http://www.wthr.com/story/14924988/person-shot-near-monon-trail-at-86th-street
I started biking to work this week (I did not ride today) and this story has me thinking. The fastest and easiest way for me to get to work is along the Monon, and for the record I do plan on continuing this (though I guess I now have to worry about more than being run over by impatient Carmel drivers). I see this as an isolated incident, which in a city of this size you will have from time to time, and I still see the Monon as a fairly safe route (certainly safer than the East side of Indianapolis). Also, in the event I am robbed at gunpoint*, I will gladly give up what I have on me – it’s really not worth getting shot over.
But here are some questions I have:
1) How does a city address a 16-year-old a) getting a gun b) robbing and shooting a 58-year-old man? There is a definite societal breakdown that leads to this – and yet our legislators seem to care more about denying healthcare to poor women and banning gay marriage. How does this fit into the gun control debate?
2) How does a city ensure that people are safe on what is technically a public park – in broad daylight? How do you police a 16 mile x 8ft stretch of land? Last year when a man was robbed a half mile south of my apartment (at 2pm on a Sunday), they had a cop car stationed on the trail for a few days, as though the robbers would try again. After that, I have seen no significant improvements to security on the trail.
3) Will the Black community of Indianapolis take responsibility for this? Should they? Is this an Indianapolis problem or a Black problem? Why does the WTHR story (linked) give the races of the victim/suspects but the IndyStar.com article not?
4) I criticize the Fox Business story for using terms like ‘hood’ and ‘hizzouse’ to refer to Obama’s guests, as they are clearly racial terms to paint a derogatory picture of the President as a black stereotype. But if I’m out riding on the trail and see several black men / youth together, I will speed up – just as I (and I’m guessing I’m not the only one) will go into ‘high alert mode’ if I’m walking alone at night and see a black man. Am I a hypocrite for criticizing public racism while harboring inner racial prejudices?
5) Where the hell was everyone? That stretch of the Monon is wide open, fully visible from 86th/91st street, and next to a huge apartment complex.
food for thought.
*again
It’s a socioeconomic issue. Because of historic disadvantages & poverty cycles (as well present-day discrimination), blacks are disproportionately represented in lower socioeconomic classes. The black community shouldn’t take responsibility for it — it’s as much their responsibility as it is the white upper class who refuse to pay taxes for someone else’s children’s educational system.
1) It’s an isolated incident; unless statistics show an expansive surge in such incidents, it’s hardly cause for social alarm. As to its link to gun control, do we even know if the gun was legally registered? Gun control can’t do much against black market arms.
2) They can’t really without significant improvements in surveillance, and like all safety measures, the costs would have to outweigh the measures. Ultimately we have to ask the question: just how many violent crimes are committed on the Monon per year? Does this number exceed that of any other locale? If not, I do not believe higher safety measures are justified
3) No, no, none of the two, and good question (since just about every crime news story I’ve ever read always gives racial descriptions when there are unidentified persons involved). As to responsibility, I will point back to (1), since I still see this is as an isolated incident (at which point in time, responsibility lies on the individual, and maybe the family)
4) I can’t speak for you, but I go into ‘high alert mode’ when I see any race of young men congregating suspiciously. I like to think it’s a matter of clothing and mannerisms rather than race, but maybe i’m just being naive. In any case, no, it still does not excuse Fox’s poor choice of words, since there is a clear delineation between thinking and saying something (especially on a public medium with thousands of people watching).
5) Damn good question
Have you ever thought of purchasing a handgun? People these days in the middle to upper class really have gone soft… and don’t realize the need or have the want to even attempt to protect themselves and would rather rely on law enforcement. If you consider how things are done in New Hampshire and other states that focus on people’s freedoms (lets exclude the southern border states, there is too much foreign influence rather than domestic…), the people in those states are quite satisfied with their safety. New Hampshire in particular has very lax gun laws. No permit required… Many people in NH own guns, and crime is very low.
Dude, totally blame the blacks. And by blacks, i mean the group of people that would rather take what is not theirs rather than earning it COUPLED with the group that rationalizes “thug” life as a valid lifestyle in our social system. I’m sure there are a several other subsets to add, but fuck it, who cares. Blame the blacks.
Yes, let’s fight violence with violence! That’s a viable solution — shoot the blacks!
If someone is desperate enough to hold a gun up to someone and risk years in prison, don’t you think there’s something else going on here than greed?
Your parents are poor, you live in a poor neighborhood, your school system is horrible. Even if you do brilliantly in high school, it won’t compare to the education received by the upper class areas. Even if you could make it into college, you’re not going to be as successful as the kids who have been brought up with the time and support to excel in academics. You’ve had to work full-time since you were 15 just to feed yourself, not to mentioning watching younger siblings, doing housework, etc. And then you’re expected to go home and do your homework with no parental support because as much as they love you and want to see you do well, they have to work two jobs to keep that roof over your head. Your parents couldn’t afford daycare so you’ve been running around with your friends unsupervised since you were a little kid. Even smart kids do stupid things, especially when they don’t know better–maybe you got pregnant, have a criminal background…well good luck trying to plan a future around that. You come from a social network that doesn’t value higher education because heck, they haven’t been able to climb that high on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. No one in your family has ever gone to college or trade school, and you are ungrateful for everything they have done for you if you are not helping put food on the table for tomorrow night. You have no financial education and you don’t even know the options that you have available to you and you don’t even the resources to figure it out.
I mean obviously that’s a specific dramatization, but I’m assuming that you are coming from an higher middle/upper class background where you haven’t even considered that people can’t always earn enough to not be poor. People work hard to earn minimum wage, and if you’ve ever worked at a fast food resturaunt, you would know that no one would do that if they had other options.
The “thug” lifestyle is only glamorous because it’s a way to break from poverty cycles when you don’t really see other options. You could work seven days a week, every day of the year at Taco Bell and never be able to afford a car to that job after all your day-to-day expenses or you could steal that TV from that rich guy who can just go out and buy another TV.
I’m not sure if my small fish brain can comprehend this… So, violence in NH is low because they fight violence with violence?…………. 8| …… %| ……… Sure, your over-dramatization of the impoverished American is most likely true, however, an impoverished American is less likely to attempt illegal activities if he knows his odds of getting away with it are low. Isn’t this the purpose of law enforcement? To reduce these odds? Wouldn’t it be better if instead of spending millions of taxpayers dollars on law enforcement (people indirectly police each other), these tax dollars could be spent on causes that could perhaps help the impoverished (even if indirectly)? And if that isn’t the case, shouldn’t the impoverished be happy with simply surviving? After all, life is tuff. And life could give more than zero shits what excuses you give it, but probably won’t.
P.S. I would love to see the video clip where five thugs walk up to five uniformed policemen and try to rob them.