related to us or not. It is not uncommon. Our family members may have done wrong, terrible wrong, but they are still family. That is why it is SO hard for many of us to hear people writing off these children as unredeemable, especially after one event. That is incomprehensible to me. But I thank you for that incite as I could not process that way of thinking. I translated it (and I know I am not alone) into something else. Quite frankly I just saw that as hateful derision aimed at the kids. It is helpful that you explained it to me. I would not have thought that view point possible or one I would have considered possible before you said it. IT is a major source of the misunderstanding. Most people that I know here would NEVER consider disowning a child that quickly. Perhaps after a series of events maybe. But never little children. And I have known some VERY difficult children, children who were considered bad enough to be called little monsters. But they grew up, one in particular, to turn their lives around and raise kids of their own. So writing them off after a single even horrible event, no it's inconceivable! That incite was indeed helpful to me. I can view the comments on the JFQ page with a different reference frame.
        I am not sure I can be that bridge, in the short term. I am not opposed to continuing the dialogue and I wish others could see how we can talk these things out in civility. I am still, to be sure very committed to minimizing the legal exposure of these children, given my understanding of that system on the lives of so many of our children. I do want to do whatever I can to see them treated and to help them become productive members of this community. We may stand in opposition there.
        After that, I want to push the city's school district to develop a comprehensive approach to addressing this issue for the future. I know part of the reason the (JFQ) are fighting so hard is they want to use this event to create a National registry for animal abusers. I am not interested in our children or our community being the poster children for any such campaign. That is NOT how we want to be remembered. So needless to say, even though I support your anti-animal cruelty stance, I am not prepared to abandon my position regarding these kids.
        Our conversation has broadened my understanding and I hope others reading this gain some incite as well. i am very anxious to keep the lines of communications open, to continue the dialogue, and see future discussions as having greater potential for mutual progress in addressing this issue. But right now, I am crashing. Good night
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Yep, I was still up at 4:30 am. I keep odd and irregular
        hours and am not a morning person (as far as getting up in the morning, anyway)—not very convenient when I worked.
        
        Another way of wording what I think is the difference in
        perspective between us is that we are focused on protecting the world from
        violent offenders, while you are focused on protecting your community members
        who have committed violent crimes, from the vengeance of the world. Like you, I
        cannot picture being in the other camp and it is foreign to me, but
        understanding, now, what the difference is makes a huge difference in being
        able to work out solutions, peacefully. As far as the JFQ page, I don’t know
        anyone involved, but I was under the assumption that the person whose page it
        is has not posted racist, inflammatory stuff, but people she may not know have.
        If it were my page, I would request that people not post such stuff and warn
        them that such comments would be removed, but it is not my page, and as I said,
        I do not know anyone involved. I hope I am correct in giving her the benefit of
        the doubt, as she did a wonderful thing in paying for Quattro, out of her own
        pocket, and in raising money for the boys who tried to save Quattro. I have
        only been on the page once or twice, as I have kept busy with this
        correspondence and my usual animal stuff (it takes hours just to re-format the
        zillion emails I get every day for animals in need, so that they can be posted
        on FB).
        
        I just got home and had an email from a friend, with
        happy ending animal story, for a change. I do wish all kids were like this: http://tinyurl.com/l6mudf7.
        
        I agree that “family” does not need to mean a blood
        relation, but for me it does mean that if they intentionally hurt someone
        defenseless and innocent, they can forget about me, as I will turn my attention
        and support to their victim in every way I can.
        
        I can’t say that my feelings about any of this came from
        my family or community or any adult in my life. I was a crusader from the
        earliest age. Injustice and suffering made me wildly mad, even as a very young
        child. I always loved animals more than anything on earth, though my parents
        did not finally relent and let me have my first animal (a dog) until I was 14,
        and only then, because I begged non-stop for years. While my parents were
        decent folk, I certainly did not get my love for animals from them (they would
        never hurt and animal and were always fond of animals, in general, but never
        let me bring home strays or injured animals, even temporarily, and did not encourage
        me getting involved in helping animals). They did not believe in getting
        involved, in general, but just sticking to “your own” and not doing anything
        that would get the neighbors talking. I was determined that that would NOT be
        me. It was the same with me with all justice issues, though animals were the main
        focus. I remember how badly I felt for any human who seemed to be marginalized
        by life, though I am ashamed to say that I did not act on it, usually, due to
        my crippling shyness and lack of self-esteem as a kid. I still remember all the
        instances in which I so wanted to act, but did not, and I wish I could go back
        in time and change them. Two instances were kids in wheelchairs (one in my apt
        complex, one I would pass on the way to grammar school, sitting in his yard)
        and the 3rd was the only black child in my grammar school (my junior
        high and high school were integrated). I thought all 3 could probably use a friend,
        but I just lacked to basic social skills on how to do it and did nothing. Not
        my proudest moments.
        
        One thing that likely reinforced my feeling of always
        siding with the victim is that I was bullied throughout junior high and high
        school and had not even one person (even adults) that helped me or whom I could
        turn to (one teacher actually joined in on the bullying). While I already hated
        bullies, years before I was a victim, it certainly made me hate them all the
        more, forever.
        
        The feeling you have for kids is the feeling I have (we
        in the animal advocacy movement) have for animals (some also have that feeling
        for kids).
        
        As far as the National Registry of Animal Abusers, which
        I support, do you support the National Sex Offender Registry?
        
        I still maintain that what may seem like insurmountable differences
        can be worked out, if we set up a formal mechanism for doing so. What is your
        position, if any, in the community, aside from being a resident?
      - J. Hawes
        
        "all juvenile cases are kept confidential by the school district( which
        is why it is ludicrous to say the kids are kept anonymous because they
        fear for their lives. That is pure projection)."
        
        Susan Gordon was referring to the children who stepped in to stop the torture. I don't see how you could have missed that point when she references the "heroes" each time she speaks of their anonymity. They made a choice to remain anonymous, even while being praised for their bravery and offered donations to pursue their future ambitions. That was a personal choice, it has nothing to do with the policies of the school district. That choice was made, quoting the mother, "for their own safety." I can only assume that decision was justified by real concerns, while you assume it to be ludicrous.
        
        Perhaps your community would have been bettered served if you "circled your wagons" in defense of the young men who feel they must remain anonymous, and fear for their safety, for doing the morally commendable thing.
      - Aspectre
        
        The district did not put a spotlight on them either. All the kids know who these kids are and there has been no acts of violence against them. You are more than willing to believe that there would b. That is the problem that we see. Their mother's apprehension can be understood given the nasty turn this situation has taken, SINCE YOU FOLKS got involved. Remember there was a two week period when none of this craziness was happening. But I know, you won't see it that way
  - World_War_Me
    
    You have a very self-centered and naive view of the world. . . as a community, of course.
    - Aspectre
      
      Self-centered. Interesting. All you folks can THINK about is a cat, albeit a tortured animal. You don't seem to care whom you trash in your wake to get vengeance for this animal. And after having you thoughtful people vilify and malign the ENTIRE community of 150,000 people, the vast majority of whom are innocent of this situation, (go read those comments), I have to listen to you quip about how self centered we are because we REACTED to this nonsense. That's priceless… Please go get a life…
Nick

By defending these feral children, you are implicitly condoning cruelty to animals. If these kids go unpunished, they will UNDOUBTEDLY go on to do worse things in life. I wonder what kind of parent produces a child that does something like this? Certainly not the caring, loving people you pretend to be when one of "your own" is threatened. Would you defend these kids if they were white? You want to protect and defend your children? RAISE THEM TO BE CIVILIZED HUMANS, INSTEAD OF SADISTIC MONSTERS THAT TORTURE ANIMALS. You make me sick. You are a disgusting, disengenuous piece of animal cruelty-condoning garbage, Corey.
- Susan Gordon
  
