It's been a busy weekend in the city: six homicides and nine non-fatal shootings since Sunday. Early Monday morning, an unidentified man was fatally shot in the 3600 block of Reisterstown Rd. On Sunday, an un-ID'd man in the 300 block of S. Payson St. was repeatedly shot and died at Shock Trauma; an un-ID'd man was found in the condemned Updand Apartments in the 4600 block of Old Frederick Rd. with gunshot wounds; Azerwoine Walker was fatally shot in the 6200 block of Elliott St. in O'Donnell Heights; and Ronald Daniels was fatally shot in the head outside the Cameo Lounge in the 4700 block of Harford Rd, marking the first time in just over a year that anyone has been murdered at the notoriously violent bar. (Nehemiah Johnson was killed there on April 3, 2006, and the Sun reports there were multiple shootings in 2002.) On Friday night, Dewitt Smith was repeatedly shot and was found lying in the street (the article doesn't say which street) in the Southwestern.
Damion Baker was the man killed by police early Saturday morning. The 25-year-old suspected gang member had a well-developed criminal record.
A pharmacist at a Frederick CVS was shot during an attempted drug robbery.
Three UMES students were shot or stabbed in two incidents on Friday.
An elderly man in Cockeysville pretended to have a heart attack and fell to the floor during an ATM robbery, but the robber assaulted him anyway and stole all his money.
In news that the human race is not complete and utter slime, support from strangers is keeping Payton Potochney's family's spirits high.
An Anne Arundel cheerleader made death threats against other students on the cheerleading squad.
29 comments:
anybody have a better idea than the sun where friday's murder happened? (john galt, i'm looking at you)
I thought I'd posted it that night. It was the 1600 block, Rosedale at Baker in the SW.
i do remember you posting that but i don't think you said for sure that someone was killed. thanks.
(This is a long post.)
Well, the Mayor is about to release her grande plan for dealing with the rampant crime in this disastrous excuse for a city.
It's said to be based upon the 'Boston Miracle', Operation Ceasefire, which used collective punishment mechanisms from the field of Industrial Organization in Economics to cut large gang homicides from their peak in the 1990's. It basically threatened major gangs with exaggerated anti-drugselling enforcement targetted against the members of any major gang on a citywide basis which couldn't reign in its loose cannon shooters on local corners.
They quickly realized how much market share and $$$ they'd lose if one or two triggerhappy little homeboys let their emotions get ahead of business, so the 'stupid' homicides declined. The rare and very deliberate ones, however, continued, with the implicit assent of the police.
The problem is that now the street hoods have adapted, forming larger numbers of far smaller neighborhood gangs, against which the Ceasefire approach kinda fails.
This is much more similar to the traditional structure of youth gangs in Baltimore City. We've never had really large or particularly influential gangs of a citywide nature. The average Baltimore 'gang' might be a guy, his brother, and two buddies. They don't have citywide scope, so they have little to lose if the opportunity to do something violent and stupid presents itself. In fact, the stupider the basis for the violence, the more persuasive it is in deterring local drugseller competitors.
'Yo, don't f#@k with them boys; they's crazy.'
'Get Out (of) the Game' is a rational strategy, which is being presented to willfully irrational young people. It really only persuades guys who are too damn old and already know that they have to retire. Convictions with easy sentences only encourage young offenders that they won't be deterred. 'Yo, I can serve out 18 months easy.' forms the basis for street cred.
If the Mayor orients our manpower-deficient police to offer handholding services to violent young people who aren't receptive, our crime numbers will mount.
Boston has been trying in vain to stem the rising violence in recent years through re-entry strategies and intervention, but isn't nearly as successful as Ceasefire was. It's just a function of the current structure of the gangs as institutions. They provide a 'home' that the families won't and the government cannot. I repeat: cannot.
Since good, effective strategies do not exist to 'fix' these broken people, they really must be incapacitated through incarceration. That approach is costly, but it's a hell of a lot better than 6 homicides in a weekend.
Notice, nowhere do I use the words false arrest. That's a waste of precious manpower. You need to remove criminals permenently from the population. Lotsa criminals.
