Fear and loathing on DC's streets as summer crimewave reaches the elite

[T_i_B]

Insert comment about crimes being committed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1824587,00.html

Last week, Washington's police chief, Charles Ramsey, declared a "crime emergency" after the city registered its 14th murder since July 1, and a spate of violent robberies around Washington's most famous monuments on the Mall. As well as the steep rise in homicides, robberies are up 14% and armed assaults 18%.

For those Washingtonians whose live in a clearly defined quadrant of the city that is mainly white and affluent, Senitt's killing exposed a vulnerability. But it was, say some, a warning that a city known to outsiders for its monuments and harbours has some of the cruellest inequality in America.

Last January, a veteran journalist from the New York Times, David Rosenbaum, was beaten by robbers as he took an after-dinner stroll around his own upper-class neighbourhood in Washington DC. His treatment by ambulance attendants and emergency room personnel, who left him on a gurney for an hour without medical care, exposed a callous and shambolic emergency system. Rosenbaum died from his injuries.

William Chambliss, a sociology professor at George Washington University, notes that crime rates, in Washington as in other American cities, are cyclical. A few years of declining incidents will be followed by a few years of increased crime. But he believes Senitt's murder is a product of other forces. Over the past 25 years, as the gulf between rich and poor has widened, the divisions between rich and poor, black and white, in Washington have grown more acute.

[On the Road]

1. Maybe the Elites Have Gotten too Comfortable Living Close to Poverty

as Dave Chapelle said:

These white people today, you can't scare 'em. Used to be a crack-crazed derelict would wander down the street and suburbanites would shreik and run away. Now they'll walk up to him and say (in white person's voice) "What's the matter with you, buddy." Not always a good idea.

One of the reasons cities have been safer is greater economic opportunities for black people. Some of those gains are sliding away.

[Atman]

2. Good. I hope DC becomes unlivable for them.

I hope those living in the "clearly defined quadrant of the city that is mainly white and affluent" get assaulted on a daily basis, until they wake the hell up and realize the impact their Top 1% Policies are having on people's lives. We've already seen that the GOP elite won't act unless they are directly impacted, so maybe it's time they get a taste of what real America is going through as a result of the Steal And Plunder GOP administration.

[northzax]

4. fuck you, too

I hope that you know people who get shot and stabbed on the street as well. I hope you open your front door tomorrow morning to find someone has bled out on your front stoop. I hope you have someone hit you in the head with a brick from behind for $22. cause that's what's happening in this town right now (by the way, yes, I know all of these, one was a guy who lives two doors down from me, the doorstep was mine early on saturday morning and the brick was a guy on my softball team.)

mind if I come to your neighborhood and stab you? I mean it's only fair that your neighborhood is unlivable as well.

[Atman]

5. *yawn*

I don't hope that happens to you. Why do you hope it happens to me? Or, are you saying you're one of the Top 1% I specifically spoke of?

[northzax]

6. because most of the violence doesn't take place

in those neighborhoods. it happens in my neighborhood (which is mostly white and fairly affluent) and I was a block from the infamous stabbing in georgetown. so the city becomes unlivable for ME, not them.

[Atman]

8. I don't wish that on you, and you know it.

I feel badly for you. But my OP was pretty clearly directed at a certain group of people, not everyone in general, and you also must know that it was largely hyberbole. Being a liberal, I don't actually wish anyone in DC, or anywhere else, any harm. It may be tough given the situation down there, buy try to chill out, man, and remember...not everything you read on an internet message board should be taken literally.

[T_i_B]

10. Well you should not wish that on ANYONE

And you know that.

Do not unto to others what you would not wish done to yourself. Or is Love Thy Neighbour only for the "fundies" now?

[Atman]

12. Why aren't you reading my posts?

Being a liberal, I don't actually wish anyone in DC, or anywhere else, any harm.

What part of that was unclear?

[T_i_B]

14. Oh, I read your post

"I hope those living in the "clearly defined quadrant of the city that is mainly white and affluent" get assaulted on a daily basis"

You wrote it, not me. You quite clearly wished harm on others and I do wish that you would at least be honest about that.

[Atman]

15. So why does THAT post mean something, but not the one AFTER it?

I also said that I admitted to it being hyperbole and that I didn't actually wish harm on anyone. Right? You said you read that post, and you clearly put weight in people's words. But apparently, only selectively.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

7. Anti-Israel and Anti-American posts sure...

I see those around here every single day.

But pro-crime? That's uncommon even in the D.U.

Just do me a favor bub, and never ever even THINK of opening your yap near a registered voter. OK?

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Atman]

9. Yes, I'm pro-crime. Sure, that's it. Right.

See post number eight while you're chillin.

Hate to break it to you, though -- I'm an Assistant Registrar of Voters in my town. I'll try not to open my yap, though. Thanks for the advice. :eyes:

[T_i_B]

11. I'm sure Republicans in CT are rubbing their hands in glee

:eyes:

[Atman]

13. I'm thankful you're in Britain, too.

Hey, welcome to the snark-fest! You're it!

[Captain Hilts]

3. It's not just crimes against whites.

A wheelchair bound black man was shot and killed and that rattled people.

The stabbing at the Takoma Park metro station at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon also shocked people.