Posted on 12/02/2002 7:47:40 AM PST by jdege
On Nov. 22, the same day that 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards was caught in the crossfire and killed by two or three of Minneapolis's shabbiest gangsters, the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune carried this breaking development: "Busy Minneapolis police hire a healer." Whether this person can undo the death of a child, and thus absolve the police of their duty to protect the citizens, is less than certain.
The city's latest casualty was shot and killed by a stray bullet while she was studying indoors with her younger sister. Here's the memorable explanation provided by the city's chief of police: "This is just another case of someone who's mad at somebody else getting mad and firing shots."
The city's chief executive provided the same kind of leadership as the chief of police. Last Sunday the mayor invited Tyesha's family to his home to watch the Vikings game on television. One cannot be sure, but the family would probably be more grateful for an explanation of why thugs are free to roam the city carrying weapons and engaging in shootouts. Likely they are not thinking about football right now.
Perhaps the mayor was confusing them with the family of Brandon Hall. In September, the 19-year-old University of Minnesota student, who had fulfilled his dreams to attend college and play Big 10 football, was gunned down by gangsters in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. Few noted the irony that the young man had survived the perils of city life in Detroit only to lose his life within days of moving to Minneapolis to attend the university.
What is shocking, unfortunately, is not Tyesha Edwards' murder, but rather Minneapolis's impotent law enforcement bureaucracy and acquiescent political culture. The city has become a haven for gangsters, a transformation that the municipal authorities have passively endured. The reason for the silence stares us in the face.
The gangsters themselves are largely black, and Minneapolis's political culture is absorbed in a crusade against the reality that blacks are arrested and incarcerated in numbers that substantially exceed their proportion in the general population.
That the numerical racial disparities rather obviously arise from underlying racial disparities in criminal behavior is taboo — a fact (or hypothesis) that is simply banished from public discussion. The taboo is enforced with greater strictness than the Victorian taboo against referring to sex in public. One of the consequences of refusing to talk about, or even face, reality is that it obstructs clear thinking and effective action. The growing problem of murderous gangs is evidence of this.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party that has governed Minneapolis from top to bottom for 20 years holds itself out as the supreme protector of the city's minorities, blacks foremost among them. The great irony of its political culture is, of course, that law-abiding black citizens are the primary victims of the city's black gangsters.
The dogged legwork of Minneapolis police officers and homicide detectives resulted in the prompt apprehension of the suspects in the murder of Tyesha Edwards. The officers and detectives are to be thanked and congratulated. Street-level Minneapolis police officers are obviously not to blame for the infestation of gangs and lawlessness that blights Minneapolis's poorest neighborhoods.
Two of the three suspects, however, had outstanding arrest warrants at the time of Tyesha Edwards' murder; if those warrants had only been acted on prior to Nov. 22, Tyesha Edwards might very well be alive today.
The vast number of serious crimes of violence are committed by a small number of offenders who repeatedly disobey laws from jaywalking and littering to assault and murder. The suspects apprehended in the murder of Tyesha Edwards are examples of this phenomenon. Removing such offenders from the streets before they commit their most serious crimes would save lives and neighborhoods.
The deep harm that has befallen Minneapolis, of which the murder of Tyesha Edwards is a visible symbol, is not a tidal force which we are helpless to resist. As Rudy Giuliani proved within months of taking the helm in New York City, dedicated and skilled executive leadership combined with appropriate law enforcement can take back the streets and restore the city's neighborhoods to their rightful owners. The techniques used by Mayor Giuliani and his police chiefs are well known; they need only be implemented and pursued with vigor.
Mayor R.T. Rybak and the rest of the Minneapolis political establishment have before their eyes — if only they would open them — a useful model for what works, which does not include a "healer." They have accepted a moral obligation, and a sworn duty, to protect the lives of the citizens.
They are failing. They should get about their business.
Apparently, the idea of arresting violent criminals is unpalatable to the Strib, they believe the solution to violent crime is for us all to watch "Bowling for Columbine".
The Strib's editorial is here.
The black gang violence affects every major city.
Cincinnati Councilman David Pepper (the guy who recently made the news by being kidnapped in front of his house at gunpoint and then forced to withdraw money from several ATM's) is holding a public hearing on Dec. 10, at 3:00 pm and Councilman Pepper is seeking ideas to stop street corner drug sales and ways to get rid of the dealers on the street corners.
Please send me any ideas or suggestions on ways to handle the problem.
My personal opinion is any attempt to bust the "goblins" for drugs will be futile. I am going to recommend the police direct their efforts to enforce the laws against public drinking, littering and loitering. The goblins all drink, litter and Loiter where they hang out to "do business". When the Police make the arrest for the petty crimes, they will have probable cause to search for drugs.
You can send me a private reply, I do need some serious suggestions so I can "Freep" the council.
The city has finally realized the policy of "containment" just doesn't work.
Geez, I thought you were kidding about that line. But I followed your link, and darned if they don't recommend watching "Bowling for Columbine," in their editorial about this murder. That is about as tasteless as it is senseless. It belongs in some sort of Editorial Page Hall of Horrors.
Though there is a rather shocking line in the opening paragraph of the Strib editorial: "Every bullet expelled from a gun has someone's name on it, and the reprehensible people who pull triggers are guilty of inflicting misery no matter whom it hits."
Did you catch that? The Strib is saying guns don't kill people - people kill people. Of course, scroll down through the rest of the editorial and you realize the notion hasn't quite sunk in yet. But it's still fun to catch the libs tripping up and admitting the NRA is right, albeit unwittingly.
On another note, I'm fairly shocked the Pioneer Press printed the guest editorial above. Combine this with their recent electoral endorsements of Republican candidates in high profile races and it sounds like someone over there might be getting serious about becoming a real alternative paper to the Strib, instead of an echo.
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