Richmond Times-Dispatch P.O. Box 85333 Richmond, VA 23293 Attn: Editor of Editorial Page

Dear Sir,

I write regarding the Crime Summit meetings that are once again gracing the local headlines.

All right, that’s it, I cannot remain silent any longer. Once again we see our local Government officials posing and strutting for the cameras under the guise of trying to do something about the crime/murder problem here in Richmond. Has anyone been keeping count? Exactly how many of these useless summits have we had in recent years? How many more must we endure before the problems are solved?

The problems will never be solved as long as everyone involved continues to dance around the root cause of the problems we face as a society. Here in Richmond and elsewhere. When I say everyone I mean the politicians, the businesses, the police, and the victims. That’s right, the victims!

Now understand that I fully realize that by presenting my opinion on this I will automatically be labeled a racist and a hate-monger. Why I can just see the knees jerking now! But, I come by this opinion after years of watching, listening, and working in and around the very problems and people that we are concerned with. My business is located in south Richmond in a neighborhood where four of the most recent murders have taken place. It is also just one block away from one of the largest open-air drug markets in Richmond. This being on Afton Ave.

In reading the recent news stories and hearing the soundbites on the TV and radio news I am struck by the same chord I have seen and heard many times before from American citizens today, what are you (the government) going to do to solve this problem? I would submit that it is the government we have had to endure for the past thirty years that has created the atmosphere that encourages criminal behavior. But that’s another topic.

What I have not heard addressed or asked is this simple question of the residents who live in these crime infested areas, what are you going to do to help yourselves and our collective society be rid of this scourge? That’s right, what are you going to do!? The same people who want a police officer on every street corner are the same one’s who heckle the police when they make an arrest in their neighborhood. They curse the police, throw things at them, shoot at them, and generally try to obstruct the officers in the performance of their duties. Please people, do not insult my intelligence and say that it does not happen, I know whereof I speak.

These same people will not call the police to report a drug dealer. They will not testify against them. They will not turn in a known murderer. We hear many reasons for this attitude. I am scared, they may kill me. I ain’t gonna drop a dime on a brother. and many others, all of which lead to the same conclusion, crime runs amuck. To those people I would say simply this, there are many types of slavery, that which is imposed upon you and that which you impose upon yourself.

Why are you not trying to make the criminals afraid of you instead of you being afraid of them? Call the police, testify against them, put them in jail, and if need be protect yourself and your family. Instead of asking for government handouts and a police officer on every corner, solicit your representatives to change the lenient laws that allow the criminals to laugh at the police and the courts. MAKE THEM AFRAID! Remind your representatives that the FIRST RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT IS THE PROTECTION OF THE CITIZENS FROM THOSE WHO WOULD HARM THEIR PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS! This means keeping criminals in jail and away from law abiding citizens. It also means that you, the residents, must exercise your responsibility as members of a free society to help the police in their efforts to help you. A police officer cannot be on very street corner and witness every crime, but a great many private citizens can and do. These people must step forward and show the courage to break these chains of fear which they have allowed to be placed upon them. You an only be a victim of the type mentioned if you allow yourself to be. MAKE THE CRIMINALS AFRAID!

The bottom line is this - YOU THE CITIZENS MUST TAKE BACK YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS! STOP RELYING ON THE GOVERNMENT FOR EVERYTHING YOU NEED AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELVES! This is America for God’s sake! Criminals do not have a right to subjugate the law abiding. NO MORE EXCUSES PEOPLE, GET TO WORK!

Sincerely,

Floyd C. Bayne