The N&R’s Doug Clark says we should be as outraged over the 30 murders in Greensboro in one year as we are over the 32 that took place at Virginia Tech in two hours:
So, where is it that a death toll of similar proportions elicits so much less public grief, anger and reflection?
Greensboro, where 30 homicides were committed during 2006. And 32 the year before. …
The difference is that Greensboro’s murders don’t happen in a horrifying bloodbath. It’s more like a slow, steady stream of killing, rarely even two at a time. More like two or three a month. But at the end of the year, it adds up to the same amount of blood, the same number of funerals, as many devastated loved ones.
Clark doesn’t have any concrete answers to the problem. Unfortunately, neither does Police Chief Tim Bellamy:
“Some listen and straighten out their lives,” Bellamy said. “Some don’t. … Sometimes you just can’t change a person.”
Bellamy, a veteran of the Greensboro force, goes back a long way with some criminals and their families. He’s known some adult offenders since they were in trouble as kids. Sometimes he remembers a young offender’s father or uncle.
“Some of this stuff is hereditary,” he said, also citing “environment and culture.”
So the bottom line is everybody knows something needs to be done, but nothing seems to be working. Clark says the effort needs to start with “shock and anger.” Good idea, but some serious time behind bars might be a better idea. All this makes the thought of a new jail look pretty good, doesn’t it?