So that we all understand, Boston is about 10% smaller in population than Baltimore. Boston community corrections (probation) centers have around 1800 clients on average. Baltimore City has around 30,000 active supervised parole & probation cases, some of which correspond to the same offenders.
We have a far, far broader criminalization of our underclass. It's part of why the cops are so outnumbered and why they cannot possibly keep up without large increases in manpower. As in, NOW.
Oh, BTW, in 2005 Boston's homicide rate per capita was 12.86. Ours was 41.96. For 2006 Boston hit 13.4, while Baltimore attained 43.5. Over triple the rate.
In point of fact, gun violence (gun homicides + nonfatal shootings) have risen in Boston in recent years, so please, please don't follow their example.
News flash: A man's body was just found on the 2900 block, Ellicott Dr in SW.
Baltimore City has just surpassed the annual homicide counts of Jacksonville, FL and Atlanta. We'll exceed that of Newark this week and then Cleveland immediately thereafter.
Regarding the lack of cooperation by attendees at the Arbutus Social Club, please note where they substantially come from: Cherry Hill.
No mystery.
Galt,
Your point is taken on the annual homicides of other cities, but your comments imply an equality between these cities that doesn't exist.
For example, Atlanta has approximately 3/4 of our population, while Newark has only 44%. If Newark had our population and their homicide rate remained constant, we wouldn't pass them for about another 4 months.
With that said, it is interesting to know when we pass other cities, and I hope you keep passing on that info.
I agree with the population observation. But Jacksonville is 25% larger and San Antonio (which we've also passed) is double our size.
Newark is interesting, even if small, because like Baltimore, it is one of America's small handful of disaster cities, with a per capita homicide rate of 31.45. Less than ours, but still very, very qualitatively similar in terms of criminal population.
Let's look at San Antonio:
3.6% unemployed
36% out of laborforce
16% government workers
6.84 homicide rate
30,000 drug (mostly heroin) addicts
median HH income $38M
76% high school grads among adults
33% majority (white) population
Now Baltimore:
6% unemployed
43% not in laborforce
22% government workers
43.5 homicide rate
40,000 drug (mostly heroin) addicts
median HH income $30M
69% high school grads among adults
31% majority (white) population
So, tell me, since many of these indicators are about similar(except the homicides), do 'social service wraparounds' really offer any solutions to the crime problem ?? Or is that just a red herring ?
How are any of you so versed in "Homeboy" psychology? Where is this class being held/taught?
How many of you really know any young black people under 21? And not your employee or your daughter's boyfriend.
Your solutions to Baltimore's problems are classic! All based on how you view the world.
Why don't any of you ever call up to any of the evening or afternoon talk radio shows that come on 88.9 FM? or 1010 AM? I am more than sure black folks would love to hear your solutions to our problems.....since none of ours are working.
I think any one of you would be a great contributor if you promise to give it to the ppl raw. I, for one, am READY for all white folks to adopt Imus-like mannerisms and really start letting us all know how you feel about the problems POC cause you.
I think you all need to really start making your feelings regarding Baltimore's crime known the ppl that are ACTUALLY causing it!!!
I say yall set up a pullpit on anyone of the specific murder locations you so painstakingly chronicle in detail on any given day of the week and let these animals know how much they are disrupting YOUR way of life and give them a chance to talk to ya....to plead their case.
What you do when you preach your dislike and lack of patience for Baltimore's undesireables (who, for the most part, are BLACK) in the manner in which you do
(I know this site just posts links, but many of the blog author's witty posts, groups side bars and predjudiced anonymous COMMENTS are a bit suspect)
.....WE (BLACK ppl)....unwittingly (perhaps) get lumped together. NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN THIS COUNTRY!!! JUST CALLING US BAD - IN PUBLIC - NAMES IS CRASS!!
One disturbing pattern I am noticing more and more:
Every body that is Black AND wears red or has a cheap azz red bandana in his pocket (that can LITERALLY be purchased at ANY neighborhood Pakastani, Indian or Korean grocery store, Michaels Arts in Craft, ect.) OR has been shot/killed by the police is a gang leader or member.
This is so very sad to me!!!
