I just read an email that came in while I was on vacation, which I share below.
But first, as background, I live in an urban area which, if you look at election statistics or have been involved as I have been, you would know that at least 80% of its residents are against our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, vehemently despise the military, hate Bush, think Petraeus is an idiot, believe there is never cause for war, never for taking up arms, ever, etc. etc.
In my city, there is not one single conservative candidate in ANY elected office -- not city, state, national--not even on the Library Board. (Yet they blame the city's woes on Conservatives.)
Here is the police notice email that I received.
"On Sunday, October 21st, a park officer responded to a disturbance call to the park. When he arrived, he observed a group of Sureno 13 gang members having a meeting. The officer noted that the garbage can nearby appeared to have been moved. When he checked under it, he located a loaded revolver. The group was then all searched, ID’d, and released. No further weapons were found. The gun was inventoried and will be held for prints.
But the main reason for my email is to have you possibly share this with your email lists/block club leaders especially the ones located very closely to the park grounds. We need all their help and assistance to deter this type of activity in our neighborhood. They apparently have been meeting a majority of the time during the late weekend hours (when the park is not open and no staff are present)."
About a year ago, I attended a neighborhood crime meeting scheduled with the police which had as its agenda to figure out ways to have a greater presence in the neighborhood, to work collaboratively with the police, to deter crime. I was willing to volunteer for the activities involved. Prior to this meeting, I had noticed subtle indications that gangs were inching their way into my neighborhood. This obviously alarmed me, because gangs inch at first, then come full speed. You have to stop them at the inch, otherwise they come to roost and kill.
But I was the only one that attended the meeting other than the neighborhood coordinator and the cop. And I'm not about to guard the streets against Sureno 13 myself.
Most folks in this city think Iraq should be fixed sooner. That our troops should be able to get it under control. They believe that there isn't a reason to be there. That Iraq isn't our job. That there isn't a problem in Iraq that we need to care enough about to do anything. In their eyes, the military can't fix any of it anyway because they believe the military is packed with bumbling numskulls. They argue the entire military effort is a big slow expensive useless waste.
I'm not making those comments up, just tune in for one second in this city and you will hear these opinions a thousand times over. But if you quote them on it, then they'll put up a sign, "I support troops, bring them home."
Yet, I ask...if Iraq is so straight forward as they say, then why, in a city controlled entirely by individuals who share that opinion, aren't our streets safer? Why can't they keep the gang activity out of the park in which I run? How come they can't stop the kid from getting shot to death down the block from where I live? How come the kids who knew what happened were too afraid to give evidence to the police? How come when I showed up for Jury Duty, the cases I was to be seated for were all murder, one was a gang member who blew the heads off, literally, of his opposition in a pre-planned "hit"? How come they can't stop the gang tagging graffiti and instead of stopping it, just hand me a few handy toxic chemical "wipes" and tell me I'm supposed to remove the graffiti myself because they can't stop it? How come the North end of this city isn't under control YET?
So, according to them, Iraq should be stabilized quickly, easily, just put a deadline a couple months out. But in their own back yard, they say the problems are big, are going to take a while, and given that it really isn't their problem, they don't have to show up to crime meetings in their own city? On the battles of urban areas, it seems many of them take the same stance as they do on Iraq and Afghanistan -- the battle against violence and thugs just isn't worth showing up for. It isn't worth any effort. It isn't worth any personal sacrifice, not their sacrifice anyway.
Gratefully, at least in Iraq and Afghanistan we have a leaders, General Petraeus and others, who are successfully reducing injustice, violence, crime. I can vouch for the fact that, back home, not even my little liberal city has done that.
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