Hide Article Text (OCR)
Nothing to fear but The ''Brother* himselfNORMALLY at this time of year, like many other people, I am more concerned with the mechanics of planning a much-needed vacation or I am spending hoursand hours in the hot July sun, chasing a small white golf ball over acres and acres of obstructed real estate. This year, work responsibilities will not permit any thought of vacation and for the same demanding reasons, my hours of ball-chasing has dwindled down to occcasional visits to the range and sneak visits to Jackson Park. All of which still leaves me on the case for justice in the Black community.It’s very hard to plan expensive vacations, though much-needed, when there is so much pain and misery, so much in evidence, everyday. Last week-end for example, with it’s soaring temperatures, also rang the bell in violent deaths. If there’s any doubt that the black death rate is on the increase, last week’s statistics must have been reassuring. For whatever the reason, at least five black folks took it into their heads to rip-off another human being. One dude shot his commonlaw wife; another man, gambled with his life (and lost) by riding a bicycle to work. He was robbed and then shot when he asked for hisidentification papers back; another brother whipped his four-year son to death; a cab driver tying to earn a living, lost his life in a pre-dawn robbery; a Woodlawn resident, apparently tired of his janitorial service and the janitor, gunned down the offending servant.THOUGH EACH and every one of these | murders bear the marks of psychoses, there was still another which topped them all. The 1 son of a Park Manor police officer came to his end after being shot in the head three times and then dumped, gangland style in front ofan abandoned storefront, on east 71st street, i These are bizzare, crimes of violence and yet they are not uncommon. Remember two weeks ago when three murder victims were strewn about Washington Park?Some folks are subscribing to the thought that since unemployment is so high, there must be a correlation between the rising murders. Some people are of the opinion that since blacks are so forced to live in such congested living styles, there is no alternative butto kill, each other that is.Still others and I happen to be in this category, are convinced that there is a definiteplan behind the current epidemic of killings inthe black communities. Proof of this is that killings have all become very sophisticated. Guns are the order of business. Certainly there is more than reasonable grounds for belief that the whole black populace is under sentence of death by self-destruction. On topof being burnt out of our third and fourth generation homes; and being starved to illness; we must also exist under the fear of deaths from our own brothers.The jails (legal reservations) are already filled with a whole generation of black people and we increase that number everyday with new acts of violence and death.Now if you think I exagerate, remember the tight feeling that comes when you are about to leave your car, late at night and see two ’brothers’ approaching. I don’t know which feeling grabs the hardest, that one, or the one that comes when you are driving all alone at night and you look up and see that ominous blue light winking in a rear view mirror. Our black communities are indeed sick when our greatest fears come from each other and the legal authority. Yet, with this fear there is little or no out-cry, we scream in anguish at the other social crimes perpetrated but for some reason, few of us are willing to cry for justice among ourselves.I’ve said many, many times, as long as we continue to condone black-on-black crime through silence, it will continue to flourish. I think by now every one is familiar with all of the pressures that go into the ghetto life-style, but until black people react to the problem, it will remain focused on blacks. If you are black and you are not a crime statistic before you read these few words, the chances are that you will be shortly thereafterwards. Don’t wait to cry out in pain; cry out in protest!
Newspaper Details
Englewood Bulletin
Chatham, Illinois, US
Thu, Jul 29, 1971
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 01 Aug 2022
Other Publications Near Chatham, Illinois
Englewood Bulletin
South Side Bulletin