Smacks of the numerous other things that the mainstream media has said about black people throughout time to maintain the status quo.... which is black people are sub human and/or trouble.
Regardless of how much time has passed....
most non-POC will BELIEVE what they've been taught to think about black ppl regardless of ANYTHING.
Therefore....I vow (along with Tavis Smiley) to not waste anytime trying to convince anyone of anything.
Question:
How can a reporter REALLY know anything about a person based on what they see in their criminal jacket or by the color clothes they were wearing.
How can a reporter have talked to more than 1 person that actually knows/knew the victim or perp when a murder occured at 11 PM and the paper comes out in the morning?
Why is it okay for them to print unfounded reports. I doubt the murdered man shouted out, "Bloods til I die" or threw up gang signs before taking his last breath.
What has happened to us as a nation that we simply believe everything we read?
IMO ....what it comes down to....its easier to believe that DEAD or IMPRISONED Black Man X was a gang banger than it is to imagine that this is someone's son or father. Is he even a man with a heart beating in his chest to you? If not, ask yourself why?
And I know....MANY of you may say "Well he pulled a gun on the cop. It says it right there in the paper"
well....Im here to tell you...and for the record.....& I'm not taking up for my homies...not making excuses for the people out here causing havoc......& for the smart alecs:
I'm no uneducated, welfare check and section 8 recieving, 3 baby farva having, loud-mouth, purple hair wearing, long jewel encrusted finger nail swirling, gold toof wearing, sistah or HOME girl (since that seems to be a word that been embraced by non-POC to refer to black women)......
Im just like many of YOU...exactly what you HOPE and PRAY your daughters grow to be (YUP YUP!!!)...YOURS TOO!!!
.....Especially those of u sitting back saying - "I'd never compare my daughter to a nappy headed negras"........
... beautiful, proud, respectful of my elders, ambitious, focused, God fearing, law abiding......
I said all this to say............THE POLICE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE!!!
I am not involved in criminal enterprises, but have seen how they lie ...and I know for a fact.....they will arrest a black person without predjudice. We all the same!!!!
My people do not see the police as the solution to anything.
You all know they lie too....look at how much time you all spend dissecting their tales and calling them out and many of you are just spectators. Many of you are not even AS affected by their lack of competence and know-how in the ways that you would have us to believe.
So you can ONLY imagine....what the black community's relationship is with this government sanctioned GANG in BLUE!!!!!
The reason ppl don't talk to the police is not because of any of the reasons any of you can possibly imagine...YOU AREN'T EVEN CLOSE.
Think what you want to think.....but just know.....
The Police are not the solution to baltimore's crime problems.
IF anything...they are part of the problem.
The media (minus NPR and the BBC) is for the most part bs.....in Baltimore, they are trying to sell papers.
It makes for great headlines when everyday you can paint the picture that Baltimore is making an effort to finally eliminate White Baltimore's burden ...these brutal and dangerous black ppl who obvioulsy love crime and squalor.
Side note:
Say this movie last night.....I would reccomend it to all:
C.S.A. -- The Confederate States of America.
I swear....LOL! 10 mins in..we had to rewind it...LOL! I was like MAN, they never teach you this in school....but come to find out...its not real - THANK GOD!!!!
One mans drama is another's comedy!
C Love:
Please understand that police as experienced by most of america are not like these guys here. Baltimore cops are trained to have a siege mentality, that they are conducting operations in insurgent-held territory. And in fact, they are. They think of themselves as outsiders and are very much treated that way. I don't know which came first, but those two features are self-reinforcing.
I never said we needed more cops just like the ones we have now. I've been very clear that we need to clean house.
As for the bit about 'Y'all don't know; it's a black thang'... it isn't.
I've been falsely arrested too. I've been rousted while walking because I wasn't the right 'look' to be in that neighborhood.
Now, as for the blood dude 'with a gun', if the IAD people have a gun with his prints at the scene, then I'm inclined to believe it. Even if it could be a plant.
I'm not about to buy the idea that every hoodie young black male shot by the Po-Po in this very hoodie city is a setup.
Now, the Dude's name is Damion Baker and he's been jailed a whole bunch, found guilty, been given treatment, violated parole, gaught with a handgun before, etc...