  Nick, thank you for caring enough about poor Quattro to
  post, but I feel I need to comment about your post. While I certainly agree
  with you that by defending these children, they are condoning cruelty to
  animals, I must make two points. First: while these children will, without
  intervention and a demand that they take responsibility, go on to treat humans
  in the same manner, the abuse of an animal and the abuse of a human are of
  equal concern. They would not be going on to doing “worse things in life,” but
  would be going on to doing it against a different group— this time, however,
  a group that people who only care about their own (whether “their own” means
  race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or species) will be concerned
  about. Most humans fail to consciously examine their own privilege and biases;
  they are unquestioning about the superiority of humans over animals (as
  damaging, immoral, and illogical a bias as any intra-human bias), insuring that
  violence against animals (and against humans) continues. If we do not have the
  moral framework for realizing that it is the abuse that is the focus, not the
  group identity of the victim, no vulnerable group will be safe by those more
  rapacious and dominant. When it comes to animals, even a human child (especially
  a cruel, ruthless one) is the dominant actor. Secondly, while I understand and
  share your anger at this unfeeling community, your response comes across as
  borderline racist. That is not to be tolerated. It is unfortunate that there
  have been racist attacks against the community and we must repudiate them, as
  that is not what we stand for—it is exactly what we stand against. The
  difference between the prayer vigil and the mob of protesters, in fact, is that
  they were making race an issue (they were in fact, acting the part of racists)—the vigil participants were not.
  Again, thank you for caring, but remember that it the ignorance and cruelty
  shown by this community, not their race, which is responsible for this
  unconscionable act and the reaction to it.
  - Paterson is my home too!
    
    These are not feral children, and to be honest, that word smacks strongly of racism. As a compassionate person of color, I think that the NAACP has a great point. The criminal justice system is racist and unfairly punishes people of color. There are too many children in prisons in this country. But the accused children aren't facing detention – they are facing a sentence of counseling and fines. And the charges will be expunged from their records at 18. In bringing these charges, the Prosecutor's Office in Paterson is sending a message that it is against animal cruelty, and in favor of getting help for vulnerable children in our community. Even in Corey Teague's letter, he says that he is in favor of counseling for the children. So ultimately, we all want the same thing here – to support the children in their rehabilitation and to make sure this doesn't happen to any other animals. And Quattro's Law is intended to clarify the responding protocol for officers called to an animal cruelty case, which is very necessary. At the moment, if you call 911 and report animal abuse, the police don't always know what should happen next, besides that its not their job to respond (NJ SPCA will do the investigation). But in not having a process to get the complaints from the police to NJ SPCA (who is woefully understaffed), a cat like Quattro is forced to suffer for days. And that is another important piece to the vigil yesterday. The vigil wasn't about hurting anyone, it was about helping animals. The community of animal lovers has already raised nearly $7,000 for the hero boys (who are also young men of color) who stopped the abuse and reported it. Because we want to reward kind behavior to animals, as well as stop abuse.
    - Susan Gordon
      
      Thank you for your reasoned, compassionate response,
      “Paterson in my home, too!” As I have stated elsewhere, I don’t know what an
      appropriate punishment is for children who commit heinous crimes and I have my
      own negative feelings about America’s prison industrial system. I am now
      reading Matt Taibbi’s “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth
      Gap,” and I am, because of the inherent inequalities under the capitalist
      racket, a socialist. And I do not support racist/biased responses when a
      heinous act is committed by a member of a minority community, as you saw by my
      previous post. However, I do not, I cannot, support the NAACP. Had they called
      for a meeting between community members and the animal advocacy community to discuss what could be done to prevent future incidents, I could praise them. Had
      they even suggested to just meet, amongst themselves, to discuss what community or family dynamics could lead to such sadistic behavior by children, and proposed starting programs to remedy that situation, I could praise them. They
      did none of these things. They reacted the same way I have seen the national
      and local chapters do numerous times when a person of color commits a horrific
      act of animal cruelty that shocks the country. They circle the wagons around
      the abusers. It not only further angers animal lovers outraged at the crime,
      but further tarnishes the reputation of their community toward helpless
      animals. It is not only communities of people of color. It happens with gay
      rodeo, Jewish furriers and kaparot, Irish carriage horse drivers, ad nauseum.
      In every case, the community can be counted on to discount the victim, discount
      the cruelty and wail “Woe is me” to the media about the racism/anti-Semitism,
      anti-Irish sentiment aimed at their community. This is seen, by those outside
      the community in question, for what it is: a distraction aimed at deflecting
      criticism from those responsible for the violent crime and a PR ploy to prove
      that the world is, once again, against them. You know what? The world is
      against minorities—and against women and against the LGBTQ community, and
      against several classifications that I fall into. But, the world is even more
      against the animals. Even those who claim to love animals. Hundreds of billions
      are killed annually. That is a holocaust, a genocide, with no comparison. To
      repeat what I have previously said, even the most powerless humans can and
      frequently do abuse animals, because they are a convenient, easy target for any
      human above infancy age. But the NAACP’s compassion does not extend into that
      territory. I do not expect it to be a focus, but I expect it to be an
      acknowledgment. I am, primarily, an animal advocate. I acknowledge all social
      justice causes, but choose to spend the bulk of my time on animal issues. I
      expect the same of human rights groups—that they spend the bulk of their time
      on the group(s) closest to their hearts, but that they lend at least moral
      support to all other justice groups. There is hardly a human rights oriented group
      that does this, when it comes to animals, but the NAACP goes farther than this fatal omission (fatal, because by supporting any abuse, they support all abuse)—they provide all possible resources (money, moral support, community gathering, Op-Eds) to the abuser and belittle those standing up for the victim—even at a PRAYER VIGIL. Hell, I could have protested the prayer vigil, because I am an atheist, but what person with a conscience would protest a peaceful group offering prayers to a victim of violence? The claims by the NAACP and the 2 School Board Members (who need to be voted out of office in November) who led the protest, that they are there to protect the children is nonsense. They helped to create a hostile environment for not only animals in Paterson, but even for the hero boys who had to remain anonymous for their own safety. Those children, somehow, who should publicly be given an award, have to hide, while those who committed as heinous an act as can be committed are coddled and protected, as are the families who produced them. Has even one person outside of the animal community donated to these hero boys, or is all support to be for Quattro’s torturers? No, the NAACP are not to be praised. It is to be demanded of them why they choose to support the [relatively] strong against the weak, when it suits their political agenda. I do agree with you that police and other emergency responders need to be trained in how to respond to animal cruelty cases.
      - Jan Fredericks
        
        Good points. I wonder what message the children are getting from hearing this? They are learning that people are against their color. I agree that the jails have more people of color and minorities which should be investigated and changed. I acknowledge that racism is still around, but animal advocates are pretty much focused on the voiceless animals who are in our care to protect and be a voice for. I really hope that some good will come out of this for all kids, communities and for all the stray cats who are multiplying all over the place. I would be glad to meet with any organization as I'm sure other animal groups and people would. Perhaps we can reason together and get a solution going. The youth have much to offer. We could have a walk for all strays (we have a Hope for Strays Program) to bring awareness and even funds.
      - Aspectre
        
        Sorry read those comments (some were so terrible they had to be erased by the newspapers) on that FB page. And the kids who read them weren't the ones responsible for this incident. The tens of thousands of kids who committed NO crime read them too, comments aimed at them. You folks conveniently overlook this but we cannot.
jean

i find this act against this cat to be heinous. such cruel children have no soul and should be in jail. unless corrected, they will grow up to be monsters. paterson has no soul at all. i would never vote for corey based on his strange weird understanding of who needs to be punished.
- Rebecca F.
  
