Living just enough, for the city

I live in the Boston area. The murder rate for 2005 was the highest in 10 years with the majority of the murders occurring in black communities. This has been big news on wbur for the last couple of months. Big news in terms of cracking down on black people, doing random sweeps of neighborhoods, locking people up and getting folks to stop selling the "stop snitching" or "no snitching" (I forget which) shirt.

Then, a few days ago there was a murder in Brookline in a halfway house. This was the first murder in Brookline in three years. The police made sure to reassure the residents of the city that they were safe. There was no murderer in their midst. This was a one-time event.

I was struck, once again, by the very acceptabilty of the violent loss of black life. No one reassures the community in Roxbury that they're all right. No. They've got to stop allowing this in their midst. The community has got to do something, etc., etc., etc.

The cheapness of black life.