He did it, okay ?? He probably behaved just the way they say he did, and I'm inclined to believe the Po-Po felt threatened by him. I would be, especially if he were flashing all that 'Yo, I'm a Blood' nonsense.
Score one for the good guys. This time.
Oh, and I can't tell you how many guys I've met on the inside who have told me in candor that they were guilty of everything they were charged with and more, except the cops didn't have the evidence and they'd be getting off, so let's stop about how all these guys are lil' angels.
THE STRATEGY is out.
It includes cops assigned to each of 30 hot spot blocks.
{Gee, we have a LOT more than 30 problem blocks in this town. Can you say 'drop in bucket' ?}
Sheila D. cautions that it's not a quick fix - it needs a long-term solution. Translation: 'Don't hold me accountable for any measurable outcomes. Especially not by primary season.'
"I, for one, am READY for all white folks to adopt Imus-like mannerisms."
YIKES!!
You just might get your wish though... I swear Americans are getting more crass and sloppy by the day.
It's better to be last than be a line-jumper, people!
Are Baltimore's race relationships frozen in 1967? It really seems that in other cities black and white are equally outraged about crime--but here it's some racist conspiracy. I think the junkies on Falls and the Avinue in Hampden and all the perps out of Essex would do something to allay the fears of a whitey conspiracy....Basically Baltimore is uniquely screwed up because the crime is mostly poor people on poor people, people that can't call their friends at the Washington Post or the NY Times and shed light on the outrageous incompetence exhibited by Hamm, Dixon, etc. Everything out of Hamm's mouth has been one big excuse. I mean, isn't there ANYONE here willing to step up to the plate and rid us of the criminal garbage that prowl our streets? If ONE person was shot dead in Roland Park or Guilford, believe me, Hamm would be gone the next day.
Why don't any of you ever call up to any of the evening or afternoon talk radio shows that come on 88.9 FM? or 1010 AM? I am more than sure black folks would love to hear your solutions to our problems.....since none of ours are working.
CO-SIGN CO-SIGN!!! ....
1010 AM!!! LY is a little tight lipped on subjects, sometimes i wonder how he became a STATE SENATOR ,but i love the COACH!!!... Butch McAdams has the views and opinions
of a educated NATIVE even though he is from Chocolate City..... Ms. Hughes has allowed shows like Larry
Young's morning show and the other one( STATE OF THE??) that comes on at 12pm??? to walk that AM line. .....Its my morning drive entertainment... I'am usually behind a desk at 9.
The other host ( STATE OF THE??)puts Sheila D. / S.Rawlings etc etc. on total BLAST!!! with a whole array of closed door info never mentioned in the Baltimore propaganda machine...... I was wondering if any of the
BC elite ever chimed in on the other side to WOLB???.......
Why is anyone inferring that the criminal problem in the sewer of a city a racist problem?
The mayor is black, the police commissioner is black, almost the entire city council is black, most of the police officers are black, most of Baltimore's population is black, most of the victims are black and most of their assilants are identified as black. I don't see a race problem, I see a people problem (I guess I could be wrong though).
c love, I am not a young black male, nor am I an old asian female, what I am is a moderately intelligent person with my own experiences and views. If someone asks me what I think of a problem I will give my opinion, if I have any. This blog, and comment page, is about Maryland/Baltimore problems and the existence of this comment page is a form of asking what I, or anyone, thinks of those problems.
Most of us here live in or near Baltimore, and the comments deal with our relation in Baltimore. I don't believe you have to be Italian to be concerned about the Sicilian mafia actions, or be a catholic priest to be critical of immoral acts of some of their members, or even be a young black male in Baltimore to have comments about the lawlessness that is running rampant in this city. I think you just have to be concerned.
Of course, that's just my lowly opinion.
I may not have been clear.....
I don't know if the police set up murders, but I am more than sure they are not above covering them up if they did not follow protocol.