  PETA folks, check your privilege. Paterson is a beautiful city full of heroes. We should have thrown red paint across your middle class white privilege cloaks (go ahead, NOW cry racism) as you called for these children to be tried as adults, calling our city pitiless and these childrens the natural result of violent Parersonians as you hide behind cardboard.
  - Jan Fredericks
    
    Yes, Paterson has heroes in it.
    The punishment should fit the crime and age of the children. Agreed.
  - Susan Gordon
    
    Rebecca, I am not PETA folk, so stop making assumptions.
    In fact, I speak out, at every opportunity, about their sexist ads and the fact
    that they kill homeless animals, both because what they do is wrong and because
    it reflects badly on the animal advocacy community. I do this in exactly the
    way that you do NOT do to speak out about actions in your community that are
    not only heinous, but reflect badly on your community. Circling the wagons,
    even when your community is wrong, does nothing for your community. When will
    humans move beyond such limited thinking? You also assume the Prayer Vigil
    participants were middle class, with nothing but your own bias upon which to
    make that assumption. In my 30 years of animal advocacy, I’ve actually found
    most animal activists to financially struggle, many working multiple jobs, some
    with serious health problems, and yet they spend what little money and time
    they have to help the animal victims of human cruelty and indifference. I also
    find that they are more likely to help other humans. Even if they were middle
    class, there is nothing inherently good or bad about that. You are throwing
    around what you assume are charged words that are really meaningless, because it
    is easier than thinking. To get to your main point, however, privilege is
    exactly the issue. Checking one’s privilege is exactly our point. When it comes
    to animals, all humans (above the infant stage) have privilege. Almost all humans
    exercise this privilege, unthinkingly, dozens of times per day with what they
    eat/use/wear/attend daily. And almost all of it is legal. A small, but
    sickening subset of animal abuse, however, is done, not unthinkingly, but
    intentionally and is illegal. 99.99% of animal abuse is legal and there is
    little we can do about it, other than educate humans to make more humane,
    conscious decisions and to take responsibility for the consequences of their
    actions. The Paterson kids who tortured and murdered Quattro used human
    privilege over Quattro—in an especially violent, vile, and illegal way. You and
    others with your attitude about it are teaching them that it is acceptable to
    exercise privilege—including deadly privilege—over those less powerful than
    they are. ALL privilege is wrong. Not just privilege against those whom you
    happen to care about. Your comment about hiding behind cardboard is ridiculous,
    considering the mob from your side also had signs. And considering that you
    posted anonymously and I did not. An innocent, vulnerable stray animal (who was
    likely homeless, because someone from your community dumped him on the street
    to fend for himself) was savagely beaten to death. The response of almost the
    entire community was either indifference or an attack on a peaceful group
    holding a Prayer Vigil for the victim. A mob showed up to protest the Prayer
    Vigil and you think red paint should have been thrown on the people in the
    Prayer Vigil. Your actions so terrified the brave children (and the family that
    raised such heroes) that they have to remain anonymous, while they watch their
    community rally around children from whom they rescued Quattro, at risk of
    their own lives. Now tell me about why Paterson is not pitiless. A terrible
    thing happened in your town. An even more terrible thing happened when the town
    took the side of privilege. Yes, there were some other heroes, too—the members
    of your community who joined the Prayer Vigil and spoke out for Quattro. Are
    you going to throw red paint on them, too? There may be beauty in Paterson, but
    all that you put on display was ugliness, ignorance and indifference to
    suffering. Isn’t it time to work together, instead, to prevent this from
    happening in the future?
  - Kelly Campbell
    
    Rebecca, I also am not PETA folk. These children have committed a crime. Everyone. Whether human, or animal deserve a chance to live in peace. Something this cat was denied.
    
    What if it were someone you loved?
  - http://www.facebook.com/animalabusewar Animal Abuse War
    
    There goes the word "childrens" again.
Jan Fredericks

We did not come 'to lambaste' children. As a licensed counselor, Christian Educator and Founder of God's Creatures Ministry, I promote teaching and practicing compassion an kindness for all of God's creatures. If we really love children and God, will will teach God's kindness, patience and peace to all life. It's a cultural, moral and spiritual issue that crosses all cultures. Education is key. My Grandparents lived in Paterson and I was born in Paterson. As you know, behavior whether good or bad, has consequences which teach us to be good citizens and God-fearing people. The Bible actually states that we will be held accountable for every creature and the Bible also teaches about kindness and mercy, not just to people, but to all life. I hope all children will grow up with kind souls and consciences to make this world a better one. We were there to memorize Quattro. I have gone to many other animal advocate events in other towns and was never told to 'go the hell home' and to stop hatred. We were only there in peace.
- BounceSquad426 .
  
  Where you demanding children be held to adult standards?
  - Jan Fredericks
    
    No, but I don't think charges should be dropped as proposed. If we don't respect laws to live by and teach responsibility, not only does society lose, but the children as well for not being part of society. Romans 13 talks about being submissive to governing authorities which have been established by God. God disciplines those He loves. Of course we are talking about the laws that fit the crime and are age appropriate. From what I read, they were going to get more help, and the record doesn't stay forever. But, I feel that the punishment should come with some kind of restitution. Wouldn't it be great if these boys turned out to be rescuers of strays? That would be wonderful. It's all about becoming more conscience and compassionate.
    - Aspectre
      
      That "compassion" was NOT what we saw from many of the other people on the Justice for Quattro" page. They were NOT interested in helping anyone. You cannot ask us to divorce ourselves from the name calling and vicious commentary of a veritable lynch mob and hand over our children to your contemplative judgement. No one tried to engage our community. You sought to "judge" it and its children, based on one act. You came with nothing but, as we saw it, hate, not caring about the fact that whatever they had done they were little children, our children. We here face a long and persistent history of excess prosecution at the hands of people who consistently harbor far different standards when it comes to judging their own children. Our sensitivities in this area cannot be ignored, nor can the data supporting this position. We do not condone what happened to the poor cat. But we cannot overlook the vicious, sadistic, mean spirited comments of the many people seeking to tell us what to do with our children from afar.
      - Jan Fredericks
        
        I'm sorry mean spirited comments were made. Words can kill or heal a soul, especially young souls. It's not right to lump all people into a category because of the actions of a few (for both sides). We need to rise above that and seek out how to heal and make the world a better place.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Aspectre, if you feel that strongly about verbal assaults
        (which I do not support and I would also find upsetting), how much worse do you
        think we feel about a physical assault, resulting in death? The history of
        injustice your community bore/bears is also the history that animals bear, by
        the hundreds of billions. No one was asking you to hand over your children to
        us, but as I stated above, would you really want to set a precedent that the
        community that bears the perpetrator of a violent crime would also be the
        entity which decides the disposition of the case? The courts need to be
        replaced with something more just and impartial (bankers to jail, retroactively
        revoke Rockefeller drug laws, end stop and frisk, etc.), but right now it is
        the best we have.
      - Aspectre
        
        That IS the American system and we tend to be made to be more observant of it than other communities, which is why you see the racial disparities that you do. And we DO NOT see the courts as an impartial agent. They NEVER have been and you know it. And handing the kids over was exactly what was being demanded. (Go read those comments on FB). We were making sure those kids got help and quite frankly were aware of their need before any of you got involved. Your heavy handed approach is what caused this nastiness, We did not attack you, You attacked us! And we saw the vigil as an extension of the sense of elf-righteousness, being shoved down our throats. We viewed it as a celebration of forcing the prosecution of our children. People who wanted harsher measures for the kids were there yelling for you to go take your hate and go home because that is what we saw. had the focus of your actions been clearly defined and that page maintained in that manner, you would not have had the public response that you saw from Patersonians
      - World_War_Me
        
        Why should the "Justice for Quattro" folks be interested in helping YOUR children in YOUR community? Plus, it's YOUR protesters, YOUR "little children", YOUR community that are full of hate. I saw the pictures on the news sites of the posters YOUR COMMUNITY was holding. Some had disgusting caricatures of dead cats drawn on them. That's what brought me here.
        
        Look, folks are wise to what's really going on here, and THAT's what's making you and YOUR COMMUNITY so mad. The fact that people care more about this poor cat than your worthless, evil offspring is what's really got you mad, isn't it?
        
