Police Forum Monday June 9
Police Forum Monday June 9
The heat wave is not preventing the first police forum of the season from happening. It's at 6 p.m. at the Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association on Camp Street.
A heated discussion is likely to ensue, given the potentially record-breaking temperatures.
Here's your chance to learn how the police are preparing for what could be a hot summer in more ways than one, according to anti-violence workers.
Peter Cassels
Posted at 03:46 PM | Community | Comments (0)
On Grandview: Liberal Indoctrination Cripples Mt. Hope
Political correctness, the fear of being called racist or some other name, the fear of thinking outside the box, thinking differently, of becomming a social or political phariah is what cripples Mt. Hope and especially cripples the newer residents who moved in to Mt. Hope willing to embrace diversity only to discover that diversity, in Mt. Hope, is a one way street.
It seems that embracing diversity in Mt. Hope means that you must kowtow to the African-American political establishment of entitilment, acceptance of the embedded drug trade, junkies walking the street, an open air drug market, filth and litter on the streets, graffiti on your property, and a District 8 Police Unit, afraid to offend the Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association (a neighborhood association in name only) and pressured by Councilman Kevin Jackson to go easy on the African-American drug dealers who ply their trade on Mt. Hope streets.
This is especially true, very sadly so, on Grandview, Peach,and Tecumsech, where a number of new residents invested their life savings to buy homes. Liberal, well educated, and indoctrinated into the straightjacket of political correct thinking, these residents made a token jab at community activism but quickly gave up when faced with forces that they just didn't understand.
For instance a police force that told them one thing then did another.
These liberals still think that the police will solve their problems, will stop the graffiti, will stop the drug dealing on their streets, will stop the filth and the litter and the vandalism.
What they fail to understand is that in order to do so the police would have to enforce the law among the African-American community in Mt. Hope, and in doing so they would be labed racist and accused of racial profiling. They'd rather go along to get along, with the MHNA and with Councilman Jackson.
The tactic used against liberals has always been to divide and conquer. This is evident in the Democratic Party's nomination process this year and is also evident in what has transpired in Mt. Hope.
Call a spade a spade, call crime, crime: crime is color blind, politics is not.
It just so happens that crime in Mt. Hope is generated by the African-American community and white liberals are afraid to confront that fact. They could be Irish, they could be Asian, but in Mt. Hope they are African-American.
Liberals are crippled in Mt. Hope, they don't know what to do.
They want to live in peace, free of crime, but they have been labled "lily white asses", by the African-American community, and I think that is a fitting name for those who are crippled.
The Mt. Hope community is already polarized between those who wish to maintain the status quo, filth, drugs, noise, vandalism, and those who want to live in a clean, safe, quiet neighborhood.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, the truth.
But 99 percent of Mt. Hope residents, Africian-Americans, whites, or hispanics, the groups that make up most of Mt. Hope, want the same thing: a neighborhood free of crime, filth, and vandalism, a neighborhood that we can be proud to call home.
It is the established political forces in Mt. Hope that keep the community from achieving that dream. These forces include the Mt. Hope Neighborhod Association and Councilman Kevin Jackson, and every resident who becomes an enabler by default, by projecting the delusional,so-called politiclly correct thinking of entitilment and victimization onto the African-American community in Mt.Hope: thinking that passes for progressive or liberal politics but is nothing more than age old, despised, knee-jerk liberlism.
There is no excuse for what is going on in Mt. Hope.
Posted at 04:10 AM | Community | Comments (0)
What Gives: Graffiti on Grand view?
More Graffiti problems on Grand View Street
once again, homes on Grand View Street are starting to be defaced with inane, juvenile graffiti messages. the last rash of this happened last fall through Dec 2007, and affected pretty much every home on the block. the same message throughout: DTS. these letters were scrawled across my home last night, and this hasn't been the first time this has happened.
now, I'm pretty sure this is the work of stupid kids who have nothing better to do other than to prove their "worth" by defacing private property. somehow it makes them feel tough and strong. psychological profiles aside, this has to be stopped. several reports have been filed late last year requesting increased patrol, or some sort of action taken by the police in the district, and even the police had claimed they knew who it was. if this isn't enough to stop the defacing of property in our otherwise peaceful and beautiful neighborhood, then what's next to feel more secure in our homes? should we form neighborhood watches and posses? rope up the bad guys like an old western? i mean, c'mon, this is getting ridiculous.
something needs to be done. I feel like all the immediate attention is given to neighborhoods like those right off Brown University and in Wayland Square. I never really see the same level of attention given to our community. what gives?
Justin Chua
Posted at 11:26 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Molotov Cocktail
Remember the Hate Crime that Wasn't a Hate Crime?
In a great example of how the news gets spun, that is, interpreted in a way that suits a political objective, read the ProJo article below, but know that what really happened was a personal beef between individuals (someone pissed someone else off and they retaliated against them with a harsh warning) that got blown out of proportion, and you know what, the police don't have a clue as to who did what, but I'd bet all my money that the people involved know exactley what it was all about and who did what, but they ain't talking to the police.
