A friend of mine was visibly upset because of conversations he had over heard that were openly racist in content. He was fuming inside because he was one of those being disparaged by white people who are living a life of privileged that he and his kin never had the opportunity to achieve. I don't know how to answer or even approach him on this subject. I too come from a working middle class white family who lived in an upscale community and know that as much as I can empathize with him, I can never really know and understand the depth of his feelings. So I listen and get angrier and angrier at the manner that people , good decent people, who only want to be part of this country are denigrated. Not because of anything they have done. No. They are treated with disdain because of how they look, or where they are from, or how much money is in their bank account.
Then I read the below story about a neighborhood that is literally being terrorized on a fairly regular basis. As I read the story I came to a couple of conclusions.
First, the police are doing nothing to put a stop to this unlawful behavior. A 15 year old girl is hit by a bullet, maybe a stray bullet, maybe one aimed at her room, while asleep in her bed. Another person's door has multiple bullet holes in it, and all of the residents of this apartment complex run for cover on a regular basis because of gun fire. The residents may know who is doing the shooting but they are afraid to name names. And who can blame them. The police are unwilling to take any action that might confront and stop these deadly attacks on the residents who live in this neighborhood. If the police want people to step forward and name names, maybe the police should show that they will Protect the people by doing something proactive to apprehend the one responsible for these terrorists acts.
My second conclusion is an answer to the question just screaming to be asked. Why? Why haven't the police moved undercover swat teams into the area on the days that these shooting incidents happen. The residents claim that they happen after a specific time on a specific day. So why not move armed police into the area, set up an ambush and wait for the people doing the shooting to start shooting. Then shoot back. Why is this not happening?
The police are claiming that the people need to stand up and name names. They residents need to help. Interesting statement that raises another question. Why would the residents be afraid to say who is doing the shooting? This is Florida, deep south state and a place where people have been known to openly fly KKK flags and the Battle Flag of the Army of N. Va., aka Confederate Flag. It is a place where a whole town was completely destroyed because a married white woman who was cheating on her husband, screamed that a black man raped her. And the town of Rosewood was literally burned to the ground and blacks shot and killed and/or lynched by a white mob that totaled from 20 to 200 men. The police claimed that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone. *http://www.blackpast.org/aah/rosewood-massacre-1923. So is it possible that a group of white supremacists are behind the terror attacks against the residents of this part of Fort Lauderdale? Or could it be street gangs in some sort of battle over turf, or even drug dealers in a turf battle. What is the answer?
The law is being broken on a regular basis and the attacks are against a poor black community. The people in the community are fearful of naming names, if they actually know who is behind the attacks. And the police, well they are doing next to nothing. They will run extra patrols into the neighborhood but won't do anything else to protect these law abiding citizens. The police will not use proactive tactics that they are definitely capable of using to stop the attacks. WHY? The police are plenty proactive when making a traffic stop and demand that the driver step out of the car for a shakedown search. Except for a broken tail light or the failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, no crime has been committed. So how does that justify a search of the driver? Yet it happens all the time, mostly to black men and women. So if they can be proactive during a minor traffic infraction stop, why can't they be proactive when people are being indiscriminately shot at and injured or worse on a regular basis?
I know I am on a rant here. But it is events that are being reported in this story on daily basis, and my friends anger and frustration at being called names that are meant to demean him by people who somehow have come to the conclusion that they are better than everyone else simply because they have more money. It angers me that the police department put the responsibility for these constant shooting attacks on the victims of the crime instead of living up to their motto of "Protect and Serve". There is a crime being perpetrated on a daily basis and the police refuse to PROTECT the people being victimized because the victims are too afraid to say anything. And the reason they are too afraid is, the police are not doing anything to protect them. Someone has to take the first step. If the police want people to trust and respect them then the police need to exert the powers they have to show that they will do what is necessary to protect law abiding citizens regardless of how much money they have or the color of their skin. Until that is done, the police are the enemy of the poor, and will be treated with suspicion and maybe even contempt by the people of this community.