Ain't Necessarilly So

 Folks,

     The material below came to my email inbox from a friend of long standing. I read it and then decided to do a little checking, because the conclusions at the end didn't seem quite right. A lot of people would consider this racist or at least racially insensitive. Those of us who have dealt with people like this might see it differently. One must also wonder, exactly in what business Flair was an entrepreneur? (I feel like I can call him that; it feels like I've known him, or someone very much like him,  at some time or place.) Could it have been in the recreational drug business? That is often the root cause of young men dying before their time of gunshot wounds. ( I learned later -- see below -- that Allen and another man, both suspects in earlier homicides, were shot in one of NOLA's housing projects, so it could have been drugs or pay-back)

      Speaking of his family, I would surmise that, since his father is listed as Burnell Thompson, while his last name is Allen, his mother's name, that he is perhaps illegitimate? As are his brothers, Mattnell, Burnell and Lester? At least his momma named the boy Burnell after his daddy. Or we can assume he is the father of at least some of them. I guess that as a middle-aged white fella, I shouldn't have negative opinions about the doings of an extended Black family in my former home of New Orleans, but since I assume that my tax dollars helped keep this loose-knit family together, perhaps I should be allowed to have an opinion. Enough is enough. This isn't what FDR intended when he began the welfare state in the '30s as a safety net. No one expected or intended that people would live, breed and raise generations in those nets. Nor should they.

      Further on this, lest anyone think it is something Snope's worthy, here is this, from the Times-Picayune newspaper obits: 

"001296    Allen - Larmondo 'Flair' Allen Died On February 8, 2004. Devoted Friend Of Kawanner, Kiyshell, Joann, And Jeanne. (I'm guessing that these might be his Babies' Mamas?)  

Son Of Burnell Thompson And Esther Allen. Step Son Of Bruce Gordy. Grandson Of Delores & J. C. Allen, And Anna Laura & Wil Thompson. Father Of Larmondo, Jr., Christian, Kwan, Deidra, Larmonshell, Larmonshea, Larmomdriel, Larmonja, Darriell And Koreyell. Brother Of Mattnell, Burnell A., Lester, Burnell T. Edgar, Danta, Reshe, Wil, Shannail, Lekiksha, Gwendolyn, Jessica, Katina, Brandy And The Late Jerry. Friend Of Brenda And Dianne. Brother-In-Law Warren Craig. God Son Of Agnes Randolph. (I count ten children to Larmondo's credit in this, BTW.)

Relatives And Friends Of The Family Are Invited To Attend Funeral Services At Majestic Mortuary, 1833
O.C. Haley On Saturday, February 14, 2004 At 11:00 Am. Visitation Will Begin At 9:00 Am. Interment
Providence. Majestic Mortuary In Charge. Times Picayune 02-14-2004"

      And this, also from the Times-Picayune:
 

"New Orleans, La., — This evening, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the murder of two men, ages 25 and 22-years of age. The 25-year-old local man has been identified as Larmondo Allen. The other victim was identified as 22-year-old Edward Taylor.  The offense occurred shortly before 11:00 p.m., at 2339 Martin Luther King Boulevard (Guste Public Housing Development).

According to investigators, COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) officers were patrolling the development and heard several gunshots and later found the men in the development.  Taylor was observed lying in the courtyard, suffering apparent multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body.  Allen was seen lying, a short distance away from the first victim, on a concrete stairway and near the second floor balcony.  He suffered an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.  Both men were pronounced dead on the scene.

Both men were convicted felons, Taylor had a Second Degree Murder Warrant for his arrest in connection with the January 7, 2003 murder of 26-year-old Aaron Jones who was killed in the 1500 block of Bienville Street.  The NOPD aired his photograph on January 14, 2004 in connection with this case.

Allen also has previous arrests, and in May of 2003 he was arrested on two (2) counts of attempted murder and one count of First Degree Murder.  In December and October of 1999, he was arrested on two separate First Degree Murder cases."

