OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
EDITORIAL
Seven Mass Shootings in Seven Days – Haven’t We Had Enough?
In mid-February, we reported on D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s decision to declare gun violence in the District as a public health crisis. She also announced her plan to assemble an emergency operations center to address the deadly surge in gun violence and appointed Linda Harllee Harper as D.C.’s first gun violence prevention director. While we applauded the mayor’s decision, we questioned why it had taken her so long to act with the initiative’s first target being Anacostia given city officials admitting that it was common knowledge that 2 percent of all blocks in the city (in the above mentioned Southeast community) were the site of 41 percent of all gunshot-related crimes last year. In fact, although overall violent crime declined in 2020, gun violence rose with 922 people shot – a 33 percent increase from 2019 and with 198 murders – a 19 percent increase. A closer look reveals that most murder victims in 2020 were Black (95 percent) with Black men accounting for 81 percent of all victims and Black women, 15 percent. “This is a level of violence that we haven’t seen in more than a decade,” Bowser said. “And the homicide trends are disturbing . . . We know that we must act and we must act differently.” Bowser’s commitment to taking immediate action and her recognition that a different strategy must be both devised and employed should now be heeded by the nation’s leaders in Congress. After two massacres in less than a week in Boulder and Atlanta, many Americans remain in shock while the debate on gun control has once again dominated conversations from hidden culde-sacs to Capitol Hill. COVID-19 may have been in the headlines for the past year but mass shootings were still occurring and in large numbers. Ignorance is not always bliss! Date provided by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that catalogs gun violence in the U.S., reveals that 104 mass shootings have occurred in 29 states plus the District in 2021 so far with 120 people killed and more than 380 injured. (Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot or killed in a single incident not including the shooter). In 2021, we’ve continued where we left off in 2020 during which there were 611 mass shootings – the highest number since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking them in 2014. President Biden, speaking to the nation on March 23 after the Colorado shooting, said, “I don’t need to wait one more minute, let alone an hour, to take common steps that will save lives in the future. I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act. We can ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines in this country once again. We got it done when I was in the Senate . . . we should do it again.” In his illuminating study on America’s transformation from the right to arms in colonial America to today’s gun-control debate, “Armed in America,” historian and legal scholar Patrick J. Charles asserts that in today’s “golden age of gun rights,” gun rights have become both politicized and normalized. But is it “normal” for a nation to witness seven mass shootings – in Boulder, Atlanta, Stockton (Calif.), Gresham (Oregon), Houston, Dallas and Philadelphia – in just seven days across the U.S.? This is no longer a political issue for debate. As Bowser declared about the District, gun violence is now a public health crisis in America too. How many more lives must be lost until drastic changes are made? WI
Robert Contee, III: A Police Chief who Understands the Community’s Needs We wish we could say for sure congratulations to Robert Contee, III for being confirmed as the permanent chief of the Metropolitan Police Department [MPD] but the D.C. Council’s confirmation vote is not expected before our publication goes to press today. Still, for the record, we support his confirmation and look forward to the reform measures he has planned to ensure accountability for the 3,640-member police force and make the community safer for District residents. Since former Chief Peter Newsham, a veteran MPD officer of more than 30 years, announced his resignation last December after serving as chief for three years, residents and MPD members have anxiously awaited Contee’s officially taking over the post. As a member of MPD since 1992 after becoming a cadet in 1989 while attending Spingarn High School, Contee is undoubtedly the perfect prescription for a department that is declining in numbers and has become increasingly demoralized over the past 20 years.
A Long Way to Go to #51 I'm for D.C. statehood, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Seems like an uphill battle and a lot of questions that would need to be answered for the right votes to happen. I'm cautiously optimistic. Bill Leonard Washington, D.C.
Contee knows MPD about as well, if not better than anyone in D.C. He knows and came through the ranks under some of MPD’s most renowned chiefs, including Burtell Jefferson (D.C.’s first Black police chief ), Maurice Turner and Isaac Fulwood, to name a few. As a child, he spent summers at Camp Ernest Brown, a summer oasis for D.C. youth run by MPD in Scotland, Maryland. In high school, he enjoyed listening to the music of MPD’s Side by Side Band who visited every public school in the city. What worked then to ensure positive community-police relations can work now, Contee believes, and the results are mutually beneficial. Just like the community wants a police
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TO THE EDITOR From Dipped to Drip WOW! The WI Bridge's latest issue is super cool and fashionable. It's very refreshing to see Black fashion that really showcases the style and vibe of D.C.! I especially love the looks from each decade. Dope! Krystal Severs Washington, D.C.
department that is engaged, responsive and compassionate to their concerns and needs, Contee also wants a police department that is engaged, responsive and empathetic to its officers. As he travels across the city, either in person or via Zoom, from one community meeting to another, asking residents what they believe will ensure better service from MPD, he is also working to provide his officers with the mental and emotional support they need to more effectively perform their jobs. Thank you, Mayor Bowser, for choosing Robert Contee, III for D.C.’s next police chief and to the D.C. Council for confirming him. It is an opportunity for which he is prepared and deserves. WI
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