The Quintuple Play

"Times done changed on this side--
remember they used to throw? But now they blast, rite..."
-Dr. Dre, "Lil' Ghetto Boy" (Album: The Chronic)


It's been a long minute now, and I gotta apologize for that--work decided 2 get a 'lil foolish lately, but now it's back under a bit of control so I'll b able 2 get back 2 my bidness here. And what better place to start than with some foolishness of another kind in the District over the weekend.

I think it's fairly common knowledge that when it comes to homicides and murders, there's three cities in the US that pretty much leave all the rest in the dust--Philly, Baltimore and DC have been 1,2,3 in some order for American cities on and off for well over a decade now--New Orleans gets a 'dishonorable' mention by having the most actual homicides in '03 and '05. The national homicide rate in '05 was 5.9 (per 100,000 people). Compare that to Philly's 25.6, DC's 35.4 and B-more's absolutely rediculous 42.0 and it's safe to say that these three places could prolly list 'killing people' as a recreational activity in their tourist pamphlets and get away with it. This past Saturday in the District everyone was reminded about DC's #2 status for homicide rate and homicides to date when 7 folks in the hood got streched out overnight. That's right--in a mere 9 hours DC actually managed to raise it's already crazy homicide rate. And the best part? The 5 different incidents in S.E. and N.E. DC that went down Saturday match up perfectly with all but one of the stereotypical black-on-black crime/homicide scenarios that exist today. Not followin me? Lemme demonstrate:

THE ORDINARY: 4AM. Three men fatally shot after an argument which police believe may have begun in a nightclub.

THE PREDICTABLE: 9PM. Police shoot and kill a man during a house call to deal with a domestic dispute. The man had aproached the police with a knife and refused to put it down.

THE CLASSIC: 1:30AM. One man fatally shot after an argument at a dice game.

THE EXCESSIVE: 1AM. 1 man fatally shot, two men wounded (one critically) in a drive-by.

THE UNEXPLAINABLE: Police find a man fatally stabbed while sleeping in his car. Apparently someone beat him on the head and then slit his throat.

And let's not forget the presence of that one extra 'lil fact in each case that makes you scratch your head:

THE ORDINARY: 35 shots were fired from semiauto weapons.

THE PREDICTABLE: The slain man was 52 years old.

THE CLASSIC: They caught who did it and charged him with 2nd degree murder, but have not so far ID'd the victim.

THE EXCESSIVE: The dead victim was 27, living with his mother, grandmother, and 3 children.

THE UNEXPLAINABLE: The victim was a pillar of the community for 20 years fixing cars and doing basic carpentry for the neighborhood, was known for sleeping in his car on warm nights, and had no known enemies.

By the way, can you guess what the one, terrible, glaring common theme running through all 5 incidents is? Can you identify the rotten garbage-flavored icing on this 9-layered mayhem cake?

One gender, one race for all of the victims AND perps--everybody involved was a black male. 9 hours of arguing, shooting, stabbing and killing, the most violent night in DC history in the past 25-30 years, and it's all centered around the black man.

But we don't even have to go there yet--let's take it a different direction. Your average paper-reader picks up his/her Sunday paper (which has more than twice the readership of any of the other daily papers combined), and as they scan the front page deciding where they want to start they see "Fla., Mich. Delegates Each Get Half a Vote", "Search to Divine Authorship Leads 'Footprints' to Court", and "7 Dead in 9 Hours: D.C. Slayings Bring '08 Toll to 72", in that order from top to bottom.

As long as shit like this keeps happenin, how can it NOT get reported? And as long as it keeps gettin reported, how can people NOT think that shit like this is the norm in black neighborhoods? If we keep killing 7 people in 9 hours in N.E. (and S.E.), where is the Wash Post going to find space to talk about things like Artomatic 2008, the 1,000 artist, 5-week arts extravaganza on 1st and M Streets N.E., a block from the NY Ave/Fla Ave/Galludet U Metro? How can we change the perception of our situation if is mirroring the reality of our situation?

By changing the reality of our situation, that's how.