During one of my stays in New Orleans I counted the shooting stories in the Times-Picayune. It worked out to one violent death per day over a 7 day period. Each shooting was about poor people killing other poor people. If middle class white kids were dying at that rate, the Marines would be recalled from Baghdad to save America.
Most of the shootings were up close and personal, as Jim described. One was a drive by in which a family having a BBQ was shot up by stray bullets.
Down the block from me, people complain about neighborhood kids stealing oranges. Down the street from M, a neighborhood kid shot and killed a cab driver in front of a crowd of witnesses.
The school shooting had a similar audaciousness. Most of the killings I've read about happen in the dark, or in houses, away from prying eyes.
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Most of the shootings were up close and personal, as Jim described. One was a drive by in which a family having a BBQ was shot up by stray bullets.
Down the block from me, people complain about neighborhood kids stealing oranges. Down the street from M, a neighborhood kid shot and killed a cab driver in front of a crowd of witnesses.
The school shooting had a similar audaciousness. Most of the killings I've read about happen in the dark, or in houses, away from prying eyes.
- mark 4-30-2003 7:00 am