For those of you all who are tired of bringing up black on black crime or the rising murder rate here in St. Louis, then you need to sit down and have this argument with grieving parents who lost children and other loved ones.
We're just now five days into July and the murder rate already passed 100 victims here in St. Louis. Not even protests nor Covoid-19 was enough to slow everything down. Every night to every other night, there's a shooting that involves not only the shooters but people getting caught up in the crossfire. Many of the victims ended up being children and young adults getting caught up in the crossfire.
I have a longtime friend (I won't name out of respect for the family) who lost her daughter May 30 over a road rage incident that didn't even involve her. However that didn't stop her from getting shot in the crossfire and killed. Police only arrested one of the suspects with four more still at large. We have lost too many friends and family members due to gun violence and it's getting old. Year after year, it seems we're trying to get the number up. In one of my last blogs, I focused on the mayor and the police.
Yes the mayor and the police are huge contributors of the problem. The police are not doing enough to handle the murders and they can always do more. Yes, instead of harassing innocent black men and women, they need to focus on real crimes. I don't have blinders on. I know there are corrupt police but not all police are corrupt or lazy. There are good officers but it's a matter of having enough of them to help.
It's easy for someone to say they're tired of people bringing up Black on Black crime in the same breath of Black Lives Matter. How can we expect the police to take us seriously if we don't take each other seriously. We let personal beefs and other ignorant reasons mess up our neighborhoods. We need to stop thinking of ourselves and think of the loved ones left behind after these murders. We are losing so many of us in the hand of the police to continue taking our own lives.
We owe these grieving families an apology. Even if we're the ones not pulling the trigger, we who contribute to the violence need to apologize. Those of us who won't help the police because it's considered snitching need to apologize. Those of us who get mad for even bringing it up need to apologize. I say this because while some of us act as if we're immune are the first ones demanding justice when it happen to us. I want us to reduce the numbers greatly and seek justice for those loved ones who died.
St. Louis is a beautiful city with a lot of history and great businesses. It's one of the most affordable places to live in the country. North St. Louis has the most potential. There are so many abandoned buildings and storefronts to where if we put our resources together, we could end up owning blocks at a time. With all of the foreclosures for pennies on the dollar and the one-dollar abandoned homes, we can all come together fix up properties and make our communities livable again.
We can't always wait on the mayor or our local leadership to do anything. There are programs available everywhere that helps with home and business ownership through classes and grants/small loans. For those who are looking to further their education to get a job, you can also try the Business Training Center in Grandel Square. There is no excuse for not growing. There is no reason why we can't grow up and strive as a people without all of the guns and violence. The only reason we should be using guns is for protection of our households and families.