OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
EDITORIAL
Contee’s First Task Must Be Reducing D.C.’s Homicide Rate
2020 will be remembered for years to come in the District including its continued rise in reported homicides – 198 according to the Metropolitan Police Department’s [MPD] website. The total reflects a 19 percent increase from 2019’s 166 homicides. Even more, the nearly 200 homicides mark a 16-year high for D.C. So, while much attention has rightfully been given to the ongoing health pandemic, it’s impossible to ignore the surge in D.C.’s homicide rate which had been steadily declining for a 25-year period until 2015 when death totals spiked and then began to annually rise. In fact, 2020 counts as the deadliest year in the District in over a decade based on data from MPD. But what concerns us even more is how the homicide rate points to a tale of two “cities.” MPD data indicates that in the city’s reported deaths, communities east of the river – that is in wards 7 and 8 – accounted for more than half of all homicides. We’ll take the word of several DCist reports which point to the summer as the time when homicides began to precariously surge after reaching 100 in July and breaking 170 in November. What remains unclear – an explanation for these deaths. Just days ago, we applauded the appointment of veteran MDP officer Robert Contee who took over as Mayor Muriel Bowser’s choice for MPD’s new police chief. Tragically, before Contee had time to settle into his new position, the District would report its first homicide in 2021: the death of a 22-year-old woman killed early Sunday morning by an errant bullet. Allegedly, as the woman, Kaailyah Rainey and her mother were returning to their home along Wheeler Road in Southeast, a furry of shots rang out – an estimated 40 in total. The mother attempted to avoid the melee, driving several blocks away to Wahler Place. But her daughter would die after being taken to a nearby hospital. The police say they’re treating her death as a homicide but have no suspects at this time nor do they know what events may have led up to the shootings. Our community is already overwhelmed with the disproportionate number of deaths related to COVID-19, unemployment and potential evictions. Now, we fear that the mental and emotional well-being of Blacks throughout the District will be further endangered due to this surge in homicides. We look to Chief Contee to take this assault on our lives as his first priority. But we realize that it will take a village if he and the rest of the MPD are to be successful. Ironically, Blacks often criticize others for “snitching” on those who commit heinous deeds like the murder of an innocent by-stander – until the person who’s murdered is someone they love. The time to take back Chocolate City is long overdue. WI
Another Trump Super-Spreader Event Comes to D.C. On the eve of the Electoral College votes by the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Dec. 6, an estimated 30,000 Trump supporters returned to the nation’s capital to demand lawmakers ignore the voters’ choice of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the new President and Vice President of the U.S. They came to protest the duty of the Congress members to declare the winner of the presidential election and present a threatening show of force in hopes of persuading Congress to ignore its Constitutional mandate. Many of them came armed with weapons and knowingly ignored D.C.’s stringent gun laws. Others went with the mal intent to ignore public safety by aggressively attacking others and damaging public property. They ignored warnings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain social distancing. They continuously and consistently ignore calls by the nation’s top medical experts to keep social distancing and wear a mask. With all they attempted to ignore during a national pandemic, they are responsible for promoting hate and violence while holding another super-spreader event putting even more D.C. residents and the nation at risk of contracting the deadly COVID-19
TO THE EDITOR Happy 2021!
A Proud Moment for D.C.
Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to a better, more prosperous 2021. I will continue to do the things that work for me and push myself to get rid of the waste. I look forward to more stories from The Washington Informer, especially your different supplements, which are my favorite!
I'm glad to hear that the leader of the "Proud Boys" has been arrested for stealing from that historic Black church and vandalizing property. Our great city has to stand up to these people who think they can come here and act a fool because they're so filled with hate. Kudos to the city's leadership.
Denny Lampkin Washington, D.C.
Janeata Parker Washington, D.C.
virus. Once again, we must commend Mayor Muriel Bowser for her steadfast attempts to keep D.C. residents safe by closing down venues that were continuing to serve despite the COVID-19 pandemic and by discouraging residents from going downtown for any reason on the day of the protest. She issued a warning to the protestors not to bring their guns into the District, and she confidently confirmed that D.C.’s well-trained MPD is well-equipped to handle the protestors and coordinate federal support if needed. “We
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will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents, or cause destruction in our city,” she warned. And, she stuck to her words. Yet, thanks to Donald Trump, District residents and the nation were exposed to voices of hatred and hopelessness, spewing from the mouths of protestors, who may have unknowingly spewed droplets containing COVID-19 into the air at another one of his super-spreader events. We welcome the day when super-spreader events, and its host, are behind us. WI
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