Jonathan Capehart writes for the Washington Post. He’s black. So he can write about minority issues without fear of minorities taking him to task for not being sympathetic to minorities. Because he is one. Capehart is also, surprise, a liberal. In fact, the jobbing journo took a break from his career to do a little policy advising for then-mayoral candidate and future Mayors Against Illegal Guns’s founder Michael Bloomberg. In short, Capehart is not the kind of guy you’d expect to clock the Big Apple’s minority-intensive gun crime stats without saying something pithy. Nope. Capehart ain’t got game. The City’s report is too scary even for a Pulitzer Prize winner . . .
Shooting victims are most frequently Black (73.8%) or Hispanic (22.1 %). White victims account for an additional (2.6%) of all Shooting victims while Asian/Pacific Islanders victims account for (1.2%) of all Shooting Victims.
The Shooting arrest population is similarly distributed. Black arrestees (70.9%) and Hispanic arrestees (25.8%) account for the majority of Shooting arrest population. White arrestees (2.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%) account for the remaining portion of the Shooting arrest population.
Click here to read the whole report on the first six months of 2010. Of course, that’s not your job. It’s what jobbing journos do for a living. So, Jonathan, what does it mean? Apparently, it means he’s a target.
In short, 95.1 percent of all murder victims and 95.9 percent of all shooting victims in New York City are black or Hispanic. And 90.2 percent of those arrested for murder and 96.7 percent of those arrested for shooting someone are black and Hispanic. I don’t even know where to begin to describe the horror I still feel looking at those numbers. But the word “hunted” comes to mind.
Dude, you live in Washington. Victimology much? That said, it looks like even the left-leaning cultural/media elite are beginning to understand that society (i.e. white people) aren’t necessarily to blame for all those bad, bad boys. I mean, guys. Bad guys. Seriously. that’s what I meant. You know, from the Fox TV show COPS. The theme song. Anyway, even if society is to blame, Capehart intimates that maybe that’s not the most important part of the picture.
People have railed against black-on-black crime for decades. And yet it persists. Yes, there are a host of factors that push someone to a life of crime, but not all of them have to do with the limitations or failures of society. Some folks are just plain evil, and no amount of social intervention will stop them from preying on people, especially people who look like them.
WHAT? Is Capehart saying that black criminals choose their victims based on skin color? That’s . . . racist! Of, uh, somebody. Anyway, anyway, what’s to be done about this Mr. former policy advisor and highly paid editorial writer?
All of society has an obligation to ensure that its citizens can live their lives in peace and security. The police are doing their job. Leaders in the African American and Latino communities have struggled to do their part, as well. Myriad organizations exist in New York City and across the country to steer the wayward on a better path and to protect potential victims from those who violently veer off it. But new alliances must be formed between the two to get guns off the streets and to break the “stop snitching” culture that allows cases to go unsolved, criminals to go free and communities to cower in fear. It’s time to stop being speechless and feeling powerless. It’s time the hunted fought back.
With guns! No really: I sense a sea change. Set aside the meaningless sop to getting guns off the streets (where they tend to rust and trip pedestrians) and community organizing (i.e. taxpayer tit sucking), and it seems that Mr. Capehart is coming around to a new, pro responsibility maybe even pro-gun POV. Stranger things have happened. Haven’t they? Dan?
It’s time for folks in those neighborhoods to begin taking a long, hard look at themselves. I mean, come on – break the stop snitching culture? Seriously? Someone gets shot by a thug and the first thing that pops into peoples heads is “dont rat him out”?!
As Chris Rock said in one of his stand up routines, “that’s IG-nant!”.
There has to be more of an adult attitude in these neighborhoods. You want a peaceful home, take responsibility. Don’t take any crap attitude from gang bangers. It’s tough, I know. They can be ruthless but, if you don’t care about your neighborhood, don’t expect other folks who live elsewhere to give a rats behind for you.
I would think that guns on streets would be more of a danger to automobiles, motorcycles and bicyclists.
"There has to be more of an adult attitude in these neighborhoods. You want a peaceful home, take responsibility. Don't take any crap attitude from gang bangers."
Agreed, but it can be very difficult when the gang bangers have guns and the neighborhood people do not. Such as in Chicago and New York.
NukemJim
@NukemJim…
Very true. Very true. Having grown up in NYC (and now living in Chicago) I’m acutely aware that gun control only amounts to citizen gun control, not criminal gun control.
my friends in NYC…so sorry that you have to live under such a delusional local govt, that doesn’t grok the basic principle that predators prefer helpless prey.
When was the last time you heard of such tragedy happening in states with open carry laws? the liberals will scream “Dodge City” if you support citizens responsibly carrying weapons for their own protection, but loonies such as this guy would not fare very well in Nashville or Austin, where every third person you meet is legally carrying a piece.
it’s a tragic situation, but as a legal carrier, I refuse to be a statistic…our society is sick, but to disarm everyone who might have had a chance to defend themselves is beyond sickness…it’s a plague of ignorance and blindness.
Condolences, NYC.