Two weeks ago today, I posted on Ty Grey-El's extremely well done 'A Black Woman's Smile' video. In that time, it's become my most popular post to date - happily outpacing my American Gangster material 2-1. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you check it out as it will set the context for the difficult discussion to follow. Northside Shorty passed on a well timed article, given the recent Pew Research Center poll showing only 20% of southsiders saying that things are no better for them now than five years ago, a roughly 20% drop from 1984 and the 'Jena Six' march on the Justice Department headquarters in D.C. While the march is well intentioned and the poll not surprising, both, in my opinion, miss much larger issues within the community...
The article NS Shorty pointed out outlined a 'counter' march organized to coincide with the Justice Department protest. Normally, you'd think it was the Klan coming to rabble rouse but, instead this one featured a 'modest band of supporters' trying to call attention to the gang rape and sexual assault of a 35-year old Haitian mother and son by southsiders in the Dunbar Village 
I have to admit, y'all that if I was in D.C. that day, I'd be with the smaller group protesting because our internal issues are so much larger than our external issues at this point. It's been pointed out many times that our self appointed, national civil rights leaders are quick to jump into the public spotlight when there's northside / soutside injustice going on but rarely anywhere to be found when there's rampant southside / southside heinousness going on. And I do mean heinousness. The actual factuals of the Dubar Village crime go beyond horrific. The perpetrators ages ranged from 14-18, straight stick up kidz looking for money who, when finding none, ended up perpetrating a crime so debased and inhuman it almost defies description. But that's just one housing project of many. This is just one, albeit spectacularly cruel, crime of thousands that get no spotlight, no civil rights leader standing outside and no press but are just as crippling and devastating to the well-being of the community as any Jena Six ruckus - I think more so.
We're 15% of the national population but 'account for nearly half of it's murder victims'. The majority of those? 93% killed by another southsider... 93%. Y'all see what I'm getting at? To paraphrase a famous quote - I've seen the enemy and it's us. Although I'm not a fan of the N-word (y'all should know that by now), I'm with Chris Rock on the clear dividing line in the community. We need to stop viewing inter-community crime as a non issue. Clearly we have work to do and most of it needs to be done far from the glamorous steps of the Justice Department headquarters.Peace@Least,
Tyrone
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