        That means people might start waking up and will see your righteous indignation as a COMMUNITY for what it really is: demands for gibsmedat.
        
        These kids are on the school to prison pipeline, and you and the NAACP know it. What worries you is that the rest of us will realize it. Then the handouts cease for your COMMUNITY (endless money for HeadStart, Midnight Basketball, counseling, etc.) and the bribes to the NAACP. Let's just be honest here, okay?
        
        Justice for Quattro the Cat!
      - Aspectre
        
        See this is why we reacted. This incident just gave you an opportunity to slink out of the gutter where you reside to snipe at this city. Your nasty, ignorant and disgusting comments are exactly why we responded the way we did. You and your ilk piggyback on the legitimate concerns of animal lovers to take the opportunity spew your hate and contempt for those who you think are different than you. You are not worthy of the additional time it would take to insult you further.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        You are out of line, here, World-War-Me. Your attitude
        just enflames things further. Paterson and the animal advocates are coming from different perspectives, here,
        as I stated above. The realization has changed my perspective. While I still
        feel as strongly as I ever did about this crime and mourn just as much for
        Quattro, I think I do now understand where the Paterson community is coming
        from. I might not agree, but I understand, and that is the first step to working
        together and healing. Your comments just serve to drive a bigger wedge between
        communities. You are entitled to your thoughts, but please, in the future,
        consider how those thoughts will look in print and ask yourself if the reaction
        they will cause will help or hurt the situation.
- Aspectre
  
  Sadly, you may not have seen the online attacks that accompanied your concerns about the cat. We were properly on the defensive and not appreciative of people who we viewed as saying some of the terrible things that were being said, coming to our town to say them. The people, like World_War_ME below, also said they were concerned for the cat. He, like others, said "other" things as well.
Mary

I am frightened for our future if this is the way a "community" deals with a serious crime against an innocent, helpless animal. As a former Paterson resident I am embarrassed to say I am from that city. If this mentality demonstrates the culture of Paterson the city has no hope at all and will never regain the great reputation of the past.
- BounceSquad426 .
  
  And you share the name of my redeemer's mother.
Paterson is my home too!

As a compassionate person of color, I think that the NAACP has a great
point. The criminal justice system is racist and unfairly punishes
people of color. There are too many children in prisons in this country, and we should all be protesting that loudly.
But that is not this case. Here the accused children aren't facing detention – they are facing a
sentence of counseling and fines, which hardly constitutes "cruelty to children"and is in fact exactly what Corey Teague calls for in his letter. And the charges will be expunged from
their records at 18, so the charges will not follow them forever, and can in fact even be expunged earlier on the completion of counseling, if the judge so orders it. In bringing these charges, the Prosecutor's
Office in Paterson is sending a message that it is against animal
cruelty, and in favor of getting help for vulnerable children in our
community. So ultimately, we all want the same
thing here – to support the children in their rehabilitation and to make
sure this doesn't happen to any other animals.

And Quattro's Law (part of the purpose of the vigil) is
intended to clarify the responding protocol for officers called to an
animal cruelty case, which is very necessary. At the moment, if you
call 911 and report animal abuse, the police don't always know what
should happen next, besides that its not their job to respond (NJ SPCA
will do the investigation). But in not having a process to get the
complaints from the police to NJ SPCA (who is woefully understaffed), a
cat like Quattro is forced to suffer for days. And that is another
important piece to the vigil yesterday. The vigil wasn't about hurting
anyone or targeting the children involved, it was about helping animals. The community of animal lovers (made up of people of all races)
has already raised nearly $7,000 for the hero boys (who are also young
men of color) who stopped the abuse and reported it. Because we want to
reward kind behavior to animals, as well as stop abuse.
- Jan Fredericks
  
  Thank you for your reasonable, logical message. Blessings!
Farbeyond

OMG, it is truly unbelievable that supposedly educated people
actually feel as stated in that editorial and in the NAACP statements
-this is not a racial issue, it's an animal cruelty issue. These
children criminalized themselves by torturing and murdering this poor
animal and criminal charges should most definately be pressed. As long
as these children do not commit any further crimes, they will stay out
of the criminal justice system. Corey Teague, Jonathan Hodges, Rev
Clayton do not even simply know right from wrong. It is hard to remain
civil with this kind of nonsense. And the harshest punishment of the
justice system isn'teven anything near as horrible as the cruelty
the children inflicted on this animal. Allow your children to take
responsibility for their actions if you want them to grow up to be
productive citizens of the community. How about praising the children
who did the right thing?? No mention of them, except for your group to
threaten them?
- BounceSquad426 .
  
  Do you think they should be expected to take responsibility as if they were adults?
  - Farbeyond
    
    No, they are not adults based on their ages. I have no idea how they feel now, if remorseful or not, about what they did to a sentient being capable of feeling pain, emotions, forming relationships just like humans. I don't know what kind of parents they have. The 3 leaders though, Corey, Jonathan, and Rev Clayton, are showing irresponsiblilty and not helping the children in calling for all charges to be dropped so the children do not have to be held responsible for their actions in any way shape or form. A very bad act was committed by the children and whatever punishment under the law goes with it should be rendered.
  - zabo
    
    Stop Crying and Start Trying! Blacks somehow think they can't be held accountable cause of some chains so long ago! All this talk about we here in Patterson take care of our own problems. Yeah ok just take a good look around and watch the gun violence and the drug dealing with the gang non-sense! Tell us again how you take care of the "bad ones"? I think you blacks are mad because most whites give a crap about animals than more the black race. Think about that one hustler!
    - Susan Gordon
      
      Zabo, your racist comments are not welcomed, here, by
      either side. They are inappropriate, offensive, and counter-productive. They
      help no one, certainly not the animals.
      - zabo
        
        Thank you for your opinion. your "racist" word means nothing anymore. Just because you don't like someone else's comment you shouldn't be so quick to label people with your liberal useless terms. I like animals just as much as you do if not more. So how dare you tell me where i'm not wanted! So who's the bigot now young lady. I'd rather you not tell me what I should do. Just who do you think you are goody two shoes. I bet not!
- Aspectre
  
  Excuse me, who has threatened those two boys. WE don't know their names and are not trying to find them. See this is the nonsense that caused people to protest your vigil. We did not truly object to the vigil, it was EVERYTHING else you brought before it. Just go back and read some of those comments and ask us why we would want you come to our city after making many of the vicious, sadistic, cruel and nasty remarks that your like minded comrades put into print. We were not protesting your honoring of the cat. We were protesting your determination to discard our children. Your fellow cat lovers freely and often asserted that these children were unredeemable. And since you were able to get charges imposed where none were intended, we feared that some of the other things you were demanding would in fact occur. I cannot repeat theses things as I was trained better. You only see the part that you want to see. And you can all go back to your pristine communities with your sense of self-righteousness intact. We, on the other hand, have to live with the totality of all that happened and all that has been said. The rest of our children, the ones that have committed no crimes, but who have read your many comments about them and their community, must live with it as well…
  - Farbeyond
    
    I don't know, it was posted that they were threatened. I also thought I read prior to the vigil the boys Mom said they were threatened. If it is false, great. I wish I'd read more praise for the boys who tried to help stop the attack from the 3 leaders, Corey, Jonathan, and Rev Clayton. I also read that some felt the children who led the attack should be rewarded somehow which I just find really hard to believe so I'll take that one with a grain of salt. I also did not appreciate some of the nasty remarks made and wish they weren't. Unfortunately, they were people venting and will not become reality. I was very upset when I read the first NAACP statement because I had no idea of the race of the children involved, and I'm sure most others did not also and it doesn't matter. It was an attack on me, insinuating I would only think this was a horrible inhumane act because it was committed by someone of another race and demanding charges be dropped. To think of what this poor animal went through being pelted with rocks, etc, hard to take. I have read that those who harm animals will continue and graduate to harming people also. I don't feel that anyone can say with certainty as some posters have, that these children who tortured and killed this animal are going to continue on this path. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I pray they don't. No one knows anything about them, only this cruel senseless act. I do feel strongly that they must be charged with this crime and face any and all penalties under the law. Why shouldn't they? I'm sure the present penalties under the law aren't anything that horrendous anyway so I don't even understand why the NAACP is requesting charges be dropped which I feel is also wrong to ask the prosecutor not to do her job. I think they should have a psychiatric evaluation regarding their mental state and find out why they thought what they did was just ok.
    - Aspectre
      