      As for the appended comments about the welfare largesse, I really had to wonder, since as I recall, the payments per child are not anywhere near that large. I called a friend who works for the SF Department of Human Services and knows a lot about the system for some info. She didn't have the information at her fingertips -- a rare occurrence -- so she directed me to the internet. 

     A quick check of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services website discloses that the maximum grant under their Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) which "provides cash assistance to families with children when the financial resources of the family are insufficient to meet subsistence needs" is $512 for all 10 of his kids. Now, since I don't believe they were all living together, you would have to look at the chart at http://www.dss.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=139 to figure out how much money each kid's mom would get. 

     Add SNAP -- the new program that replaced food stamps -- and you can add $1500 a month, assuming all the kids were living with one mom, which I doubt. For more detail, see http://www.dss.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=93. Even adding in some monthly average for health care and we'd still be far, far short of the $1,500 per child mentioned.

      And, do note, that according to LADCFS, "The goal of FITAP is to decrease the long-term dependency on welfare assistance by promoting job preparation and work. Public assistance is no longer a lifetime benefit but an opportunity to become independent after a financial crisis." That would lead me to believe that the welfare people would be looking to transition the moms into a working situation as soon as possible. Now, that's theory and I don't know what practice is like in NOLA. I do know that it isn't always successful in my experience in California, but that's a story for another time.

      Give me a lead and I'll run with it. You know me. I still find the piece falls short of out-and-out racism, until you get to the erroneous statements at the end about the $162,000 that Allen would get. I don't know how much it costs to raise a kid in NOLA, but I doubt that the moms of Flair's ten kids are sitting pretty and living the life of luxury the author paints. Not at all. And if Larmondo never worked at a straight job -- and I doubt that he did -- I doubt that his kids, even if they are legitimate, can collect any social security survivor benefits.

      Here's the clip I got in that email:

SAD  NEWS  OUT  OF  NEW  ORLEANS     It seems that every couple of days   New Orleans loses one of its treasured ENTREPRENEURS. Lets get the players straight before we go on with this. LARMONDO "FLAIR" ALLEN His Companion:     Kawanner Armstrong His Sons:     Christian Allen, Kwan Allen, Larmondo Allen, Jr., His Daughters:   Deidra Allen, Larmenshell Allen, Lamonshea Allen, Larmomdriel Allen, Larmerja Allen,  Korevell Allen   AT AGE 25  -  He had 9 Children (Could Kawanner Armstrong Possibly Be The Mother Of All Of His Kids?)     His Father:         Burnell Thompson     His Mother:       Esther Allen     His Stepfather :   Bruce Gordy     His Brothers: Burnell Thompson,  Edgar Thompson      Wil Willis      Danta Edwards      Reshe Edwards      Mattnell Allen      Burnell Allen      Lester Allen His Sisters:   Shannail Craig     Lekiksha Thompson     Gwendolyn Carter     Jessica Willis     Katina Gordy   Grandparents:     Delors Allen     J.C. Allen        Anna Laura Thompson   Will Thompson So let’s see, now:      His Father, Burnell Thompson, fathered his brothers Burnell, Edgar and his sister Lekiksha.   His Stepfather, Bruce Gordy, fathered his Sister Katina.   His Mother, Esther Allen, must have been unwed when she gave birth to: Larmondo, Mattnell, Burnell and Lester.   We don't know who fathered Wil Willis and Jessica Willis, or Dante and Reshe Edwards.   Lets hope sisters Shannail Craig and Gwendolyn Carter are married. GOT THE ABOVE ALL STRAIGHT? ******************** NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY He's 25 and has 3 sons and 6 daughters   NINE welfare recipients collecting $1500 each..... That equals $13,500 a month !!!  Now add food stamps, Free medical,  free school lunches,  on and on and on AND ON. Do the math, that's $162,000 + a year. Anyone out there, sittin' on their butt while reading this e-mail, making that kind of money? Now that, to me, is a real Entrepreneur. (AND  BECAUSE OF THEIR FATHERS DEATH, ALL OF THE KIDS WILL PROBABLY COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY UNTIL THEY ARE 18) And people wonder what is wrong with our country.