When I say Fosta, I mean the Martin Luther King Jr. Houses / MLK Towers around 111th Street and Lenox, where the Kingdome basketball scene is based.
Kinu Rochford was shot and killed at the Kingdome tournament on July 10. Two other people were wounded. The loss has clearly hit a lot of people in Harlem hard.
What has bothered me since then is how quickly parts of the public conversation shifted toward defending the reputation of Fosta and Kingdome.
CC, the person behind The CC Show, posted a long statement saying Kinu was family, that nobody in the projects had problems with him, that people come from everywhere to Kingdome, and that people should not blame the projects, the tournament, security, or police.
I understand why people in Harlem are sensitive to outsiders using violence to stereotype an entire neighborhood. That happens constantly, and it is unfair.
But there also has to be room for people inside and around the community to ask hard questions when somebody is killed at a major neighborhood event.
The priority should be justice for Kinu, witness cooperation, and making sure anyone with information feels safe coming forward.
There is also a broader question about how violence is treated within local social circles.
Skeeter Millz was filmed in a viral 2020 video striking a woman in the face with a skateboard. Later, he appeared in HoodVlogs content centered on Fosta, walking around the neighborhood and being treated as a recognizable local personality.
That raises a legitimate question: when somebody is involved in serious violence, what does accountability actually look like? At what point does somebody simply get welcomed back because they are known, connected, or considered part of the neighborhood?
I am not saying Skeeter represents Fosta, and I am not saying Fosta represents Harlem.
I am saying communities have to be able to examine their own standards without treating every criticism as an attack from the outside.
The same concern applies to the atmosphere after Kinu’s death.
Screenshots circulating online appear to show a person identified as Coach Kev, described in those posts as connected to Kingdome, arguing with a critic, asking for their address, and suggesting they meet in person.
Those messages do not establish anything about who killed Kinu, and I am not claiming they do.
But after an unsolved homicide, confrontational exchanges like that are not helpful. People should feel encouraged to speak honestly and bring real information to law enforcement, not feel like discussing the situation could turn into a personal confrontation.
Kinu is dead.
Two other people were shot.
The person responsible has not been publicly identified.
The focus should be on accountability and justice for Kinu and his family.
It should also be possible to love Harlem, defend Harlem from unfair stereotypes, and still say that violence cannot simply become accepted neighborhood history because the people involved are familiar or popular.
Those positions are not contradictory.
Harlem deserves better than silence, intimidation, or selective accountability.
Kinu deserved better too.