      The request for evaluations were already in place. The NAACP was reacting to the vicious, nasty and yes, racist comments it read in the newspaper comment section online (so horrible that the newspapers shutdown the online comment section for this particular news thread and erased everything). The threats against the "heroes" is inexplicable as no one knows their identities, happily dour the school district which won't release the identities of juveniles to the public or its board. You may have found those comments to be "venting." We saw them as actual threats. We don't know they won't come to reality. And we don't view the legal system as being very helpful to our children, especially with its past history. Few communities ever do, which is why we commit fewer juvenile crimes but face more prosecutions in NEW Jersey.
      - Farbeyond
        
        So are you saying with certainty that the NAACP would never have gotten involved if there were no racist comments made even though the children involved were African American? (which I'm assuming at this point due to NAACP involvement) Such a shame as the race of the children is a non issue. I personally become much more upset and brought to tears over animal abuse than the crimes committed against humans because at least they may be able to tell someone about it and know why it is happening to them (random senseless violence, crossing the path of ill and or evil persons, have a chance to fight back, whatever) and more solid protection and penalty under the law (?). I don't know any statistics re juvenile crime in NJ or anywhere, but there are crimes where no one ever is caught and charged. I think in probably most cases, the gift of the "not guilty" plea is such a joke but that's our system. And I know there have been cases where someone was unfairly convicted and vindicated down the road, but few and far between I'm guessing. And there is unfairness, and there is racism in our World unfortunately. I still feel you have to be held responsible for your actions, suffer the consequences and hopefully learn from it.
      - Aspectre
        
        I do not know whether the NAACP knew or cared about the particular color of the children involved. What I can say is that it was clear from the remarks posted online that there were heavy racial overtones to some of this demand for criminalization to the children. You cannot have read those comments, especially early on and come away thinking this is JUST about animal rights. And they were demanding the death and other unsavory things for these children. To say the NAACP has no place in what happened here is to really be quite disingenuous. A certain set of people seemed to be legitimately exercised over the abuse of the cat. But many others simply piled on because they had other, less savory agendas. In the whole it was difficult to distinguish who was what. But it was clear that the overwhelming majority of the people attacking the children and their parents, were not from Paterson, and were demanding that all manner of unfortunate things happen to these children. They were also determined to force them to be prosecuted WHETHER the LOCAL OFFICIALS planned to or not. To not respond to that would have been inappropriate.
      - Farbeyond
        
        I'll make this my last post on this thread, and be as brief as possible in making this statement and I apologize if I do not address your reply explicitly but cut to my chase. I am very sincere in expressing my disgust and how horrible and inhumane many people of color were treated when slavery was legal in the United States and can't believe anyone could treat another person that way. I saw a few of the recent movies, Belle, 12 Years a Slave, where black people did not have any rights and the white people (actors) in the movie were the worst of the worst. It sickens me. I know of the Holocaust and I can't believe how anyone meaning Hitler and the people who followed him could do what they did to human beings. Re animals: we have a holocaust going on re animals being used for food, clothing, abused for amusement, etc. They are living sentient beings that should be able to live out their natural lives in peace and without harm, that is my sincere solid opinion. I am extremely intolerant of animal cruelty, there is no excuse for it, none, and I feel those who torture, kill, harm animals, well I would like to see the same done to them without apology, no matter who they are, race, income level, religion, gender, age, as I feel that would perhaps cause others to shudder in their boots at the thought of hurting an animal, and maybe it would cease. The penalties we have now are not enough. The animals are innocent and defenseless against humans and we should know better, no matter our race, etc Of course the NAACP is involved because the children are of color but they should not expect the children to not be charged with this crime and suffer whatever penalties under the law, which will amount to nothing as horrendous as what the animal suffered, no matter the content of any racial overtone postings. This was torture and murder of a living being, a cat. I am sorry there were racial comments made as race is not an issue here, certainly not to me in all sincerity. I am sorry some who came to protest the vigil made meow sounds, a form of cruelty and mocking in light of what happened. I am most sorry for what the poor cat suffered through, and it is a big deal to me, and I'd be just as disgusted no matter who committed this act.
      - Aspectre
        
        I have acquired a deeper understanding of how some of you think about animals. Others of us respect and agree that animals should not suffer. But we do NOT believe that a child should forfeit its life for mistreatment of a cat. We can correct the child in time. This is irrespective of the child's race. Race was NOT the only reason people came out. They, as I, do NOT believe that cats are more important than children. We need to teach these children to be better human beings, which we can do in time. But we here understand the crippling nature of the legal system for our children and will not willingly subject them to it. It is just that simple. People here saw an outside threat to little children, our children, no matter how flawed. We won't agree on this but I do appreciate your civil dialogue, which, if your peruse some of the remarks on this page, is not always in evidence. Take care
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Just a small correction here, Aspectre, re: animal
        activists thinking cats (or any other non-human animal) are more important than
        children. Not more important, but as important. There can be a difference between
        what we feel and what we abstractly think. I feel more for animals than for
        humans—always have, always will, and I make no apology for it. But, and this is
        the crux of the matter, even if some of us emotionally feel more for animals,
        that does NOT mean we think it is ever ok to harm an innocent human, child or
        adult. And we would likely intercede to help an endangered human. I am not
        including racists/homophobes/sexists, etc. in this, as while they exist, they
        do not represent animal rights philosophy. We acknowledge that the right to
        live an unexploited life is the basic right of humans and animals. What we feel
        or do not feel for a particular group is not relevant—justice should not be
        based on whatever an individual person feels for a particular group. While
        animal advocates state that all groups are equally deserving of justice (even
        if their activism is focused on animals), can you think of even one person who
        does not like animals (or who even dislikes them) who would give them even the
        slightest consideration, let alone saying they deserve equal justice? It is
        non-animal advocates (who do not embrace animal rights) who parcel out justice,
        not animal advocates. To give a personal example of this, I used to have a job
        where I was the only animal advocate. I got a lot of crap from co-workers who
        constantly harangued me with how more important humans are than animals, how
        much they love kids, etc. I have no personal attachment to children—never wanted
        them, do not especially like to be around them. Again, my personal preference
        does not mean that I think it is ever ok to harm children, whether I happen to
        like being around children or not. One day I was on a break from work and
        walked to a local store to do an errand. Several of my co-workers (the ones who
        had never ceased to tell me how much they love kids and how much more important
        humans are than animals) were, coincidentally, right near me on the street. A
        young child was alone on the street and crying. Who do you think was the one
        who went up to the lost child and made sure he got back to his parents, while
        the human lovers/child lovers ignored him? You have every right to your
        personal preferences in whom to advocate for, but not in whom to decide has not
        right to live free from harm. One thing I want to add, even though it is not
        directly pertinent to the above—it is never ok to harm one group in advocating
        for another (throwing one group under the bus for the supposed benefit of another).
        If justice is not universal, it is not justice.
Enough is enough

Exactly, what form of cruelty did those 3 monsters receive????Were they cornered and beaten to a pulp with bricks???If any human ( since animals don't seem to count in your city) were the 2 humans that tried to intervene that are treated cruelly! I have never seen such a backward,turned around way of thinking in my life. No wonder Patterson has a bad rap, never heard of you before but I certainly do now
- http://www.backintosociety.webs.com Kevin W. Womble Sr.
  