I guess, like Irac (great insurgency comparison),....they are "fighting a new army...one that does not wear a uniform (unless you count the red bandana) or wave a flag". I wish I had his whole quote...LOL! All propaganda. Just like the BS war on drugs....LOL! laughable. Marc Steiner had an awesome show on this topic yesterday
Seems like every strategy.....makes the people who are in the most need of help, the most tired of being used or opressed, look like an enemy...mmmmmmmmmhhhhh
non-conformist, anarchists, terrorists, insurgents.....thugs...gang members... same rhetoric...different hood!!
let me break it down for you this way.....
Baltimore is a racially divided city.....has been and from the looks of things....will remain that way. Not many whites and blacks can really say they are friends or identify with each other's struggle and if you do find these types of unions....they've decided not to "get to deep".
Black folks live in our neighborhoods (for the most part), the latinos live in a few clusters, white people live in their enclaves and asians (I don't know where the asians live...LOL!)......
We as a society label things as "black community"..."black on black" crime...conditions leading to the destruction of the "black family", etc......AND YET....you want me to believe or understand that the issues that I see in my peripheal..(i.e. CRIME and the lack of solutions for the image problem)....are a BALTIMORE (CITY WIDE) problem? of all the issues that we can all take part insolving...I am supposed to believe that crime is the one issue that will bring the races together....LOL! You can't even believe that yourself. Why aren't these American problems? Black people are black Americans.
It's not a racial issue?
It always seems like non-POC have a hard time believing POC when we tell you that many of the injustices you see are due to racism. I truly empathyze with you.....you have absolutely no frame of reference. Even witnesses it with your own eyes does not really qualify you to say you understand.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT A RACIST COMMENT IS....WE'VE ALL SEEN REMEMBER THE TITANS. This reverse racism crap is comical. Sure there are some ignorant black folks out here, but if you are white...you know you have the upper hand. Nothing a black man can say or do will change the fact that he is the lowest on the American food chain. It has not been that long.....start teaching your children the real American history. Go to topix (African American Forum) and I see that the youth are really f*cked up!!! Stop sugar coating it because you don't want to look or feel like a bad guy. The difference is...in the strong black households...nothing was held back. We were taught about our passage and time in America...so forgive us if we are little more realer than the rest of yall. Forgive us for being more ready to deal with this issue than you.
I feel that the generation x (us 80's babies) are going to be very influential in bringing race relations into this current century. I want to talk about it every chance I get...unlike my mother. I don't buy into Russell Simmons notion that hip hop has done more for the civil rights movements that anyone in history tho (yeah! he said that dumb azz ish on Oprah)
I feel like rap has confused the Nation tremendously. You have all these young kids out here of all races who have no knowledge of American history or self saying things that while they may mean absolutely nothing to them.....there are several generations of other ppl that do not agree with them.....
so since the mainstream "White" America thinks that our entertainers are our spokespeople or shining examples of non threatening POC....THEY must be speaking for the masses...."since Snoop Dog says n*gga and calls his white friends n*gga...n*gga is free game. I want that word- thanks, my n*gga."
Why are no white parents talking to their kids about that? If you are...are you phrasing it as, "why are you acting like a n*gga?" Why are so many white folks NOW asking us why we call each other n*gga if we are still offended by it?
....SO I am to believe that the news, which constantly bombards us with images and mayhem caused by POC does not make you develop a unfavorable picture of all POC?
Why is it that when I look at the news and they say some white guy killed his whole family....its doesn't automatically make me think all white men are murderers or thugs....because that's the way things have always been in America.
Im working on a little project so I go the main library often and look in the newpaper archives black people have ALWAYS been painted in this way in Baltimore...LOL! I am so late. (the Pratt has really come a long way - the AA room is really nice) Me even talking about this topic from this perspective is so old news....LOL!
Nothing has changed about how Baltimore views it's black citizens...the good and bad are lumped together.
Where is the balance? If the media wants to spend so much time highlighting the bad in the BLACK community...FOLK need to demand that they spend some time on the good....the people in the community need that kind of stuff to motivate them to do more that just sit and see what gets done.
Since its a black community problem....forgive me if my solutions and/or comments revolve around things that I can actually do or that I actually see around me or feel about how black people are affected. My prayers do not exclude any non-POC.....I just feel like I don't need to keep saying that to make anyone else feel better(particularly people are are not involved)
Our parents (many of yall too - if believe in the American dream) kind of dropped the ball on the race topic, but I cannot fault them/you
for not knowing what to do next ....life after slavery....then Jim Crow....was unchartered territory for black folks. Not being the legal owners of black people had to be an adjustment for white people too.....
what to do what to do?
