Mayor Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore reacts to rising murder rates there…
Rawlings-Blake said her motivation for replacing Batts was a spike in murders during the past month and not a police union report criticizing her and Batts for the April riots after Freddie Gray was fatally injured while in police custody…
“We cannot grow Baltimore without making our city a safer place to live,” the mayor said at a news conference. “We need a change. This was not an easy decision, but it is one that is in the best interest of the people of Baltimore. The people of Baltimore deserve better.”
To which I say: mayor, fire thyself.
As for the spike in murder, it is shared by a number of other cities in the US, among them Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans. Much of this rise has occurred after the Michael Brown (St. Louis area), and then the Freddie Gray (Baltimore) incidents. If you wonder whether something else might be causing it other than rising black anger and police frustration and reluctance to patrol because of a lack of support from municipal government, a piece that appeared in June at FiveThirtyEight (which tends to be liberal) on the statistics of the Baltimore rise tends to substantiate the fact that there is indeed a relationship between the Freddie Gray case and the rising murder rate there.
I couldn’t find a breakdown of the race of the victims and the perpetrators in Baltimore in 2015. But I would guess that the vast majority involves black-on-black crime. As far as the police go, however:
…[T]he police union says officers are “under siege” and “more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty.”
Why on earth wouldn’t they feel that way? And I can’t imagine that the firing of commissioner Batts will reassure anyone. It will be very interesting to see, though, what happens with his replacement.
Everybody knows that blacks perpetrate an inordinate amount of crime, much higher than their percentage of the population. They commit about 50% of the murders and 90% of the people they murder are other blacks. I live in Virginia across the river from Washington DC and every weekend there are a bunch of shootings in DC usually always black on black. Every time you see a 7-11 surveillance video of a robbery on TV it’s a black robber. That job must be reserved for blacks.
The problem with Baltimore is it has too many citizens of Norwegian descent. Cesspool of crime.
It would have reassured the “Black Community” (i.e. the race mongers) only if the Police Commissioner were white – then they would feel like they have something to cheer about.
But, nah, this isn’t going to make a hill of beans difference.
The unions for blacks and thugs work together with the unions for police and lawyers.
In that sense, they are all allied under the same Leftist umbrella, in the image of the mayor and governors.
Charles, you noted the irony. She fired a black PC to be replaced by a white one. So, the half of the Baltimore police force that is white should be mollified. Or not. But, how about the other half?
Neo has it right. Wrong person fell on the wrong sword–so to speak. Speaking of which, I have come to appreciate the ancient Japanese ritual of seppuku for disgraced officials. Romans also understood that there was a price to be paid for official failure.
None of this stuff is “interesting”. We are not watching a movie, but we know the plot and we know how it is going to play out.
It isn’t interesting. It is awful.
Oldflyer, seppuku cannot be taken out of context of the Meiji dynasty. Shame and honor require that all in a culture recognize them. “All” is what makes a culture. The hedonism, dishonor, stupidity and political immorality of contemporary America make a culture in which the awesome dignity of seppuku can never exist.
Frog:
Something can easily be both awful and interesting. I find it both.
I’m surprised Mayor Rawlings-Blake even admitted they have a problem beyond the usual call for tougher gun control laws.
Anyone who’s seen “The Wire,” created by former Baltimore Sun crime reporter David Simon, could imagine that fixing Baltimore’s crime is going to take a lot more than firing its police chief. So, good luck with that, Mayor Rawlings-Blake.
I had read that police had trouble doing their jobs after the Freddie Gray incident because in certain neighborhoods they were finding themselves surrounded by crowds videotaping their every word and movement. Hard to do much knowing that you have city leaders willing to prosecute you to please the mob, and a national media who would just love to play a clip of possible police misconduct to gin up the Freddie Gray story.
A scapegoat was needed, the more severe the crisis, the higher placed the fall guy must be. Since the chief was appointed rather than elected, that’s as highly placed as political damage control could go.
In a republic/democracy, ultimately ‘the buck stops’ with the voters. Mayor Rawlings-Blake is a perfect reflection of the aggregate mentality of Baltimore’s voters.
The brutal truth is that a slim majority of Americans are incapable of maintaining the system they have been bequeathed and being unworthy and like the profligate wastrel who inherits a fortune, they will lose it.
Things will get worse this summer. New guy won’t help.
Mayor is re-elected. No way she resigns. Ego too big. She’s all about herself. Can’t understand it is her fault. Just like Barack.
At this point the only thing that might help a little would be to drop or dial back the charges on the six cops.
The mayor and the state’s attorney are in over their heads.
The good news is most of the shooting victims are gangsters taken out of the gene pool.
Frog, Seppuku originated with the Samurai who held themselves to a higher standard than did the rest of Japanese culture; so, I do not think it unreasonable for the practice (metaphorically?) to apply to those who aspire to lead the American people–no matter how degenerate the mainstream culture has become. Just saying. Wishful thinking? Of course.
povre povre baltimore…
there will not be any really good applicants to take up that leadership position. this is a hot potato no one with any real chops will take because any action that would result in a better crime rate will get the holder baked, and if they dont do that the rise in crime will bake them. meanwhile, the people who hired them will sit and wait till they can fire them for either and get themselves another heat shield
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/133350.html
Americans are not the Japanese, and the leadership don’t server anyone, other than human meat.
The good news is most of the shooting victims are gangsters taken out of the gene pool.
They aren’t. Most gangsters have horrible aim, if they hit anyone, it’ll be bystanders.
Y,
Practice, practice, and more practice. Of course it helps to know proper grip and stance.
This amounts to re-arraigning the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Black Mayor cannot be at fault, she just needs to want the crime/violence to stop, and does not have to address the reality of law enforcement. While most communities can use more Police, what is needed is better citizens.
The first thing to understand is the problem is social, not racial. It took a long time to develop and it will take a long time to correct, especially since community organizing “leaders” stand to gain by keeping it racial.
“To which I say: mayor, fire thyself.”
While I whole heartily agree, you comment made me smile 🙂
I thought, Yea that would be as likely as the Narcissist at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. doing it.
Then I thought, you know, I can’t remember anyone in the progressive camp ever taking a hard look at the facts and taking corrective action.
There is always a reason, person or conspiracy as to why Utopia has not arrived. This is followed by the statement- We have fixed the problem and this time Utopia will arrive Tomorrow.
Of course “Tomorrow” never comes 🙁
Does anyone really think Baltimore will get better under this political hack?
Does anyone really think that in 3 yrs time Greece will have their debt repaid?
Like the one general said- “You can’t fix stupid.”
And unfortunately there is an abundance of Stupid in all level of the country 🙁 🙁 🙁
Omar Sharif, star of Dr Zhivago and one of the world’s greatest bridge players, dies
Statistics including the race of perpetrators are sometimes obscured. Identifying the race of the victims is often easier. And as all races tend to perpetrate against their own more frequently (because of proximity and personal contact), it gives you a good approximation.
The spike in violent crime is of course crime against other African-Americans. Even though the crime rate is 4-16x higher among AA’s, it remains true that the majority of people are decent folk trying to stay out of trouble. They suffer, and the police were already limited in their ability to help them out because of the gang networks that threaten and punish possible witnesses.
Section 8 housing and entitlement programs are golden handcuffs – well, brass, anyway – that keep decent but timid people from doing the one thing that would help them and their children – getting out.
The Demoncrats will never allow blacks to get off the plantation. They remember what happened the first time that happened.