One of my students told me that police took 14 guns off the streets of Harlem last night. This after the annual African-American Day Parade. Seven people were shot (give or take one or two). This isn’t in any of today’s papers. Say what?!
The parade ended in the afternoon. The tough kids come out at night. Between 11pm and 2am, people were walking around with guns, shooting them in the air. And this right by uniformed officers. Plain-clothed officers would tackle the kids. Policing is dangerous work. Be safe.
Tuesday Update:
For some coverage (it’s nice to know I didn’t make this whole thing up), see:
The comments at uptown flavor and hip-hop Republican (thanks for the links, DJK).
And there’s this video on You Tube. Nothing too exciting. There’s a gun shot at 1min and police response to it. And I’m reminded how much I hate police helicopters.
So why wasn’t the crazy night a news story? I don’t know. Conservatives love bashing the liberal media. See, they say, it’s un-politically correct to talk about the annual shootings after the African-American Day Parade. I don’t buy it. News is still news and if it bleeds, it leads. Besides, not even the conservativemedia covered it. Nothing in the Post. Nothing on Fox News. Some feel the media (and most white folk) simply doesn’t care about black-on-black crime and what goes on in Harlem. I’m more inclined to that position.
Wednesday Update:
Read all my posts on these shootings and check out my book, Cop in the Hood.
“Grand opening…grand closing”
Chris Rock
I wonder how many of those 14 guns were legally owned.
hiphoprepublican.blogspot.com/2008/09/harlem-shooting-annual-african-american.html
uptownflavor.com/2006/09/18/african-american-day-parade-wrap-up/ SEE COMMENTS
Yup, that’s about it. Was this just not covered by the MSM. Do they have something to hide?
Seems like news to me.
I can assure you that none of the guns were legally owned.
I asked my student what would happen to the shooters (all of them 16-25 years old, he said). There are posters about how gun crimes = automatic 3.5-years in prison. He said nothing. If it’s a first offense, a judge says, “don’t do it again.” Then they return to the streets with more street cred, having beaten the system.
(And why yes, it does bother me to have anti-Obama logos on my website. But I will cope; I will abide.)
That’s strange…because David Olofson had one accident where his AR (Sport Utility Rifle) fired multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger at a shooting range. Nobody hurt…just a faulty part. He’s in prison now.
Hoodlums get a slap on the wrist. Law abiding bumpkin….off to prison. WTF?
Maybe people just don’t care about those places/people anymore. They don’t seem to care about themselves. People just might be tired of seeing the people there not strive to do better, to “come up” without killing to do so. So, out of sight, out of mind, maybe. No coverage.
Obama/Biden will make even MORE gun laws that the bad guys won’t follow….but the good guys will. So, it’ll just make these “parades” even more crazy and dangerous. No fear of reprisal or self defense by the victims….they KNOW they don’t have guns…they’re illegal.
Or Obama/Clinton – depending on whose story you believe.
Now, maybe..JUST MAYBE, if they actually enforced some of those mandatory sentences, we’d see some of these kids think twice. But nope…they you’re losing a voter. Can’t take people out of the voting pool.
Hey saw youre link in the comments section over at HipHopRepublican.conm what I can not figure out is how is it that this could happen and the news was silent. It was like a war outside that day and no news. Do you think community activist shut the news down so not to spoil the parades image?I live in 123 and Lexintion near Marcus Garvey Park…this shit has to stop.
This is crazy!
Cops have guns. Cops were there. That didn’t stop these kids.
This shit is crazy.
I didn’t remove any comment. It’s either yet to appear or you might have closed the window before clicking “publish” (I do that sometimes).
The uniformed cops did care. They just didn’t see it. It was very crowded and chaotic.
It was simply that my source couldn’t believe how brazen these kids were to be shooting guns in the air so close to uniformed police officers.
Maybe the people of your neighborhood should start telling the local judiciary to actually punish these scumbags instead of coddling them. I see people getting SO ANGRY at the cops for busting their angelic nephews/sons who were really just starting to get their lives straight… They don’t believe that lil’ Johnny shot lil’ Samuel in the face over $5. Never, not Johnny. “He’s in the church choir” etc.
BS, burn these scumbags and then teach their siblings and children how to be good, responsible, accountable people.
There needs to be negative ramifications for their negative actions….not a slap on the wrist and then the “street cred” that PCM speaks of.
PCM, My Apologies…it was sitting here waiting for me to hit go.
Maybe those cops don’t care. Maybe those cops were only minutes away when the seconds counted. Who knows. But, you said it….all they’ll get is a slap on the wrist.
Where’s the deterrent?
The guns aren’t the problem…it’s the people that are the problem.