Mibsam Wiggins, 23, of Roxbury was one of the two men shot to death while sitting in a car in the parking lot of the Warren Street Walgreens last week.
Wiggins's mother, Melinda Stewart, writes:
The family of Mibsam Wiggins is reaching out to the community in hopes of raising donations to assist with the cost of his burial. Despite the tremendous loss to our family and community we know that he is at peace in his new home with the Lord. We know that he is in a place where there is no more struggling, no pain, and he is not suffering any longer. Please consider helping our family lay Mibsam to rest. The Mibasm Wiggins Fund was established at TD Bank: Any TD Bank branch location will accept donations to this fund. Mibsam is the son of Melinda Stewart.
In an interview with the Herald today, Tina Chery, founder of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, discusses her so far fruitless efforts to set up a fund to help Bostonians with children murdered in street violence pay to bury those children.
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Comments
What a shame.
By FutureMarine
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 9:35pm
Poor guy lost to senseless violence...RIP bruh
Edit: Hey, I work with Tina Chery's daughter! Small world.
There's a lot of money in at least One Fund
By anon
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 9:55pm
I've been thinking about this. It's awesome that we raised so much money to help those affected by the Marathon bombings, but at the same time there are people injured and killed every day in Boston that get no help at all. Is the only difference that one event was covered on national TV? I don't see insurance companies offering to waive costs for people who are shot.
Maybe some of the One Fund money could help here? Can we at least work to raise a small percentage of that generous amount for our fellow Bostonians? If that's not even a conversation we can have, maybe we need to consider what we really mean by "Boston Strong."
No fucking way!
By jonbowen
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 11:47pm
The people attending the Boston Marathon were pure victims. Are you going to tell me that the majority of these kids who are getting murdered are in no way connected with street crime or affiliated with gangs? I highly doubt it. If you would like to start a fund to help for kids getting murdered then have at it but don't start asking to suck off the teats of those who have suffered needlessly at the Boston Marathon.
oh right, it's the victim's fault
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 12:22am
First off, way to assume that murder victims in Boston were all criminals, gang members, etc. Why? Because they're minorities and male, you racist asshole?
Start reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming
Nobody deserves to die. Given most people in Massachusetts don't want the bomber put to death by our courts - why do you feel it's okay for young, minority men to die violent deaths?
maybe you should re-read
By slowman4130
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 6:55am
Nowhere was it said that "murder victims in Boston are all criminals". I agree with the original comment though, are you trying to tell me that all of these kids getting shot lately are just innocent passerby's? Please. Nobody deserves to die, but I find it pretty hard to believe that all of these have just been coincidental.
So everyone hurt in the
By Gattaca
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 7:56am
So everyone hurt in the Boston Marathon Bombings were saints?
Yes they were
By adamg
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 8:02am
Doesn't matter what issues they had before April 15. The fact is they were targeted not for anything they had done to the bombers (as opposed to, say, an angry drug dealer out to kill off a rival), but simply for showing up. They did nothing to deserve what happened to them that day. At 2:49 p.m., they were all innocent souls. One minute later, they were victims, three of them dead. The living deserve to have their lives and family members and friends back, but since that can't happen, they deserve whatever the One Fund can give them.
I guess they had it
By TheVanJones
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 8:45am
I guess they had it coming... http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/08/13/police-...
It's irrelevant
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:33am
People like myself donated to OneBoston under the impression it would be used to help the victims of the Boston Marathon not gun violence. If you feel compelled to donate, do so but not from OneBoston.
Keyword
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 10:13am
"Police do not believe the shooting was a random attack" - right there in the article. They did not have it coming, but you're comparing apples to oranges.
Well...
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 10:23am
http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20130428-man-sho... - just look at the link below. Let's be honest for a minute, he represents the majority of Boston's shooting victims, and I highly doubt those who donated to the One Fund would want to see their money spent on him.
http://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/press-offic...
hmmm
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:21am
I don't know which planet you're on but I would imagine the name starts with a W as in Weston or Wellesley, and you must be living next to a large body of water created by a never-ending stream of white guilt tears.