So while I am educated enough to know that there probably is no actual "MAN" sitting behind a desk making decisions that hold black ppl back.....I do know that systems have been put into place over time (status quo) that disproportionately paint black ppl as the primary perps of crime, the least deserving of a second chance, keep us living in certain neighborhoods and our children attending habitually broken schools
......what you should really thank your lucky stars about is that fact that some of our parents were able to find a way to help us obtain a better education and expose us to things that were not the norm. that was all black ingenuity that made that possible....no white folk gave me a scholarship.
I think the words racist and racism are over used nowadays.
Nothing I said previously should have made you think I was saying Baltimore's crime problem is not being fixed because this is a "Black" city. <------maybe that history is the problem!!!!
I've lived in primarily african american communities all my life and I was telling you how I see it....I've never lived around, participated in groups or attended school with non-POC. My point.....I don't know non-POC's issues. I am not saying that there aren't any....that's just the part of the meeting where I defer to someone else's wisdom.
.........& who cares if all the higher brass and elected officials are black. LOL! that's like the people that like to bring up how "Africans sold each other into slavery" every time the issue is discussed. As if that is making a GOOD POINT???? Most of us follow the systems that are in place when we take a new job. Black people...especially those making over $1000000 a year are trying to keep their heads above water. There are trying to please way too many gods. When that occurs, regular, everyday black folk will always get the raw end of the stick. And so you know...when it is done to us by our own people...we take it personally. So...please don't remind me that these folks are black. Thanks!!!
PERHAPS....they are not the right ppl for the job, regardless of their race. When did skin color become and indicator of how much a person cares about black people or how many creative people you can get on your team?
^^^^ thoughts kinda thrown together....I know, my grammar is jacked ...LOL! I am doing too many things at once, plus I have a toothache (can't think straight)........off to the dentist!!
Im dead serious about anyone of you calling 88.9 FM I would get such a kick out of hearing any of your voices.
Wow. Some post, C.
what to do what to do?
So while I am educated enough to know that there probably is no actual "MAN" sitting behind a desk making decisions that hold black ppl back.....I do know that systems have been put into place over time (status quo) that disproportionately paint black ppl as the primary perps of crime, the least deserving of a second chance, keep us living in certain neighborhoods and our children attending habitually broken schools
OK, let's address some issues.
Of prisoners returning to Baltimore from incarceration, 9% are white. Our population is about 66% black. Ergo, black offenders are disproportionate to the city's population.
On second chances, I'm not aware of any lack of willingness to overlook first offenses on the part of our judiciary. In point of fact, except where megaviolent, I have observed many really very egregious first offenses sail through District Court with little more than PBJ. Including handguns. Baltimore is to my way of thinking very, very generous with second chances for perps, both white annd black.
What keeps blacks in a certain neighborhood? The rent. And that's the American way. Now, I suspect you're not really talking about geography, but rather about the behavior in that place. So, who modifies an individual's misconduct? A police officer, that's who. If you don't like how perps around you behave, you need cops. I believe quite strongly that everyone in this town is entitled to basic public safety, regardless of geography. And if your neighborhood needs 1,000,000 cops to deal with all your hoodies, then so be it, until they're all in prison.
As for broken schools, I find Baltimore City Schools shameful, but I also find Baltimore City parents shameful. Teachers are not babysitters. Perps, regardless of age, need to be yanked out of society, including classrooms. As for what to do with a punk who assaults a teacher trying to 'learn' him Algebra, a rock pile seems fitting.
I'm also kinda partial to the notion that habitual problem students should be forced to spend the day in detention with the parent, under court order. Then watch the parental oversight turn on in the future.
What keeps blacks in a certain neighborhood? The rent. And that's the American way.
Explain this? It's the American way for blacks to earn less or that blacks can only afford to live in certain areas by design?.....
and you're cool with this?