  First of all they are children not monsters, misguided but children, wrong but still children, as I said, I am not saying that they should not be punished for what they did, they should, but to give up on these children is not right . What happened in response to the vigil was ( in my opinion ) disrespectful but we are talking about people and a community that ( as you said ) has had a bad rap. My suggestion is to help these and other children who commit such acts of cruelty , too many times have we taken a situation and blown it out of proportion , honoring Quattro was the Godly thing to do and to protest that was wrong but there were people from both sides carrying signs with negative comments.
http://www.backintosociety.webs.com Kevin W. Womble Sr.

You have got to be kidding me, people are talking about Gods love and Gods laws yet these are the same people who are talking about condemning these kids, kids who can be saved. I am not condoning what these kids did but I am not condoning your either. When the bible said a life for a life I thing it was meant for human life.. Discipline and teaching will help these kids not putting them in a system designed to make them fail.My question is, what if these were your kids? what would your demands be then?
- Lee
  
  They WOULDN"Tbe my kids as I raised my kids to know right from wrong and to treat people AND animmals with love and kindness and respect. If I for whatever reason was unable to raise my children properly I would WELCOME a court or agency to come in and help!! Courts can order counseling, courts can order home visits–if the children are not being raised roperly then the courts can step in. There is something very very wrong that these children chose to do this. They are apparently not getting the disipline and teaching they need at home. SO what do we do? Say oh sorry this cat was torturted and killed..but its okay..we will teach you..and then another one dies? Search online and learn about animal abuseres when they get older
  - Guest
    
    Go get your court to start ordering.
    - Jan Fredericks
      
      This is horrible! How can we stop animal cruelty especially at the hands of young hearts? I hope this kid gets some charges against him.
      - Aspectre
        
        BUT he won't and no one is attacking his parents who possibly bought him that gun. Our kids are ashamed. That isn't a look of shame on his face. And who is taking the pic? You can find this individual on Facebook but who is going to look? EXACTLY…not you!
  - Aspectre
    
    See above picture and go get your court to start ordering…
- Jan Fredericks
  
  Who knows, when people respect the law and society, they (including these kids) may lead and teach others to help people and animals. It's a teachable moment for them. They don't deserve a life sentence. Discipline, yes and the knowledge that normal behavior is encouraged by the law and society.
- Susan Gordon
  
  And what would you do, Mr. Womble, if your kids were the
  hero kids? How would you feel watching them have to remain anonymous, because
  they live in a city that protected the violent, while ignoring (and possibly
  posing a threat to) your kids BECAUSE OF their brave, compassionate acts? The
  killer kids turned out that way (judging by the actions of the adults in the
  community after the incident), due to living in Paterson (and due to their
  families). The brave kids turned out that way, despite living there (and due to
  their family). That is some indictment of Paterson and the people in authority.
  The mob that protested the prayer vigil did not act out of love of kids; it was
  a kneejerk reaction to protect the reputation of their community against
  outsiders, because their own reputations/self-identity is tied in to that of
  their community. It was an understandable emotional response to an outside
  world that has exploited and attempted to destroy the black community for
  hundreds of years. It is time, however, to differentiate between real attacks
  from real enemies, and distress from outsiders who mourn the killing of one of
  their community (we animal advocates consider animals part of our community) by
  members of yours. Your community has
  been genuinely victimized for so many years. But this time, you are NOT the
  victim, so stop acting like you are. By doing so, you dishonor your community’s
  genuine struggles and you dishonor yourselves as individuals. Are the demands
  of Quattro’s community so hard to understand? Understand our pain (which cannot
  compare to Quattro’s, of course) and anger and work with us to make sure it
  will never happen again. Admit your responsibility, as a community, for the
  policies and/or lack of policies, which led to this incident. Put in place new
  policies that will make such incidents unlikely in the future. Let the hero kids know that what they did is
  appreciated and that you care about THEM. The ONLY concern and emotional and
  financial support shown for them (who are members of YOUR community) has come
  from US. Honor them for what they did—don’t ignore them and make them feel
  endangered! You have shunned them. You have not made them feel part of the
  community, while you are publicly declaring your love of your community’s kids,
  and the killer kids, in particular. The brave, young brothers’ actions were so superior
  to that of any adult in Paterson that perhaps it embarrasses the town. Paterson
  is happy to have itself associated with sadistic children, but wants no part of
  compassionate, brave ones. That skewed dynamic needs to be explored. We may
  disagree, even among ourselves, what should be done with the children who
  killed Quattro, in addition to mandatory family and individual counseling, but
  an agreement on that is infinitely more obtainable if you agree to work on the rest
  of it with the humane community.
  - Aspectre
    
    Ms Gordon, you continue to talk about things that you do not know for a fact. ALL the children are anonymous because they are JUVENILES, not because they are under a community threat of attack. Indeed the only ones threatened that I am aware of is the children hurting the cat (walking home from school) , their parents and the principal of the school -all from people on your side. We didn't object to the vigil as much as to the attitude we saw from the people commenting on the Justice for Quattro page and in the newspapers, prior to the vigil. We saw THOSE people coming to our town to spread more of their hate. Go read those comments and you will begin to understand our reaction. When the incident that is shown in the picture below occurred, we didn't hear the same outrage. No one rushed to put a name on that poor cat or to raise funds for the photographer. Forgive me if we sense, over the course of history, a double standard. But put that all aside. You do not know what we were doing in terms of punishment or getting the students help. None of you reached out to the school district in a civil manner to discuss this manner. No, YOU ATTACKED US. You blamed and condemned the parents, the community and the city as a whole. Those of us who initially responded to the horrific comments had NO idea what race these children were. But your commenters had plenty of nasty assumptions. What you received at the vigil was years of exhaustion from the out side attacks, lack of respect or consideration given to us. We don't see our children as unredeemable and the message we received from you and you fellow cat lovers was anything but let's work together. The door was up for discussion BEFORE the Facebook page went up. We were demanding to know what was happening to the children BEFORE it hit the newspapers. But after the fuse was lit by YOUR group, understanding went out the window. If we are to be blamed for our reaction to you, you are to be blamed for your overzealous nastiness and self-righteous approach, without consulting responsible authorities to find out what was actually taking place to address the situation.
    - Aspectre
      
      And let me hasten to add, this child isn't a monster, pure evil, or demon spawn of the devil. He is misguided and needs counseling. What he has done is horrible and this happens far more frequently in your communities, with all your "morality," than it happens here. Where are the calls for the death penalty, etc. This cat's life is just as precious, and its fate no less horrible. We see these things and then have to listen to your intense moralizing and judgment of us. We would have responded differently if your initial approach had not been what it was. We are prepared to punish our own. But we will NOT allow you to merely take vengeance on them and that was what we saw you trying to do.
      - Susan Gordon
        
        Aspectre, I have no idea whom that white child is who
        killed a cat, but you certainly don’t know the animal advocacy community, at
        all, if you think his race would have stopped the call for justice for the cat.
        I took a white co-worker to court for how he treated his dog. Acts against helpless
        animals and humans are monstrous, are evil, and it is semantics and political
        correctness, in my opinion, to make a distinction between doing evil and being
        evil. Stealing a car is misguided. Torturing and killing an animal is evil. Jeffrey
        Dahmer started on animals. When he tortured animals was he evil or just
        committing evil acts? Is there really a difference that matters? Would
        counseling, as the only intervention, have prevented him from later killing
        people? I don’t know. Are such children redeemable? I don’t know. What should
        be the recommended action, if any, other than counseling? I don’t know. That will
        have to be determined by experts. But whatever is recommended must be mandatory and through the courts, not left up to the community.
        
