In a press conference on October 17, 1994, President Bill Clinton discussed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 which he signed into law in September of that year.
For reasons that are still not fully understood by experts, crime rates hit their peek in the 1990s. Black communities in particular were affected. As President Clinton extolled the benefits of the bill, he mentioned the case of Eric Morse. Eric was a five-year-old boy who lived in the Ida B Wells Housing project in Chicago. Two other children, 10 year old Jesse Rankins and 11 year old Tykeece Johnson, asked Eric to help them steal candy from a store. Eric said no. Later the same evening, Jesse and Tykeece invited Eric and his brother, Derrick Lemon, to see their so-called “clubhouse” on the 14th floor of the apartment complex.
When the boys arrived, Eric was attacked. Derrick tried to defend his brother, but the two other boys fought him off and were able to dangle Eric out of a window. The boys dropped Eric and he fell to his death.
The case became emblematic of the deteriorating and dangerous conditions in the America’s housing projects. Decades of local, state and federal policies led to a horrific, but predictable reality for Americans living in the nation’s most prosperous cities.