This is 2007
WHERE CAN I GET THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK!!!! I always thought that, but i would love to have my hypothesis confirmed.
Now, I suspect you're not really talking about geography, but rather about the behavior in that place. So, who modifies an individual's misconduct? A police officer, that's who.
LOL!!! YOU are so real!!!! I am so glad that you said that! I wish I had more time .....but one thing my granddaddy used to always tell me (he was from the Old South - Jim Crow era) ....white folks aren't comfortable with congregating black folks...LOL! TROUBLE!!! let them all live with each other OVA there!!!
The slave master thought that if the slaves got together...lol they'd cause some mischief or try to get free. Black people never could conduct themselves properly in most white mens eyes. I am not surprised by your admission.
This assessment you make is based on stereotypes, mis-information and the "supremicist" psychology that has been passed down to you by your parents much like the type of info that has been passed down to me.... this is yet another example of the "2 Americas" theory.
Because of the constant lines that are drawn between the black people and those that commit the most crime in this all black city constantly.......its true!!!! but there are other things concentrated in the white communities, but they are not talked about and if they were they would not marr the whole white community in the same way YOU do mine.
The media (the main culprit) makes everyone think that all black people that lives in a certain area are bad people. Or maybe even a woman who has a son in a gang is irrisponsible - and you know nothing a bout her.
Now all black men that wear hoods are "hoodies"(or can they really have on anything and be called a hoodie??? is it a reference to geography "a hood inhabitant"?....another convienent label that you have given your white counterparts to use to further categorize black people who do not fit into your idea of acceptible.
That is wrong.
Again I ask you.....how affected are you REALLY by crime....day in and day out...not because you are looking for it to report?
Has anyone been shot on your front steps and had to live there? What do you think that does to not only the victim and perp, but also to everyone that lives in that house?
Lets say they have a young son....now he is involved in the cycle...the father: people now walk by and point to his house for at least a month. How you think that makes him feel when all he wants to do is go to work, hold his head up high and raise children with values?
...its a beast that you do not understand...And AGAIN...NOR do you have any solutions to fixing.
Lock em all up!!! That's the solution....are you sure????
............................
what you think about black people's habit of sitting on the steps?
**please insert your joke ...i know you have one that we've never heard. White comedians never drop jewels so that we can better able to understand your culture and way of life in the way that Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle do....the 2 most quotable black guys when it comes to race relations**
If you don't like how perps around you behave, you need cops. I believe quite strongly that everyone in this town is entitled to basic public safety, regardless of geography. And if your neighborhood needs 1,000,000 cops to deal with all your hoodies, then so be it, until they're all in prison.
...ever think that maybe the people don't actually see the people as "perps" around them. That is something that can be worked on ...at the social and or community level...better policing.....long before prison.
Maryland has been locking up its black citizens for centuries.....its not working.
This issue is far to complex to break down for you. Its not your problem anyway....you offer nothing in the way of real solutions.....if the above is how you really feel.
I know that's hard to believe, but this is what happens when you throw everyone in a pot together and expect people to sink or swim in shit.
to deal with all your hoodies, then so be it, until they're all in prison.
WOW! Hoodies
Please forgive me if I've misunderstood you!
When my ancestors arrived here, they had nothing, earned little, and worked awfully hard to live in a place they preferred to where they started. Mexicans do it by taking two or even three jobs. Anothe way would be to earn a degree and get paid more for the same number of hours worked.
The woman who raises several hoodlum children... yes, I hold her responsible if she's left any stone unturned in trying to raise them properly. And she should be stigmatized for failing to do so. I don't need to know much more about her.
BTW, hoodie refers to hoodlum and predates the fashion apparel of similar name.
As for how black people perceive perps... why don't they consider them perps ? A guy jimmies a window, breaks into the house, and takes your stuff. What's to perceive ??? Or is it just a rationalization for letting guilty people off easy?
Such people need to be locked up. For centuries, for millenia, if need be. Not because they're black; because they're criminals.
Oh, and as for whose blood has been on my steps.... MINE. I live in just such a neighborhood. Sorry to yell.
