Tales From The SOUTH Side...
When you live in a part of a city that was ONCE a nice place to live and raise a family, but have seen it decline over a dozen or so years, you develop a keen sense as to WHY it has occurred, as well as a unique perspective when it comes to the people that now frequent streets that used to be filled with real neighbors that took care of their properties, looked out for one another, and basically were good old "salt-of-the-earth" kinda folk.
Can't say that is the case around here these days...
Welcome friends to another edition of my "tales" from the ghettohood (south side) of Fort Wayne.
So, sit back, relax, pour another cup of whatever twists your Twinkies, and enjoy another chapter of this ongoing "saga".
Society has become DESENSITIZED...!
There, I said it...I believe it, and that settles it.
Go ahead...say it yourself. Say it out loud.
"Society has become desensitized."
(don'cha feel better already?)
We are privy to more crime, and especially more VIOLENT crime and aberrant behavior than ever before.
And it doesn't have to be of the Taliban kind, either.
We've got loons in 3 Midwest states (the Hutaree Militia, who "claim" to be a CHRISTIAN militia...whatta crock of BS) who were plotting to kill a LEO and then drop some IEDs (pipe bombs) at the funeral. How frigging sick is that? And all of these recently arrested people, were "home-grown".
Fortunately, they were "headed off at the pass", by federal agents.
Sorry, but sitting around, waiting for the Antichrist to show up, and trying to off some police officer and terrorize a funeral isn't MY idea of "Christian" behavior...not one damn bit.
We've also got kids in school (in Massachusetts) that bullied (which the school had known about, but did not act upon) and eventually raped a young girl also attending the school, who couldn't take it any longer, so she went home and hanged herself.
We've got gangs roaming and terrorizing our streets (the Chicago mobs a while back), as well as these "flash mobs" in Philly that see fit to accost and assault innocent people.
We watch this on TV, or read about it in the paper, and we all go "that's disgusting", or "that's pathetic", but then, we seem to move on along, like we're being ushered away to the next sensational thing to happen.
Now, within the last 72 hours here in Fort Wayne, we've also had some goings-on.
(( The Journal-Gazette / 30 March 2010 -
On Monday, Fort Wayne police released the name of a man who was critically wounded over the weekend when he was shot while inside his car.
Larry Milton, 23, of Fort Wayne, was later upgraded to serious condition, police said. Milton was shot in his car in the 4600 block of South Park Drive about 11:30 p.m. Friday.
As he parked his car two houses from his friend's home, another vehicle pulled alongside his, and someone inside opened fire, police said.
Milton ran to his friend's house, where police found him suffering from gunshot wounds. No arrests have been made in the shooting, and police have not commented on a motive. ))
This comes on the heels of ANOTHER such shooting a few weeks ago...in the SAME part of the city (and near enough to US to warrant concern). Seems you can't just SIT in your car in MY part of town after the sun sets...can you?
But if that's not enough, how's about THIS story?
(( Man dies after hail of gunfire - 6 to 10 shots reported; police unsure of motive
Holly Abrams - The Journal Gazette
The apparent shooting death of a man on the city's south side Monday night will be investigated as a homicide by Fort Wayne police.
Officers were called just before 9:30 p.m. Monday to the 7900 block of Serenity Drive, just off of Decatur Road, for a report of gunshots fired. When police arrived, they found a man in his early 20s suffering from apparent gunshot wounds in a grassy area just north of an apartment building at 7942 Serenity Drive, said officer Scott Tegtmeyer, a police spokesman.
The man was critically wounded when police arrived. Before reaching a hospital by ambulance, he was pronounced dead, Tegtmeyer said.
His identity has not been released, pending an autopsy.
Police roped off Serenity Drive, which houses the Arbors of South Towne Square Apartments on the south side and the Centennial Townhomes on the north side. Crime scene investigators examined the grassy area where the wounded man was found and took photographs of the same area.
They used a metal detector to look for gun shell casings and other evidence, Tegtmeyer said."Anything we find is spectacular," he said, adding that police were also looking for personal belongings of the man.
Police believe the shooting occurred outside the apartment building, but it was unclear whether the shooter left on foot or in a vehicle or even whether the shooter left, Tegtmeyer said. Police said Monday night they had no motive or any suspect information.
