On Urban Crime

Let me start this latest blog post in THE NO CHILL ZONE by strongly denouncing the killing of Randolph Holder, an NYPD housing officer in East Harlem last night.  He is the fourth New York City police officer to die in the last eleven months (barely a year!) Now we know that the suspect in the officer's death was a hardened criminal who had no business being out on the streets.

I am going to reiterate what I said after the deaths of two other officers, killed in an ambush just days before Christmas last year...  Things are going to get harder for people of color in New York City.  And you know why?  Because it is the few idiots in our communities that ruin things for the majority, who are decent, law abiding citizens.

I personally don't get the allure of gang life.  As a post on Facebook I've seen says, "The streets don't love you.  They just take you away from people who do."

I grew up in the South Bronx, in the late 1980s and throughout the 90s.  The neighborhood was awful with violent crime rampant in the streets.  One day, some knucklehead pulled out a gun and started shooting in the air inside a playground adjacent to the housing project I was living in, with no regard to the children playing outside whatsoever.

One night, when I was little, some thug shot his gun off the roof of the building across from mine, and one of the bullets struck the kitchen window.  If the window wasn't double sided, there is the possibility that someone could have been hurt or killed.

Last night's tragedy should be a wake up call to all those who embrace the thug culture and stereotypes.  They could end up in jail, or dead.

It is a shame.  Another family without a husband, a father, a son, and why?  Because of criminals ruining neighborhoods and communities of color.

We must take our communities back from those wanting to cause trouble.  We must send a clear and strong message that this behavior will not be tolerated.  Lest we hear of more tragedies such as the passing of Officer Holder.