Race Baiting
Across the United States there is a debate about immigration. Every community faces its. This blog has seen it in regards to the Cedar Lane Shopping Center. And if everyone pauses for just a minute...they will see that while the immigration debate today is about those of Hispanic origin, 100 years ago it was about Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. Bottom line, things will work out as we all head toward a mixed gene pool in the centuries to come where every last person will be Mulatto. Now shift gears back to reality and consider this excerpt from the wires that makes an interesting point with hard numbers:
African-Americans are victims of nearly half the murders committed in the United States despite making up only 13 percent of the population, a report published Thursday showed. Around 8,000 of nearly 16,500 murder victims in 2005, or 49 percent, were black Americans, according to the report released by the statistics bureau of the Department of Justice. Broken down by gender, 6,800 black men were murdered in 2005, making up more than half the nearly 13,000 male murder victims. Black women made up 35 percent, or 1,200, of the nearly 3,500 female homicide victims. Young black men aged between 17 and 29 bore a disproportionately high burden in the grim statistics, making up 51 percent of African-American murder victims.
Is the messenger of these statistics a racist? Should these numbers be ignored? What should be done with them? Now bring it back to the Cedar Lane Shopping Center and one big question comes up: what are the numbers? If we find a preponderance of crime is coming from a mostly immigrant Hispanic area of Vienna, then the Vienna government with limited Policing resources needs to be aware of those statistics.
If there is a significant crime increase at or near the Cedar Lane Shopping Center it doesn't make any sense for the Vienna Police to increase patrols on the other side of Vienna where there has been no increase in crime...just to make some people feel better that there is some form of equality in evaluating crime statistics that are inherently unequal. There is a balance to be had. Everyone is not a bad guy, but there are bad guys and they need to go. There has to be better solutions than the most recent debate on this blog?
Comments
I completely agree that if there is crime in a particular area of Vienna, the police should step up patrols and investigations in that area. As a taxpaying citizen, I expect and appreciate it.
I absolutely don't think the statistics on African Americans should be ignored. You're right about 100 years ago also - it used to be Irish immigrants that everyone hated. Police in Boston probably increased their patrols too. And then (to continue this example) the Irish immigrants were assimilated - a lot of them actually joined the police forces in Boston and New York, right? One problem now is that it seems to be much more difficult for immigrants to become legal and to assimilate.
I'm a liberal. It shapes my world view. I think if we addressed some of the economic underpinnings of social problems, we'd get somewhere. This is in addition to addressing crime - I want bad guys arrested. I would pay higher taxes in order for these things to happen. I don't want to raise my kids in a dangerous place. I firmly feel that Vienna is not a dangerous place.
Posted by: anothermomof3 | April 14, 2008 08:38 AM
It's not about race for me.
If these men were a bunch of white blond haired scandinavians illegally in the US, I'd still be angry that their behaviour and activities negatively impact the neighborhood.
The fact is that the Vienna TC is happy to let this part of Vienna degrade. We need to ask "why?"
Posted by: Patrick St. Resident | April 14, 2008 09:14 AM
Nice responses. Now everyone, if you want to yell about the issue, there is another thread on this blog for that. If you want to keep in constructive, keep it here on this thread.
Posted by: HV | April 14, 2008 11:00 AM
The people who run Vienna are not equipped with the talents to make proper planning decisions for the area. Walk into the Town Zoning office for the first time -- it's like a time warp back 50 years ago. While Vienna is not a small Town logistically, it's government is run like Mayberry. Want to know a zoning issue in Vienna? They actually go to a hand written card catalog to "look" it up. Not exactly progressive. The political reality? Not enough people are negatively impacted by the "running down" of the Cedar Lane area for the VTC to worry about "votes". Also, the Vienna Town Council would never consider progressive zoning changes there as those progressive zoning changes would then apply to other parts of Vienna...and ladies and gentleman if Vienna starts to "change" or improve any of its commercial areas the odds are very high that dinosaur politicians now in control like Maud and Jane will finally permanently fossilize...and trust me they are not going to do anything that would possibly cause them to lose power. So sadly, being on VTC is not about improvement or achievement...it's about sitting in those chairs lording over the minions...doing the same nothing over and over year after year. At the end of the day if the VTC were all analyzed by Dr. Phil we would learn that they are insecure people who love, after a lifetime of not doing much personally, that they now get to feel powerful and important. Can anyone really tell me this analysis is wrong?
Posted by: HV | April 14, 2008 11:10 AM
HV - do you know what kind of zoning laws are already on the books? Is this a matter of enforcing laws that are already in place, or enacting new laws? I agree - trying to get anything out of this town's officials is a horrible experience.
In the upcoming election, the key players are unopposed, right? That's part of the larger problem. It's partly our fault as voters that the TC is so unresponsive and unopposed.
Posted by: anothermomof3 | April 14, 2008 01:24 PM
As but one example...consider: The Town of Vienna has a board that regulates the appearance of commercial buildings and signs. The entire legal language that dictates what can be done in Vienna comes down to one interpretive, squishy, subjective word...garish.
All of the design in Vienna is thus made up on the fly by political cronies depending on whether they think something is "garish" or not. There are NO guidelines, rules, standards, colors, styles - NOTHING. If you read the Code it says the Board is charged to prevent "garishness". That's it, that's all it says.
So after 30 years of that is it a surprise that Vienna is a hodge podge with no soul, style or substance architecturally or design wise? Sure, a few people come along without Town assistance and design nice buildings (see new ones on Church Street), but more often than not our main commercial areas are gross. You probably don't want to really know more!
Posted by: HV | April 14, 2008 03:46 PM
HV the businesses on Maple Avenue are not Gross. They are housed in fine cinder block stalls.
Posted by: Wyltn | April 14, 2008 05:15 PM
I read recently that the governor of New Jersey is forcing small towns to consolidate in order to operate more efficiently. the incompetence of small town governments is probably fairly universal. Vienna is a shining example.
Posted by: anne smith | April 15, 2008 09:36 AM
The real-time costs of illegal immigration.
Posted by: Empty Pockets | April 15, 2008 12:52 PM
The real life way some illegals benefit this country
Posted by: Minerva | April 16, 2008 12:52 PM