Friday Follies...
OK, first off, I stand CORRECTED.
Wednesday's shooting of a father of 2 on the S/E side of Fort Wayne (where ELSE?) was ruled the SIXTEENTH homicide of the year, not the seventeenth (but if the vic of the 2nd shooting, who is currently in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds DIES, then we WILL be at 17).

I didn't mean to place the cart before the horse here...just thinking ahead...something one learns to become adept at around THIS part of the city's "hood".

So I hope all you that have betting pools are set back to rights on the body count.

I'm still saying we're probably going to tickle THIRTY homicides again.

Detroit...here we come.
Alrighty, then...let's have at it.

Let the pigeons loose!
King (...I mean MAYOR, but "It's Good to be KING") Tom Henry took his evening constitutional on the city's SOUTHEAST side yesterday, curiously right on the heels of these two latest shootings.

The timing was impeccable.
Of course, what they showed on TV was the usual pablum we've all come to hear, know and love.
What I did find disturbing was what councilman Glynn Hines had to say on camera.
Actually, it kind of cheesed me the hell off.
He said: "When those acts (the 2 shootings) happen, it affects the community because it gives the perception of a lot of violence,"
(...Ahem)
Here's the link to the story at WANE:

http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=8808785&nav=0RYb

Sorry Glynn....WRONG again!
It's not the PERCEPTION of crime...it's the actual EVENTUALITY OF CRIME, Glynn, old buddy.
There IS a lot of violence, and not just what gets reported on the FWPD blotter.
Take off the blinders, pal, and get a good hard look at your community.
it really ticks me off to NO end when people talk about other peoples' "perception".
I suppose it was the "perception" of Phil Marx that there was crime in his neighborhood when those molotovs came at his house, JUST AS MUCH as my "perception" was when a brick came through my window.
I suppose it's our "perception" that there is crime, when in fact ALL the DRUG DEALS we are witness to every month in OUR neighborhoods are merely church-goers exchanging hymnals through a car window...yeah, right. I love fairy tales, don't you?
Sorry, Glynn, but just because I'm NOT BLACK, doesn't mean I don't see and hear things relating to criminal activity, or witness bad behavior on the part of YOUR people (as well as other ethnicities).

Good, decent blacks should be INCENSED over the crime on their streets.

And I grow damn weary of this constant "disconnect" these city politicians have with what is REALLY GOING DOWN.
I would have thought that councilman Hines was made of sterner stuff, but my "perception" of his comments tells me his head is still FIRMLY planted in the sand (I'm being way too kind with where his head is planted here). on the issue of REAL vs PERCEIVED crime.
Well, it's not my perception of his comments...it's basically that he too is living a lie when it comes to acknowledging that HIS community MIGHT BE AT FAULT.
He must have went to the Michael Latham School for Racial Obfuscation.
And no doubt graduated Summa Cum Laude!
Now I could go off on a tangent about the philosophy of perception, and I could even prove that everyone has ELEVEN fingers, but I won't even wander into the realm of flawed logic...that's for POLITICIANS, not for those of us seeking or speaking the truth.
When it comes to race relations, everyone seems to not want to talk about any kind of problem regarding ANY race...we all lump crime into one huge, honking basket and let it go. The fact of the matter is that there is crime in EVERY race, going back as far as Cain & Abel, but using the blanket of crime to cover the sins of a particular race (or races) doesn't serve to diminish the problem.

It exacerbates it.
Now just suppose the majority of the black community took a HARSH stance against crime and criminals of their OWN race, making it so damn difficult for these thugs to operate. Imagine the family unit intact once again in vast numbers within that community, promoting good, solid ethics, values and morality to their children, so they can pass it along.
It might not be Utopia, but it would make one HELLUVA impact on crime, especially against that minority of that community that is committing ALL the crime in the first place.
Well, why aren't the black leaders doing just that?
I don't know...you tell me.

Now, I'm not a sociology or anthropology or psychology major by any means, but I do know what I see and hear, and can make informed conclusions based on what my senses tell me, coupled with accumulated knowledge through reading, and I can say that what I see around me sure as hell isn't normal, by any stretch of the imagination.
-I'd challenge Glynn to show what he means by perception when he sees some youth loading a .25 cal pistol on a street corner.

-Or maybe he'd like to describe his perception when he sees one of his people stop at an intersection, open the car door, toss some trash in the street, and take a piss alongside the car, before driving away?

-Perhaps Glynn could expound on his perception of what it means to stop one's car on a street, take a kilo of a packaged white substance from under the hood and then drive off? -Maybe Mr. Hines would elucidate as to the perception of certain street corners with more foot and car traffic that Glenbrook Mall during the holidays?
These are questions that we shouldn't have to ask of our city leaders...they should be ASKING THEMSELVES these questions, or at least asking them of US.

And they should be finding ANSWERS.
Because as we ALL know...
If they're NOT part of the SOLUTION...
They are part of the PROBLEM.

But problems CAN be solved.

Right?
Do have a SAFE weekend, everyone.