An 8-year old girl shot in the back? Is this the crown jewel event for a city book-ended by decades of record murder rates? How does a community/culture begin recognizing and responding to "higher than average homicide rates" as an epidemic, as a public health and political crisis - rather than as an accident, an aberration, a headline indicating that some things that just happen in intensely urban areas, or distressed communities ... or something. A heartbreaking headline. Adding to the many hidden and overt deaths and murders.....
And I appreciate your outrage.
Actually its just the kind of story that gets the most attention, and while not that common its a lot more common around here than you would wish. Its been a bad month. First the kid caught on tape assassinating the grocery store clerk (with no apparent motive, it didn't even look like a robbery), then the average run of murders, up a bit in number, then the little girl (who lived by the way, bullet passed right through her, missing all the essentials, and is out of hospital the next day. Also in that shooting incident, which occurred over four blocks, bullets flying out of moving cars, a 3 year old was missed narrowly when a bullet exploded the back windshield of the car he was in), then yesterday a 17 year-old murdered his mother and sister (which is sort of unusual as a type of murder in the hood). As to how do people respond (I have some ideas but they are mostly science fiction in nature) mostly we just shake our heads and wait for a calm spell. I'm a long way from outrage though, more like uncomfortably numb.
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- Angela 3-26-2004 6:18 am
And I appreciate your outrage.
- Angela (guest) 3-26-2004 6:22 am [add a comment]
Actually its just the kind of story that gets the most attention, and while not that common its a lot more common around here than you would wish. Its been a bad month. First the kid caught on tape assassinating the grocery store clerk (with no apparent motive, it didn't even look like a robbery), then the average run of murders, up a bit in number, then the little girl (who lived by the way, bullet passed right through her, missing all the essentials, and is out of hospital the next day. Also in that shooting incident, which occurred over four blocks, bullets flying out of moving cars, a 3 year old was missed narrowly when a bullet exploded the back windshield of the car he was in), then yesterday a 17 year-old murdered his mother and sister (which is sort of unusual as a type of murder in the hood). As to how do people respond (I have some ideas but they are mostly science fiction in nature) mostly we just shake our heads and wait for a calm spell. I'm a long way from outrage though, more like uncomfortably numb.
- jimlouis 3-26-2004 9:01 pm [1 comment]