As for the victims, there are some innocent bystanders like a random Irish guy who gets shot to death when he refuses to hand over his wallet or a random 12 year old kid who gets caught in the crossfire. They certainly do deserve the kind attention the marathon victims have gotten. However, the vast majority are young black males with long rap sheets that often include drug and weapon offenses, and sometimes attempted murder. Occupational hazards, my friend, that's all it is. Did they deserve to die? No. Were they more likely to die given their occupation? Absolutely. Are their neighborhoods better off without them? I don't know, you tell me.
hmmm
By TypicalHeraldReader
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:46am
I don't know which planet you're on but I would imagine the name starts with a W as in Weston or Wellesley, and you must be living next to a large body of water created by a never-ending stream of white guilt tears.
As for the victims, there are some innocent bystanders like a random Irish guy who gets shot to death when he refuses to hand over his wallet or a random 12 year old kid who gets caught in the crossfire. They certainly do deserve the kind attention the marathon victims have gotten. However, the vast majority are young black males with long rap sheets that often include drug and weapon offenses, and sometimes attempted murder. Occupational hazards, my friend, that's all it is. Did they deserve to die? Not really. Were they more likely to die given their occupation? Absolutely. Are their neighborhoods better off without them? I don't know, you tell me.
I'm a fucking racist?!
By jonbowen
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 1:40pm
It's so easy to call me racist, isn't it?! It just makes your argument feel that much stronger, doesn't it? You know what, I don't care that you call me racist, I really don't. You know why? Because I'm more intelligent than you. And do you know how I know that? Because your reading comprehension ability SUCKS and mine is excellent! And of course NOBODY deserves to die but some people deserve more to die than others. And no, I don't think it's okay for ANYBODY to die a violent death whether he/she be black, red, white or yellow! Damn, you have really pissed me off!
Wow. My hat is off to you,
By erik g
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:55am
Wow. My hat is off to you, sir. Most folks (even posting anonymously, much less with what appears to be a real name!) feel at least the slightest tug of human decency when they see the words "it was totally that guy's fault he was shot. He lived in a neighborhood full of crime!" typed on their own screen. They feel the vaguest hint of wrong-ness, a subtle sense that, properly extrapolated, their words would reveal them to be an inhuman monster, the sort of rage-filled and misguided person who mother with small children would hurry across the street to avoid. But you! You take no quarter! The 14-year-old kids getting shot on basketball courts in cases of mistaken identities; the two-year-olds being hit by crossfire on dangerous streets; they were totally asking for it. If only they'd had the forethought to get out of dangerous situations they did not create and had no agency to escape.
You can take that devilish
By anon
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 9:41pm
You can take that devilish money and shove where no will try to retrieve. Back of your butt. Make sure you shove it up there as far as possible. You are a child of the devil when you allow yourself to decide on the blessing god given you. Your day will be here. God Bless"......
Mibson Wiggins
By Dee Dee
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 11:18am
I highly agree that certain people and events get more attention than those of the urban persuasion. No one plans on tragedies happening but at least could there be a fund to help those affected?
I saw this young man grow up along side my children and he does not deserve to be left in a cold morgue. What if it were your child? No one deserves to lay unblessed.
No one deserves it, but one
By TypicalHeraldReader
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 1:25pm
No one deserves it, but one is much more likely to end up in a morgue if gets involved in certain activities. I offer my most sincere apologies if I'm wrong, but I fond it highly unlikely someone unloaded on a totally random car. Looks like a typical gang-related shooting.
RIP Mibsam Wiggins
By anon
Fri, 05/10/2013 - 7:15pm
I personally know Mip. and Rest in Peace and Paradise You know I sit and read theses comments, and can't believe what I'm reading. Noon under any circumstance deserves to die no matter their "occupation". You dont know anyones life story as to why they do what they do. Does hi son deserve to live and grow up without his father? Does his son's mother deserve to have to tell her toddler son that he's never going to EVER see his dad, his hero again.
Yes those victims of the Marathon bombing are victims but so are those that are killed everyday in the streets. I understand that the One Found is for Marathon victims but why when violence in the streets happen there aren't funds to help with the burial for the vicitms no matter the damn circumstance. I hope you never have to feel the feelings we are felling now becasue he is gone. But if you do I hope you remember the comments that you've written and those of people that reply. Because one day you can wake up and your whole life has changed becasue on gun violence in the streets
The city is on the verge of a meltdown
By anon
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 10:18pm
Since the bombings there have been close to thirty shootings several stabbings and several deaths. The difference is the marathon bombers have been neutralized.
