Rev. Kitchen::
I have been posting information about murders and murder victims in Prince George's County for over four years. And as I have often pointed out, ALL of our elected officials are Democrats; the majority of them are Black; and close to half of the non-Black elected officials are Latino.
There are few white people and NO Republicans in charge.
We have a much, much higher murder rate than any other suburban jurisdiction. Several times as many murders per capita as any Maryland or Virginia suburb with mixed-party government, and several times as many murders per capita as any Maryland or Virginia suburb with majority white government.
Murders are so common in Prince George's county that most local news outfits don't bother reporting even half of them. And the two that seem to try--Post and Gazette--don't report all the murders.
So, why is our murder rate both so high and not considered newsworthy?
Is there an evil white Republican plot to kill us off? Wait, there aren't any Republicans, and very few whites around.
More likely it is the willingness of Black Democrats--elected officials and voters alike--to tolerate such a high murder rate.
Our Black elected officials apparently do not care, or are not competent to deal with the problem--probably both.
I note that the Black elected officials who pontificate publicly about the evils of the death penalty never seem to have anything to say about the fate of innocents being executed every two and a half days on average. They are far more vocal and seem far more interested when it comes to protecting the lives of convicted killers than they are in protecting the lives of potential victims like you and me.
And our voters and the community groups that represent them (or claim to) apparently do not care either.
After all, the voters keep electing the same people who have failed over and over again to protect us, failed to give us quality schools, failed to keep many of the younger killers and victims in school, failed to reduce the murder rate. We have citizens--parents--who don't know or care what their children are doing and apparently haven't taught them right from wrong. We have citizens who sit on juries and refuse to convict young Black thugs and killers, letting them loose to do even more damage to our community. We have government officials, people our citizens should look up to, on the take.
Three of the last four county council chairs have been investigated for misuse of government funds. Several of our state senators are being investigated by the feds. There are ongoing scandals about county government contracting and charities. The majority leader of the House of Delegates is an admitted criminal.
The people we choose to lead us seem to be teaching our children that criminal behavior is acceptable. And we keep reinforcing that notion by reelecting them and tolerating their behavior.
So, if you want to know who is responsible for our problems; don't try to blame others, just look in the mirror.
On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 11:33 PM, Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr. <joseph@revkitchen.com>wrote:
A report coming out on Monday, December 29th will show a shocking 39% rise in murders of black teens. This is while the overall homicide rate show a 7.4% rise. These numbers which are reflective of the crime numbers over a two year period of 2000-2001 and 2006-2007 should shock the minds all who seek a better black community. So what is being done to tackle these problems? Where are the answers to these challenges we as a community face? Where is the self proclaimed leaders of the community like the NAACP, Rev. Sharpton, and Rev. Jackson with real plans to bring to a close these stories we have seen in the papers for decades?
Northeastern University in Boston is reporting that during the 06-07 period more than 900 14-17 died at the hands of murder mostly as a result of black on black crime. Some will seek to blame the failure of government for these numbers and to an extent that is true. However what about our own role as blacks in government? For instance in the cities with the largest numbers of black on black crimes like Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland, and DC their Mayors are all black. Even more the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and DC have a majority of their members on the City Council who are black. Majority black counties like Prince George's in Maryland have a black Executive and majority County Councils. Where is their responsibilities for these problems. Take the county I live in for instance of Prince George's. Our Executive, majority on the County Council, majority of the Board of Education, elected Sheriff, State's Attorney, and until recently Police Chief all are black. So the answer or common plea that the white political leaders aren't doing enough isn't the truth. We aren't doing enough and we aren't holding our own people accountable for not doing enough.
As our murder rate rose among black teens just last year alone the rate for the general population actually fell. Our increase was more than twice the rate of increase that white teens experienced this very study showed. This agrees with the study or report of the Wall Street Journal who said that at the same time that other communities are experiencing a decrease in homicide crimes we are doing the opposite. The numbers are more scary when we look at the young population which could tell a story for the future of our entire community and 2009 could be even worst.
History shows that as the economy fails as we will surely face in the coming year governments will take a knife to their budgets. Often times the first programs to go are the very ones that bring down crime in our communities. Things like after-school programs, mentoring projects, summer jobs departments, and anti-gang outreach legislation. Things that don't just lock people up but give them a new hope in life. Almost always at the corner of the table to cut off first are ex-offender reentry programs. Things that prepare those convicted of crimes to reenter our society and productive members.
This report should show that we can no longer pretend that this problem doesn't exist. In turning our attention to it we have to do more than blame the George Bush type leader but also the failed leadership of some of our very own.
Office of Rev. Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr.Post Office Box 2757Landover Hills, Maryland 20784-0757
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