Okay, now it's starting to sort out. As the Q has been squawking for awhile, the gang related shootings at Ali's Roti/Hookah Shop and the Ebbets Field J'ouvert shooting are about retaliation and (sadly) typical crew warfare. The Daily News does the journalism.
The Eight Trey Crips and Folk Nation have been an unbearable presence in the Ebbets Field area for a longtime. The Feds supposedly busted up Six Tre Folk Nation awhile back, though perhaps unintentionally setting off turf wars. The only thing good about these groups is their rockin' names.
The Q takes no pleasure in previously suggesting the real cause of this violence. I was working on a hunch and bouncing ideas off people who know about these things. And I stand by my claim that it was incredibly misguided to blame these shootings on outside issues. The existence of a bar at Ali's, or J'Ouvert itself. These shootings were going to happen anyway. What is particularly scare and troubling is the way that they were done in the presence of many, many bystanders. It's as if the psychologically twisted violent sociopaths don't have any respect for human life! Go figure.
One beef I have with the article in the News. By identifying the bystander victim of the J'ouvert shooting as "Harvard Educated," I can only imagine that the suggestion is that such prestige elevates the status of a victim of violence. That is a sign of a deeper societal problem to me, one that places value on the heads of law-abiding citizens that goes beyond their human decency. It's gross, it's old as humans, it's at the root of a lot a lot a lot of problems. Sigh.
9 comments:
The vast majority of "random" violent crime i.e. crime not between members of the same family, or among criminals themselves, is committed by young male criminals aged 16-25.
Although calls to lock up violent offenders of this age, unti they pass that age has been decried as "archaic" and not addressing "root causes" it would, according to the math, in fact put most trigger happy criminals out of business until they acquire a bit more wisdom.
Quoting overall incarcration rates does not address this.
If the issue is how to most effectively, within a constitutional society, deal with violent crime, the answer is lock up those who have shown themselves to be violent until age 25.
The problem is not so much that it doesn't work, but that it hasn't been tried.
Hilarious. I'm trusting your joking, so I'll just laugh. There's nothing constitutional about your suggestion, so..ha ha!
May I ask why it's a problem for certain status to be put on law-abiding citizens? The loss of all human life is a tragedy, that is true, but there's a reason why all nations consider it an issue when there's a loss of civilian life due to military actions. If an individual hasn't chosen to involve themselves in a war/gang, then yes, their death tends to invoke more of a reaction than the death of those who willingly participate. And like it or not, the news is going to leverage that reaction in their reporting.
Um, no, that's not what I said at all. I was talking about law-abiding citizens being unequal. It's the "Harvard Educated" part that irked me. There's all sorts of assumptions there. I don't know the guy; he was a saint for all I know. But the presumption is that the loss of a Harvard Educated man, and a BLACK Harvard Educated man, is somehow more deserving of note. Any note. Trust me there are plenty of Harvard educated dicks out there. Criminals even.
Had he been educated at Rutgers, would that have been as much a tragedy? If he'd merely finished high school, but managed to provide for his family and do right by his fellow man, would it merit as much ink? The cynic in me wonders.
Lord. Q. I love parts of your blog but not everything is racist. The guy went to what is recognized by many as the best university in the country... Of course it's noted. And he worked for the governor... If he went to brooklyn law, it would have been covered. Cynicism is important but not everything is cynical.
I'm not IV league educated but it does deserve a little more ink because it is all the more tragic that the victim came from a very humble background and obtained degrees from one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. This is an uncommon feat. That deserves a little more ink.
Anon: More ink? From whom? Me? The media is full of stories on Carey Gabay. I don't actually know how any MORE ink is possible. I'm writing about what I write about; I don't pretend to be the "paper of record." And I noticed that the extraordinary outpouring of ink about Gabay's death seems to stem from his a) class status and b) connection to Cuomo. I'm not belittling his death in the slightest. Just noting that there is a wildly different outpouring of concern when this gentleman died than say when Rickie Young of "Taste of Brooklyn" died. And way more than innocents of lesser stature than even that.
I admit to being cynical. And as I say, it's the way of the world. The "Harvard" tag is something I find particularly obnoxious. But maybe that's cuz I went to Brown and have a chip on my shoulder.
I've been thinking the exact same thing inre the amount of ink dedicated to Gabay compared to Young. Both tragic, both significant losses. One overshadowing the other. How do we fix that? Rhetorical question, because there is no answer.
There was a rally near the park. If you click on the link below and scroll down at the end of the page, you will see pictures that were taken from that rally. 200 malcontent tea party Republicans congregate in front of a Planned Parenthood building and it's news. This event, not a single blurb on the major local news outlets following the death of that politician. It's funny how local and national mainstream media (POST, NYDN WABC, WNBC, WCBS, CNN, MSNBC) ignore events of mostly black citizens rallying against gun violence, and if they do, it's perceived with a negative but feel confident in highlighting stupid uneducated twits who tweet their foolish ideas about the parade or poll their ignorant, intellectually challenged viewers on whether the parade should end. Fuck these guys, seriously.
http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/46126/around-4-am-deputy-counsel-to-cuomo-shot-at-bedford-and-sullivan-monday-september-7-2015
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