The minority community honestly believes that their pleas for safety go unheard. The problem is that the police cannot solve the issues of gang violence for political reasons and within the next few weeks there will be a backlash against the police starting with the mothers day march on Sunday
Cops are damned if they do
By Finn
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 6:54am
Cops are damned if they do too much, (like NYC's stop and frisk profiling policy) and damned if they do too little (like failing to apprehend suspects after interviewing person after person who 'saw nothing'). As if it's all on the cop's shoulders to stop this. They can only prevent so much through outreach. Investment and community leadership on the issue are the real problems.
Stop and Frisk: evidence of effectiveness?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 1:48pm
They are damned if they do stop and frisk because, aside from being blatantly unconstitutional, it doesn't seem to have done much to change the crime rate in NYC - just gave a bunch of people some damn good reasons to hate, avoid, and not talk to the cops.
Funny thing about "high profile solutions" - they rarely pass the test of objective effectiveness.
Are you less likely to walk
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 4:23pm
Are you less likely to walk around with an illegal firearm knowing you might get stopped and frisked by an eeeevil raaaay-cyst cop, and you can't use the "omg illegal search raaay-cysm raaay-cysm raaay-cysm!!!" excuse to make the gun charges go away? It's common sense, no citations (tm) needed.
This whole "raaaay-cyst"
By anon
Fri, 05/10/2013 - 2:48am
This whole "raaaay-cyst" thing you keep doing really isn't as clever as you think it is
Neither are posts about
By anon
Fri, 05/10/2013 - 10:44am
Neither are posts about 'muricans'.
Political reasons? You are 100% correct
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 7:20am
authorities simply can't proactively and effectively counter-act and respond to the epidemic of violence among especially young minority males in urban America, without being vilified by 'advocates' for this or that, as racist. This issue is completely wrapped up in and co-opted by racial identity politics, political correctness, and fringe groups who use it to manipulate the 'community' into being 'radicalized' 24/7.
The heart of the problem is BROKEN, DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES. Police can't solve this issue, only the people themselves can resolve to change bad habits and lifestyle choices. Government can't solve this problem either; it's tried for about 50 years now with our war on poverty and great society programs, but it's essentially failed. To those who say it takes a village, well no, it doesn't; it takes a responsible mom AND DAD. Everything else [government, church, the 'community', etc.] is secondary.
The other major issue, which of course is intertwined with the first, is economic opportunity. Our post-industrial age corresponds roughly with the same 40-50 year period of civil rights legislation, our so-called war on poverty, LBJ's Great Society,and intensification of our so-called war on drugs. The types of jobs that would once allow millions of people to live a reasonably comfortable working class and middle class lifestyle with at best a HS degree, have by and large disappeared. During this same period we've witnessed obscene levels of inflation in the cost of living. This is all part of a perfect storm.
And yes, although I'm white, I was raised, disadvantaged, in inner-city urban America. Not all 'poor' whites live in rural areas, and not all 'poor' blacks and Hispanics live in urban areas.
Yeah all these kids need is
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 12:17pm
Yeah all these kids need is good ol' dad assuming his patriarchal duties and jobs and money will flow from his loins.
Because a father is just a
By NotWhitey
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 4:50pm
Because a father is just a debit card. Sorry to hear your experience.
I mean literal jobs and money
By anon
Fri, 05/10/2013 - 2:46am
I mean literal jobs and money flowing from his loins. Quite a sight, really.
It always surprises me how often these "they need a father!" arguments get trotted out. Like wouldn't the obvious response to that be that some people are, y'know, not straight?
The One Fund has declared...
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 10:41pm
...that any leftover funds after helping marathon victims will be forwarded to other causes. They would be wise to consider this one.
there won't be any leftover funds
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 12:23am
...because the fund will be bled dry by consulting and management fees.
They have already said there
By R Hookup
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:59am
They have already said there won't be enough funds available to cover all the out-of-pocket expenses the victims will have, even the most severely injured. Some of them will have millions in expenses and lost income.
There won't really be any leftover money.
Menino has $650,000 and bully pulpit.
