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Floyd's Opinion
Lamenting Black on Black CrimeRichmond Times-Dispatch P.O. Box 85333 Richmond, VA 23293 Attn: Editor of the Editorial Page Dear Sir, In today’s edition of the Times-Dispatch (May 23) are two articles that beg comment. The first, on page A1, is by David Ress, Mark Holmberg, and Paige Akin titled, “City’s ‘street crime’ difficult to prosecute”. The second, on page B1, by Mr. Holmberg is titled, “Richmond, we must exorcise the ghost of Willie Lynch now”. I will begin with the first article. While the authors cite many statistics for their article they seem to overlook a primary fact. They do not mention that the majority of the crimes/murders that they lament are black-on-black crimes. Was this not deemed important information? If not, why? If it had been about white-on-black crime you can bet that fact would have been trumpeted long and loud. But, my primary concern here is that the article chronicles the b-o-b crime problem that the city faces and continues to try to deal with. In his solo effort Mr. Holmberg, to his credit, laments the frustration and futility that has been the hallmark of the city’s fight against ‘street crime’. He does indeed mention that it is a primarily black problem. He echoes my dismay and frustration, as well as that of numerous others, regarding this problem. Having pointed to these articles I now wish to ask some questions of the authors and the readers of this newspaper. Wasn’t it about two months ago that Richmond District Court Judge Ralph Robertson was run out of his job for pointing out these very problems in an Internet chat-room? Judge Robertson was lamenting this same crime problem and asking for answers as to its causes and yet the calls for his head were cacophonous. Can Mr. Holmberg expect the same treatment? To those in the black community who consistently cry about how “the man is keeping them down”, wouldn’t it make more sense to prove “the man” wrong by showing that you can indeed stop killing one another? Can we have a truly open dialogue about race relations in this city, and the country at large, without those who ask tough questions immediately being labeled a racist? As a white man I could easily step back and avoid comment on this subject, as it does not affect me directly. However, as an American and a citizen of the Commonwealth I do not wish to see any of my fellows killing each other. The stupidity and futility of it all is incomprehensible to me. And that frustration is only compounded when those of us, who point out the source of the problem, are, ourselves, attacked for daring to point out those facts. Until those who can effect change in these communities are willing to address the root causes of the problems, and make the tough decisions necessary to stop this madness, the murders will continue and the wrong people will continue to blamed for them. Sincerely, Floyd C. Bayne
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