Webster’s Dictionary offers two definitions for the word victim: one that is subjected to oppression, hardship or mistreatment and one that is tricked or duped. Insert the word “easily” in the latter and you have the definition of another word found elsewhere in Webster’s, which is equally fitting in meaning.
The disquieting fact is that both definitions are applicable to blacks today. One is more often than not self-inflicted victimization, the other is inflicted victimization.
The self-inflicted involves – but is certainly not limited to – black-on-black crime. In Chicago, police department crime statistics for the year to date (i.e., Jan.1, 2003 to May 7, 2003), show the majority of police resources are dedicated to the 7th and 11th districts, respectively.
I am told these districts are not housing projects – they are simply lower-income neighborhoods. Yet, shockingly, 99 percent of the crime in these districts is black on black. One could safely say that constitutes hardship and mistreatment. But it isn’t at the hands of whites or the police. It is at the hands of malevolent anti-social predators.
It is only common sense that neighborhoods such as those in the 7th and 11th districts would have low property values, cause higher insurance rates for all and have fewer opportunities for employment and /or neighborhood activities that many of us take for granted.
Not surprisingly, there is also a deep resentment toward the police. Why? Because law and disorder are the oil and vinegar of our society. The law must clamp down on disorder /crime and the disorderly /criminals resent any restrictions being placed on their behavior. One would think any police presence would be appreciated (and it should be noted that not all resent police presence), but all too often they are resented simply for doing their jobs.
Common logic would dictate that since Chicago is in Jesse Jackson’s front yard, so to speak, and since he is the self-professed champion of the oppressed – those suffering from hardship and those being mistreated – he would be in these districts, assisting police by leading neighborhood cleanups, drug patrols and advocating working closely with police to curb this blight.
But Mr. Jackson finds it much more important – or should I say, much more profitable? – to shakedown Wall Street and NASCAR.
We know Jackson’s shakedown money benefits him and his family, but just how many outside of his circle are tangibly helped?
In New York, when Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by police officers in a grotesquely unfortunate shooting, the four officers were excoriated. They were charged with second-degree murder. There was a media feeding frenzy.
Al Sharpton led protests. More than 150 people blocked the entrance to Police Plaza. People called for then-Mayor Rudolf Giuliani to be arrested.
Jesse Jackson, Susan Sarandon, rabbis, former Mayor of New York City David Dinkins and numerous federal, state and local politicians were on hand to protest and lead rallies against the police department.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said: “Minorities are humiliated and angered by the indignity of being treated all too often as presumptive criminals.”
The public quickly forgot that the Street Crimes Unit officers’ aggressive approach to tackling the drug problem, rapists and felony assaults were responsible for reducing crime over a 5-year period leading up to that tragic occurrence.
But on March 10, 2003, when Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin were murdered execution style in cold blood, while trying to rid the neighborhoods of machine-gun dealing teen-agers, none save their fellow detectives, families and fellow brothers /sisters in police work grieved or attended their funerals. There were no protests. Susan Sarandon wasn’t there, Sharpton and Jackson didn’t lead marches. It was just two murdered detectives.
So, in the end, the work of many brave individuals is thrown back in their faces. This is the pall that hangs over the inner-city communities. Black-on-black crime goes unchallenged by the so-called black leaders and the liberal elites, as the predators victimize those who are unable to retreat to safer environs.
It is time for America to stand up to those who malign, but offer no remedy. If the so-called black leadership wants to lead, I submit they must do so by confronting this lingering malignancy that threatens generation after generation and prohibits any hope of prosperity. White guilt and taxpayer dollars are not the cure for those who accuse but fail to take personal responsibility. Self-inflicted victimization should not be a way of life, it should be a crime relentlessly confronted.