Snitches Get Stitches

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So, I decided to read the paper as a distraction this morning and of course the front page news is the arrest of the man that is believed to be the guy who gunned down 8 people in a Buffalo Nightclub.

(Then you wonder why I read the Ladies Home Journal).

And there were a number of references to the fact that the police had a difficult time collecting evidence because people just don't want to rat out others. The neighborhood code being that snitches get stitches, or end up in a body bag.

And what is even more disconcerting is that there have been demonstrations burning the Buffalo News because there was a story about the victims having criminal records. Evidently, that should not have been a part of the story.

I do agree that having a crime on your record is not cause to be gunned down, but The News didn't do it - they were just reporting. Reporting the negative, sure, but I read the article and it wasn't slanted to say that the victims deserved their fate. It was a fair account.

Don't think that there is not a sub city at work here. The laws of the land do not apply in the world where this gunman was living. He was working under his own set of rules and the rules of the street. The people who don't want to talk to the cops are abiding by the same rules, and that is scary at best.

So, what happens now? Politicians talk about cleaning the streets, giving the kids something to do. Activists tell us it wasn't the fault of the felons and the gang members, and no one tells on the next guy...and there is more retribution.

I really do remember being 18 years old and full of piss and vinegar and yelling that there had to be a shift in the thought process so that we could educate the people living in the sub city and break the chain of violence.

Sounds good, right? I was ready to do it all by myself. I failed miserably, obviously.

But I drive around the city now and I go for the locks on my doors a lot more than I used to. I don't stop for a coffee on the East side, or on the West side, or in the Black Rock district, and now even have to think about it downtown.

I don't want to turn a blind eye, but I find myself wondering if it is a problem that can ever be solved.

It's hard to live with lawlessness on the streets, but talking about who did what to who can get you killed while you eat your dinner.

Pretty scary.

Where the hell is my Home Journal?

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