        If there was not an outcry, over the white kid’s terrible
        act, it was because people did not know about it. If this is a recent case,
        please post the info and it will be acted upon. In the Paterson case, yes Quattro’s killers
        are anonymous, because they are juveniles, but the hero kids have been
        reported, by the media, to be anonymous, because they live in a rough
        neighborhood and fear reprisal. Their identity would not be kept anonymous unless
        there was a specific reason to do so. Whenever acts of extreme violence are
        committed against innocent, vulnerable victims, emotions will run high, and
        there will always be people who attack based on race, nationality, gender,
        whatever, and that should not be tolerated. In many, if not most of those
        cases, the concern is not even for the animal, but is just a reason to spew
        racial or other hatred, and that is NOT a response from the humane community,
        but just from disgruntled individuals looking for any excuse. In some cases, it
        is—is there any community that does not have such people? But those are NOT the
        people who will come out for a prayer vigil. They tend to attack in cowardly,
        anonymous ways. As you can see in one of my posts, here, I called out someone
        who made what could be construed as a racist comment. Whenever I send alerts asking people to contact
        the prosecutor or judge on cruelty cases (I was not the one who did so, in this
        case—I came in, after the fact) or when I ask people to write letters to anyone
        involved, I make a point of asking people, no matter how angry they are, to be
        polite, but firm. I have never seen an alert, from a humane group that spewed
        any sort of racial or other bias when asking for letters. Never. The recent
        Isla Vista killings brought to light male dominated society’s hatred of women.
        Instead of taking responsibility for the male violence all women fear and
        endure in this patriarchal society, many men closed ranks and attacked women and
        laid the blame at their feet. As I said, the reaction of Paterson is not
        racial, it is human. Closing ranks against outsiders. As I have mentioned
        several times, this is something I have never seen the humane community do,
        even if/when insults from outside are aimed at the identity group of the
        perpetrator. Whatever identity group(s) individual animal lovers belong to,
        they will speak out against any member of their group who harms an animal (and
        will likely do so if a human is harmed). I cannot tell you how many times, I
        have done just that. I make a point of doing just that, because a member of a
        community speaking out against cruelty committed by their own community is a
        powerful thing. But, it cannot be counted on. Humans being humans, that does
        not happen very often. It is hard to know which side in this case attacked
        first, but if you are saying that Paterson would have acted entirely
        differently had the rest of the state/country done nothing, then let’s do
        something about it and work together. It is never too late. The reason that the
        humane community started automatically (not as a planned course of action, as
        far as I know, but as an organic action) sending out alerts as soon as an
        animal is intentionally killed, is that nothing was ever done, no matter the
        level of cruelty and violence visited upon the animal. It was only after the
        public (led by the individual members/groups of the humane community, but
        eagerly joined in by the public) started writing to prosecutors and judges did
        these perpetrators start getting arrested, tried, and [only very occasionally]
        punished. The punishment, no matter the severity of the crime, rarely resulted
        in jail. BTW, one poster presumed, with no data, that we were all middle class
        people living in some sort of ivory towers. I lived in a town very like
        Paterson for almost 15 years and I worked in it for almost 30. My high-paying,
        living-in-luxury job was as social worker for low income and/or homeless
        people. I lived, for those 15 years, in the same building as my clients—no heat
        for many winters, and sometimes no hot water, black mold on the walls, roaches,
        you name it. I am only bringing this up to dispel common misconceptions about
        who we are. Not being one who ran, in any way, the Quattro campaign, I do not
        know if, as you say, that the school was not contacted, “in a civil manner,”
        but this sort of action would be a very common thing to do. if it was not, it
        was a missed opportunity. While people posting to the Justice for Quattro page might
        have made inappropriate comments, the moderator, as far as I know, went out of
        her way to NOT do so. This is from the moderator on that page:
        “We will be posting the emails and phone numbers of
        offices that you can RESPECTFULLY contact and express your feelings. We just
        ask that you please be kind when getting your point across (for Quattro),
        remember these officers followed thru and did not ignore the severity of this
        case. Also, we do need to be very very thankful that the children who did this
        were apprehended. It was other children from their school who identified that
        them, they stood up for what was right!! This is very important."
        
        You mention “your group” when talking about us. Other
        than the above group, this has not specifically been an organized effort (aside
        from the prayer vigil and the fund for the hero kids). It rarely is. Individual
        people and individual groups take it upon themselves to do something. When the
        public gets fired up about violence aimed at an innocent target, they act,
        independently of each other—sometimes duplicating efforts, sometimes at cross
        purposes. While I am calling it “the humane community,” it is just people all
        over the world who act on their own, or through hundreds or thousands of local
        or national groups to try to help animals. Some of these people will act well,
        some will not, but I do not see that the moderator of the Justice for Quattro
        page, since that is the group you mentioned, herself has done anything unkind. She,
        as you may know, came to help the hero boys and paid for Quattro’s considerable
        vet bills out of her own pocket. When you deal with animals, there is no system
        of help. YOU are the one who has to take on the responsibility.
        
        So, where do we go from here? I am sure all involved from
        this side are open to it. As I said, it is never too late.
      - Aspectre
        
        I do not see a way to join forces at this time. The people in your group are NOT of one mind and some behave very differently from you. We in Paterson viewed our children as being under attack. That instinct of needing to protect your children is extremely strong no matter where you live. You did not see what we saw, coming from people purporting to love animal, in terms of nasty, vicious, threatening and yes, racist comments. We also have a very different view of the legal system and whether it ever HELPS our children. You may not share our history and its effects. That contributed to our response to those aligning themselves with your group. I cannot say anything other than your group because people responding to that heading have very different agenda. I CANNOT call them the "humane community" from what I have seen. We have to focus our attention on the living, in the short term and send larger a message to all of our children in the long term. That would have occurred whether your group intervened or not. But you have made that harder for us and caused a polarization that is hard to fix, in the short term. We need to address the needs of these children so that there are no long term repercussions except positive ones. These children KNOW their parents and friends don' condone their behavior here. I'm not so sure about the young man in the pic above. Someone bought him that gun. When we see that it is hard for us to understand the intensity of your outcry. There are ways to find out who that is on FB. But trust me, it isn't happening. So we fall back to the protection mode of having to help kids that have been told they are murderers, future serial killers, children who need to be sent to adult prison so they can be raped repeatedly for years' Children who must be named and humiliated in the streets, pictured so they can quite possibly be attacked by whoever one day. We have to deal with that and ensure that these little boys, and that is EXACTLY what they are, get past this and are not emotionally scarred forever. You don't see it that way but we have to…
      - Susan Gordon
        
        I will leave it at that, but as far as the photo of the
        white kid having killed the cat, you presume it is intentional on our part to
        ignore it, because he is white. I spend hours on facebook, as part of my
        activism. About ½ (up until recently, when I tried to wean off) is on animal
        issues and 1/2 is on educating FB readers why they should not vote Republican
        (I am Socialist, not a Democrat, but my main political focus is defeating every
        Republican). Out of all the anti-Republican posts that I spend many hours/week
        on, I’d say 80% are evenly divided between the Republican attack on women and the
        Republican racist policies. As far as the animal stuff on facebook, I see a
        sickening and HUGE amount of animal abuse photos, daily, and I never saw the
        one with the white kid. Had I seen it, had anyone I known seen it, action would
        have been taken. You are painting everyone with the same brush, just as you
        accuse us. You certainly should not work, cooperatively with those who posted
        hateful, racist posts, but they are not the ones who posted here and not the
        ones who were at the prayer vigil. Please reconsider working with the rest of
        us. We have differences, but not ones that cannot be overcome. Reconciliation
        and cooperation have to start somewhere.
      - Aspectre
        
        I am not painting people with a broad brush. I just need people to understand we come at this issue from very different perspectives. I do not like the hurting of animals. But I don't like throwing away kids even more. From where we sit, most people don't see us as anything more than animals and tell us so routinely. It is hard to have these seemingly same people come and tell us they are here to help us. I'm not putting a color on it. Many just snipe at the city anonymously. I just don't see how the community can view any joint approaches in the short term. Emotions are WAY too raw. Mercifully the end of school is comings and other issues will confront us. See, we know some of our kids will die on our streets soon and there will be no protests. There will be no people creating a Facebook page for them, no pressure on higher officials, no one sending letters of outrage from this groups of humane individuals. We have to stay here and try to find solutions for those deaths. You just added your concerns of the death of a cat to our trouble dplate and tried to supersede our more substantive problems. That is all I am saying. Tomorrow we may be equally outraged about something in common. But today, in my humble point of view, my city has work to do on its own.
- Susan Gordon
  
