In 2008, so far, there has been a person killed every other day in Oakland, California.
21 people total.
8 in the last week.
This is in a city with an underfunded police force, an underfunded school system, and a community that is overstretched to respond and make the best of a worsening situation.
I wish I could just write an impassioned blog entry and make it all better, but that won't change the way life is lived in Oakland or other cities throughout the US and around the world. Baltimore, MD is at 16 murders this year. 7 as of mid-January in San Francisco. 9 in Boston.
That's more than 50 dead just in 4 cities. If we extrapolate a murder rate of 10-13 in each of America's 25 largest cities, that's 250-325 people killed in 44 days. 7 people are dying daily in the US using that estimate. Don't get me started on what scaling those numbers among the 100 largest cities would mean.
Because it would mean, quite honestly, that we're in the middle of a genocide in the US. If you're poor and probably not white and you live in a large city, your life is expendable with not but some outraged people screaming at the top of their lungs to save you. It means that while there's many people who want to help, your plight is an excuse of the (often over-)educated (mostly white) elite to judge you with disdain and horror, choosing to flee some cities all together and moving to the "good" parts of others. It's not until the senseless violence intrudes into their lives (see the shooting of Chris Rodriguez by a stray bullet in Oakland for an example), that the reality of life for people around them truly sets in.
But it's time to starting calling it what it really is...and facing the reality that it will probably get worse before it has any hope of getting better. And it's time for all of us to stop sitting idly by and letting it happen. Mentor, join a neighborhood alliance, patronize stores who pioneer into less popular neighborhoods, and - most importantly - hold local officials accountable for not making timely changes to the system to stop the murders.
Every other day, someone has died in Oakland. Isn't today the day to start caring?
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2 comments:
What an incredibly compelling article! You write so well and I wish your thoughts were available for hundreds...thousands...hundreds of thousands of people to read, learn and think.
Much admiration!
Gracie B,
Thanks for the great article, as well as your thoughtful post on the Laurel Village Yahoo Group this morning about crime in the Laurel area. I say "amen" to your affirmation of our need to live in our neighborhood, to claim it in view of living well and to deter crime.
Cheers!
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