By O-FISH-L
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 10:58pm
After 20 years in office Mayor Menino certainly bears some responsibility for the rampant, deadly, post-Marathon violence in "my city" as he calls it. Retiring, with $650,000 in his campaign warchest, maybe he can step up with a few dollars. He's also been rumored to lean heavily on certain businesses when he wants something. How about leaning on a funeral home for this family?
slushy fundage
By John-W
Wed, 05/08/2013 - 11:57pm
In the past hizzonordamayuh has dipped into various slushy funds to pay for things like burials. It's a completely corrupt procedure, but it seems to have been done for decent reasons at times -- a parks fund used to bury a teenager whose parents had no money. Not what the money was intended for and a totally unaccountable procedure just ready for corruption, but do you want to be the one to tell a grieving mother to go dump her son's body in the harbor?
In true Menino fashion it ultimately is an act that comes from a good intention but is powered by everything that is wrong with Boston politics. We can only hope that whoever gets in next has their feet held to the fire a bit more successfully than Menino.
(and yes, yet another Fishy post that I agree with...I better go play the lottery.)
Odd...
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 8:35am
I'm frankly surprised that no one has yet posted this comment (though I'd hate to think that folks wouldn't feel free to merely submit their personal opinion about black people):
The application for Marathon Victims is found here: http://www.mass.gov/ago/ directly on the front of the AG's website. The AG's office (same website and everything!) also runs the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation fund. This compensation fund is what most families turn for burial (though admittedly, some parents just get a life insurance policy on their 18 year old). The Victim Compensation program (http://www.mass.gov/ago/public-safety/resources-fo...) is essentially the SAME application as the one for marathon bombing victims (with fewer questions about the crime).
I have no idea why Tina did not mention this in the Herald Article, as she and others at the Peace Institute regularly help families with the application which can provide families with burial money, lost wages, loss of homemaker services, counseling expenses, medical expenses and the like. The AG's office does have requirements to receive compensation (the victim cannot have contributed to his/her death, the crime has to have been reported, the application must follow within 3 years of the crime), but offers families up to 25,000 dollars (total cap) and there's a burial cap of 6,500. Though it generally is a reimbursement service, there are quite a few funeral homes that will provide most services up front, knowing they are likely to be paid at a later time by the AG's office.
This is incredibly common knowledge among victim service providers (such as myself).
Because
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:56am
Greed!
I don't know the
By NotWhitey
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:43am
I don't know the circumstances, so R.I.P.
Having said that...
A 23 year old man does not fall under 'children.' The man in the video is holding his own child, no? A fund to bury family members is a perfectly reasonable idea.
Doesn't matter how old he is,
By avjudge
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 3:11pm
Doesn't matter how old he is, he is his mother's child. So yes, if it's to help his mother bury him, it's "to help Bostonians with children murdered."
Disagree
By Nonymouse
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 4:39pm
So if a mother gets gunned down, her kids can't apply for assistance? If we want to be honest and equitable, it would be "family members."
Yes
By anon
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 5:30pm
I am the person who commented about the Victim Compensation fund. If you are asking a sarcastic question in direct response to the previous comment, then sorry I'm answering a rhetorical question.
But given that none of the comments on this thread have been particularly... factual (and this is an astoundingly serious topic) , I'll give you a real response:
If a woman (or man) is shot and killed and it meets the previously mentioned requirements for time since incident, reported and lack of contribution, the victim's children can apply for loss of homemaker services (the family can hire someone to cook, clean or what have you) or loss of financial support, depending on the parents' role.
It does, of course, have to be documented (i.e. for loss of financial reports, the AG's office must receive a pay stub or other necessary documentation). Again, it is capped at 25 thousand.
Thank you
By Nonymouse
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 11:53pm
I appreciate your response - that was very informative. I was, however, talking about the hypothetical fund that the person interviewed in the article above has had no success in launching. In that case, I do think assistance should be available to bury family members, not only children.
Indigent
By anon
Fri, 05/10/2013 - 10:53am
The city will and does bury for free so-called indigent people. I believe Boston's potter's field is located on Long Island in Quincy, which is however a part of the City of Boston. There's a drug/alcohol rehab center located there also, and the city's biggest public homeless shelter.
There are other options available of course, both public and private charities. A decent social worker would know these things.
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