  And I should add, Mr. Womble, what would you do if the
  victim were someone you cared deeply about?
Lee

Cruelty to children? WHat am I missing here? Were they beaten with bricks which led to their death? Tha NAACP was extremely disrespectful at the vigil. I wonder how you would feel if you were disrespected in the same way. The families of these children and these children need some serious help. It is up to the court to mandate that and to supervise this–thats what they do when the family doesn't. I mean what 6 year old is even out without a parent? What child thinks that throwing bricks at a cat is "okay"? I woud guess veyr very few. It seems you are trying to downplay the extreme cruelty of this and hos sick these children must be. Yes they need counseling..lots and lots of it–and again thats where the courts and agencies step in. And the NAACP is soiling the name of your town. I have never been there–but its not about the race of the children..Why is the NAACP even involved?
Kelly Campbell

No one lambasted children. There was no issue of race. This vigil was for a VICTIM of a deplorable crime.
Imagine how it would have felt to be cornered, and pelted with bricks, sticks, and stones.

Imagine the pain and suffering that these, children caused. These children need help, and also need to pay the consequences of their actions.

When an adult commits a crime, they are punished, what makes these children immune to that?

By letting them "Off the hook" You are doing nothing but teaching them that it is ok to cause violence. This time it was a cat. What about next time?
Concerned Paterson Citizen

None of you live in Paterson. NONE OF YOU. As such, you have no right to try and lambaste our children. This incident, while horrific, WILL NOT be used to paint our entire city with a broad brush of hate and violence. We will not stand idle by an allow an outside group to sandbag us. We will ensure the children receive the counselling they need. But trying to destroy them for this will not happen. In fact, we will stand in the way of any attempts of anyone who seeks to label them as such. It was wrong, but this doesn't mean the children can't be given a second chance. What's with this Puritan attitude anyway? You all spewing hate towards the children and anyone who tries to explain the situation to you. I have never said anything rude against your group. I would hope that you cease from the negative comments so that we can come up with a plan to get the children the help they need. But I think this isn't even about justice, it more about vengance
- Susan Gordon
  
  Concerned Pat Cit, you sound reasonable, and I want to
  discuss this with you. Thank you for posting. Let me briefly tell you the
  background against which this crime happened. 99.99% of animal abuse (of the
  hundreds of millions of animals killed by humans every year) is legal. Out of
  the miniscule amount that is illegal, a miniscule amount of that actually
  results in arrest. A miniscule amount of that goes to trial. A miniscule amount
  of that results in any penalty. And only a minuscule amount of that results in
  imprisonment. Yes, it is a justice issue when dealing with animal abuse. Is
  vengeance involved? Sure, it is. Who would not feel vengeful when they see
  whatever group(s) they care about be subjected to this sort of injustice? It is
  not a Puritan attitude to want justice to be based on the crime, not the group
  identity of the victim or perpetrator. I don’t think I need to tell someone in
  your community that.
  
  While you may not have said anything against the humane
  community (and thank you for that), many have—protesting a peaceful prayer
  vigil was perceived by us as hate, as an attack. You said that we spewed hate
  toward anyone trying to explain the situation to us. In fact, I have not heard
  even one person try to explain anything other than that no one from outside of
  your community has any right to demand responsibility from anyone in your
  community for an act of extreme cruelty and violence that occurred there. Some
  of the people who have posted and were at the vigil are, in fact, present or
  former residents of Paterson, but when an inhumane act occurs anywhere, it is
  not relevant where concerned people live. In the best case scenario, the
  community itself deals with it in an appropriate way. In this case, the
  community dealt with it in a wholly inappropriate way, which is why outsiders
  got involved. They could not bear to see yet another incident of no justice or
  responsibility for a tortured, innocent animal.
  
  “CPC,” tell me: if a member of Paterson were beaten to death in another
  town, let’s say Maplewood, and the residents of Maplewood rallied around the
  murderers, what would you think of Maplewood? If Paterson residents held a
  prayer vigil for the Paterson victim (organized by the person who paid, out of
  her own pocket, the medical bills for the victim), in Maplewood and the
  Maplewood community showed up, as a mob, and told you to go the hell home, that
  you were outsiders and had no business being there, how would you feel about
  Maplewood? If you read that while Maplewood rallied around the killers, 2 brave
  Maplewooders who tried to save the Paterson victim, had to remain anonymous,
  because they feared retribution from their own community, for doing the right
  thing, what would you think about Maplewood? If Paterson residents were the
  only ones who gave moral support to these brave, forced-to-be anonyomous
  Mapelwooders (and they started a fund for their college education), while the
  brave kids’ own community posed a threat to them, what would you think of
  Maplewood? That, my friend, is exactly how the country views Paterson. We need
  to start thinking about the planet as our community and stop circling the
  wagons. When cruelty occurs anywhere, it is the duty of everyone, who can, to
  get involved. There are no outsiders, only concern for, or indifference to, the
  victims of human violence. The children are not the victims. Paterson is not
  the victim. Quattro was the victim, so stop trying to steal the mantle of
  victimhood in this case. You are entitled to that mantle in countless other
  cases, but not in this one. Yes, we all need to work together to decide what is
  best to be done with these boys, but more importantly what is to be done to
  prevent future incidents, but as long as you circle the wagons, this will not
  happen. The violence happened in and by
  your community. If you reach out to the humane community to work together, I
  know the gesture will be reciprocated. While I am not in any way in a position
  of authority in this matter, feel free to reach out to me and I will work with
  others to find a way to bring the 2 communities together to work together on
  this.
- Jan Fredericks
  
  I believe there were at least a couple of people who live in Paterson.
  I was there only for the cat. All animals abused and tortured deserve justice. They are God's creatures put in our care to protect.
ssdsus

Who is throwing the children away? They are children, this will be a slap on the wrist. All you've done is show that the Paterson community thinks that there shouldn't be punishments for animal abuse. I'm no animal lover and I certainly wouldn't come to a vigil for a cat (where are these same people when a child in Paterson is killed?), but that doesn't mean that nothing should happen to these kids. Your rally sends the wrong message. Sorry.
http://www.facebook.com/animalabusewar Animal Abuse War

I Live in Paterson.i have witnessed several acts of animal cruelty here.Police rarely show up.i have called on kids under 10, as well as on adults.this alone is very disturbing.they were white.nothing was done.i expect severe punishment of anyone who commits such a crime,whether they are white,African American,or green with purple stripes.this is an extremely serious situation considering the link between animal abuse and human abuse,& has absolutely nothing to do with race or color.if you do not want children criminalized,then teach them not to be criminals.what kind of parents do they have? Why aren't you having parenting meetings to teach them first,how humans beings are supposed to behave,so they can pass those teachings on to their children.why is a 6,8,10 year old,or any child under 18,out in the street without ADULT supervision? What kind of trash would allow this,especially living in such a dangerous city full of perverts,robbers,drug dealers, gangs and shooters? Does this sound like a parent who cares about their child? These kids must be severely punished for what they did.the naacp should be preventing this in the future by educating their "community" on proper behavior and parenting.the kids must have some legal record of what they did to keep track of them in the event,like most animal abusers,they go on to abuse humans.its not like this is for life.their record will be erased under age 18.It's unbelievable there are people out here asking for these terrors not to be punished.it is part of the ignorant Paterson mentality. Thank goodness for the "outsiders" that are involved.they bring educated discussion to a city that seems to have a tiny minority of educated humans.unfortunately,even the "educated" ones have me stumped on this one.