I'm just kinda fed up with this business about 'it's so complicated I just can't explain it to you'. That's as unconvincing as 'it's a black thing'.
well....
your grandparents had no love for black amerians either ...to them black people were not equal to them....your grandparents no matter how hard their time was ....it was not as hard as it was for a black man....i dont care what you say.
....and during this time when all the immigrants arrived on these shores.....business owners would rather hire your family than mine....never mind they could not speak english and did not act like the locals......your ancestors still had their history...their labguage.....their dignity.....
so there fore....you've benefitted from the foundation that they were given the opportunity to lay.....you've been afforded the same sense of entitlement that the locals felt once you assimilated.....thing is the average black ppl can not do that...due to our color or due to the system that has been put in place that maintains the status quo (The American Way)
Mexicans and other immigrants are not Americans....their upbringing, moral codes, principles, history is differnt....if you know any thing about science...research ....the development of facts...you cannot compare black americans to anyone because NO ONE has lived the same experience. You can name numerous other people who were enslaved and have overcome (in your mind), but none of them suffered what black americans have.
Get a degree...you are so funny! its just that simple, right.
I am the 2nd person to descend from my grandparents (pop: Korean War Vet/Retired Nursing Asst @ Ft. Howard & Mama: Domestic worker for a several generations of a family in Guilford)....the second!!!
Not because my family is hoodlums....matter of fact ...the good majority of my family are career military employees.....
its because we live in the real world. My family was struggling to eat. My grandfather who made no more than $14,000 a year before he retired.....bought a house and sent his children who wanted to go to Catholic School. How you may ask? HARD WORK!!!!
he set an example for my mother...who is a registered nurse (BS) and she for me......
But I am just one case..... there are so many black families out here trying to get it together.....
but for you to sit back and act like you did not get a MEGA head start on how to get a head in America.....is not even fair. And proved further that you are not on my level. I am real. I can admit that black people often use crutches to justify the disfunction in our community, but for you to act like.....we created the "hood".....you are still in denial and not ready to actually make things better for us all.
2007 is prolly the first time in history that I will agree...everyone has an equal shot!!! but that is moving forward....you cannot look at what is here now and just point your finger.
And Im sorry to break it to you, but sometimes it is a "black thing" and sometimes....you won't be able to understand...deal with it.
C,
Have you considered the possibility that America now defines you less by your race than you yourself do ?
LOL! spoken just like someone that has never been defined by his race.
Note...I said defined. I'm sure you've been called an ignornat name before (maybe by a black person), but did you ever feel like that is how the rest of the world viewed you too and there was nothing you could do to convince them otherwise?
Now we have Imus out here disrespecting black women because he's heard a rapper say it and because he was being funnu...
you may not see how that affects me (or ALL black women), but now his audience may be more inclined to called me a nappy headed ho (in private or public). That word has been further indoctrinated into our culture and has become part of the larger collective vocabulary......which further deminishes how I am viewed.
EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE. I am not sure you know many black woman. We are a totally different beast than the men. You don't understand them....so you are light years behind understanding us.
Please tell me how I could have arrived at this place where I would have even given your question any thought before now?
It assumes that I choose to make race and or the American experience I've lived vs yours.....an issue in my life when there is none. I'm just pulling all these concepts out my azz. I'm rambling.....for no reason. I'm choosing to step out my comfort zone and dispute some of the biases many of you spread throughout the universe.
mmmmmmmmmmh.....Sort of like how you chronicle all the crime that happens to other people yet its not your job nor do you know the people personally?
Maybe you think there is more of a crime problem than the rest of us do? Have you ever asked yourself that?
If I could...I'd love to just been seen as an American woman, but there are FAR to many indicators that the rest of the world does not see me for the queen that I am. (QUEEN<----- maybe that's another black thing that you're not be able to grasp)
That question (as you phrased it) is not something I think about. I deal in reality.
I am reminded of my color constantly. I am reminded that I am not a man constantly.
......so until the rest of the world does not factor in the racial stereotypes and fears they have for black people(and not just you and the few other people that see us all as members of the human race)
.....Race is the American way. This country was built on it!!!
The divide is becoming more one of class...I will agree, but hon, the damage has already been done. Peep my previous post!
have a good one!
Post a Comment