Opinion: AmeriCorp Death
On the night of April 1 in New Orleans, 18-year-old Joseph Massenburg became the 44th person killed this year in the city. The unfortunate truth is that on the surface this killing looked no different than any other in New Orleans. A young black male gunned down in a neighborhood known as West Carrollton was shot several times for reasons unknown and simply left for dead in a region of the city known for its crime.But Joseph Massenburg was not a member of a gang, nor did he have a criminal record of any kind. In fact, Massenburg was a visitor. He was the son of two ministers and a native of Matteson, Illinois, a town whose entire Wikipedia page is about the size of New Orleans’ “Tourism” section. Massenburg was in New Orleans on a personal goodwill mission with the organization AmeriCorps. He was a new member of a team working with the nonprofit “Green Light New Orleans,” an organization in the city that works to install energy efficient lighting in low-income housing. Massenburg lost his life that night while talking on the phone with a friend from Chicago, giving back to others in a city he was not even a native of, and he deserves to be remembered for it.The goal of Americorps, created in 1993 under then President Bill Clinton, is to address a multitude of critical needs in communities all across the country through intensive community service work ranging from mentoring disadvantaged youth to rebuilding homes after natural disasters. This made Massenburg a perfect fit. “All he wanted to do was give his life to service,” his father said. His parents recall Massenburg spending most of his youth in the pews at their church; this is where his parents say he grew his “natural gift” for wanting to give back to others.The loss of Massenburg has had a sobering effect on the city of New Orleans. Jarvis DeBerry, a writer for NOLA.com, writes that the city was more upset at his demise than other murders because “he was a visitor.” In a city still trying to rebuild its image to outsiders after post-Katrina crime waves, one could certainly see how a pointless inexplicable murder of a high school graduate from the Midwest equates to a gut punch to local morale.A statement from the organization Massenburg was working with, “Green Light New Orleans,” called his death an “unacceptable tragedy,” and Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an indictment. But words and rewards will not bring Joseph Massenburg back. It takes a special kind of person to join an organization like AmeriCorps at such a young age. While most 18-year-olds are prepping for college, or whatever step they choose to take after high school, by shopping for laptops and perfecting their tans to impress their future dorm mates, Joseph Massenburg took a different route.For a life and a person such as him to be taken from us so early on is truly a tragedy that not only deserves more national attention than it has received, but is a story that deserves to be an inspiration to future generations. For every Adam Lanza this world produces there is a Joseph Massenburg to balance things out, and we should be thankful for that and recognize it.