Police dispatchers originally received several 911 calls about gunshots being fired. One caller reported hearing at least six. Then a caller reported seeing someone lying near the street, police said.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots, some as many as 10, but said they did not see anyone leaving the area after hearing the gunshots. ))
This makes HOMICIDE # 9 (so far) this year in Fort Wayne - TEN HOMICIDES for the COUNTY (overall), IF you're keeping score.
Some time ago, I mentioned that this area was SO inappropriately named ("Serenity" Drive - anything BUT serene), as it was replete with much the same characters as could be found by Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker at Mos Eisley Spaceport...
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.", said Obi-Wan.
I swear he was talking about the 7900 block of SERENITY DRIVE in fort Wayne!
There is not a day goes by where you DON'T hear (on the PD radio) about SOMETHING going down there...ususally multiple calls PER DAY.
(Must be ALL those ethnics the city has crammed into those once-nice apartment complexes.)
And on most ANY night (around the "witching hour" aka midnight), you will see on the FWPD blotter a signal *113* (shots fired).
Some nights, the missus and I can hear them, other nights...not at all.
Now, a while back, when I was purchasing my PT 145 pistol at a local gun store, "we" ( I was with a member of the FWPD at the time) noticed a rather odd person enter the store. What struck ME as odd was that this person looked like a "typical homeboy", complete with saggy jeans, dreadlocks and some shirt that looked like it had either Bob Marley or Che Guevara on it.
And he was asking if there was any .223 ammo available. The store owner looked him up and down (as did I, and my officer friend), and told him no, he was out of it. The young man left.
Seems that a few nights prior, there was some ".223 activity" in the neighborhood...someone was using an assault rifle in the area, and the store owner didn't wish to be part and parcel to that, and I can't say I blame him.
And this store is less than 3 minutes from my house.
You can just TELL who is "wrong" for a normal society after a while...it's that simple.
But, as I stated above, so many others have become desensitized to this.
We take it all in stride. Sure, we may decry the fact that "some thing evil this way comes", but all too soon, we move on, shrugging our shoulders.
The desensitization is never more obvious than in minority communities.
This is NOT to say it doesn't occur in neighborhoods of other ethnic persuasions...it DOES, but it only receives the coverage it deserves when it becomes GOOD COPY for the drive-by media.
All too often, in minority neighborhoods, what normal folks would consider a problem (such as loud noise, litter, drug dealing and usage, prostitution, rape and robbery...to name but a few) is looked at with nonchalance, as if this is how the area is SUPPOSED to function (if one were to assign dysfunction TO a function).
And it's in these areas that the police are looked upon with scorn and disrespect, as if to say THEY are the ones that are "coming down" on the people when, in fact, all they are doing is upholding the LAW as it pertains to EVERYONE.
Some people in these neighborhoods aren't all "warm and fuzzy" with THAT.
They much prefer to handle things "themselves", until it gets out of hand, or some CARING person decides enough is truly enough and calls in the "5-0".
There may be plenty of room for sub-cultures in tribal communities along a feces-filled river in some third world nation, but NOT IN AMERICA.
We are BETTER than that, and we have proven it over the course of our history.
Sure, this nation has made mistakes, but has learned from them.
We have however become unhitched from the wagon of reason of late.
We've allowed a forced sense of (over) TOLERANCE to abound, where we seem to take damn near anything and everything in stride.
That's not to say we don't have ANY people that care any longer...we certainly do.
But we've pushed them to the back of the line in the name of "diversity".
Time to get those voices heard once again.
Time to hold everyone who is capable of being held responsible...EQUALLY responsible, AND accountable...with NO exceptions.
When a society does become desensitized to ANY aspect of the human condition (good OR bad), we diminish ourselves as a people in ways we cannot fathom.
Better for us, AS a society to be a lot more "sensitive" to the problems people face.
We've got too many issues that we slough off as inconsequential, when we should be paying the hell attention.
Because ANY of the situations that are mentioned above CAN happen to any one of us...at ANY time.
Better to remove the cause of such problems. Better to educate people as to how to conduct oneself, how to resolve problems before they have a chance to occur, and how to appreciate the rights you are given from God, while not treading on the rights of others along the way.
THAT is a plan for sensitivity...and sensibility...for everyone.
Be well, make a difference today, and...
Stay safe out there, America.