Hate crime, not even!
Reward announced in attack
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
By Gregory Smith
Journal Staff Writer
Herbert B. Stern, right, president of the Rhode Island Jewish Federation, announced the reward yesterday. Providence Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy is at left.
The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer
PROVIDENCE — Three Jewish organizations, in cooperation with the Police Department, yesterday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the attempted firebombing of an apartment where an Israeli activist lived.
Herbert B. Stern, president of the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, denounced the attack as “a despicable act of violence” in a news conference at the Public Safety Complex. Besides the Jewish Federation, the sponsors of the reward are the Anti-Defamation League and Brown University/Rhode Island School of Design Hillel House.
Although the incident has inflamed the Jewish community, according to Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy, he said the police have nothing to indicate that “this was a terrorism-related incident or a hate crime” directed at a Jew.
In recognition of the fact that it has put the Jewish community on edge, Kennedy said, uniformed and plainclothes police have set up a special watch on Jewish institutions such as synagogues as a precaution.
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the second-floor apartment of Josef Knafo, 25, a citizen of Israel, on Camp St., at 1:15 a.m., Saturday, according to the police, but it failed to ignite. A second Molotov cocktail struck the front of the triple-decker house, left a scorch mark and fell, flaming harmlessly, on a sidewalk. Nobody was injured.
Knafo, who lived in the apartment with two roommates, is a representative of the Jewish Agency for Israel, an organization that sends young people around the world to conduct education, religious and cultural programs. He is a graduate fellow at Brown University and an employee of Brown University/RISD Hillel House, a Jewish religious center on Brown’s East Side campus, according to the police.
While Jewish organizations alerted their constituencies on the premise that Knafo was the target of an anti-Semitic attack, the police advised rabbis and other Jewish community leaders to tell their followers to be aware but not to be alarmed.
Brown officials said they would make arrangements to have Knafo live elsewhere for the time being. But the police said the four other people living in the three apartments in the triple-decker, including his two roommates, will stay put.
The police disclosed virtually nothing about the investigation except to say that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is analyzing the two firebombs, including the nature of the fuel, and that Maj. Monty J. Monteiro, commander of the police Homeland Security Division, is leading the investigation.
The investigation is a combined effort that, according to Mayor David N. Cicilline, includes the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the city/state/federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, in addition to the ATF.
“We will give this top priority” at the Police Department, Kennedy vowed.
Copies of a personal-safety advice sheet published by the U.S. Attorney’s Anti-terrorism Advisory Council were distributed after the news conference, which was attended by rabbis and other Jewish community leaders as well as police officers and members of the news media. The crowd of 45 people in attendance in the auditorium at the complex was unusually large for a news conference.
Maj. Paul C. Fitzgerald, commander of the police uniformed division, recommended that Jewish leaders tell their followers to maintain a heightened awareness of their surroundings but not to alter their lifestyles.
“You don’t want to succumb to this” and live in fear of a perceived threat, he said.
But he also offered advice for action.
“If it doesn’t feel right. If it doesn’t look right. If the hair on the back of your neck stands up as a result of something you see, based on what’s transpired over the last 72 hours, then you need to call the police,” Fitzgerald said.
“Don’t take any actions on your own,” the major advised.
The police urged that anyone with information about the incident to call the police emergency telephone line at (401) 272-1111 or the police Investigative Division at (401) 243-6406 or send a text message to Citizen Observer, the police Internet-based alert system. Anonymous messages are accepted, but Kennedy pointed out that a tipster who does not identify himself would not be able to collect the reward.
To send information to Citizen Observer, text TIP651 followed by your tip to CRIMES (274637).
If someone claims the reward, the police will be involved in the decision whether to pay it, Kennedy said.
gsmith@projo.com
Posted at 08:36 AM | Community | Comments (0)
City Shovels Snow!
It's a Snow Day . . Hooray! ! !
And the boyz are taking a nap.
Last night I heard a gravel truck on my hilly street spreading sand for the expected storm. I guess our Mayor Ciciline doesn't want to be caught with his pants down again like the last snow debacle he mis-managed where our garbage wasn't even picked up that week. I heard the garbage trucks early in the morning so I guess that tactic worked for him: He dodged one bullet by making sure the garbage trucks could get around. I guess so did Nickerson of the DPW who is supposed to oversee snow removal and garbage pick-up.
This small storm is of no magnitude compared to the earlier storm where the city and State fell flat on their faces and made another fiasco of their response to their failure. Finger pointing was rampant and the blame was laid at the feet of sacrificial victims. The City Council made a show of trying to fire the School Superintendent only to back off a few days later practically admitting that it was all for show.
Well, it seems that they learned a lesson but as usual with this City administration, too little too late.
Still it's fun to watch the snow come down, and I only had to step out on my rear deck in my robe to shoot a couple of pictures with my trusty little point & shoot.
Just shooting across the street.
I like how the white snow covering everything gives the world a bit of a monochromatic look where any little bit of color seems to be magnified in intensity
The Muted Monochrome of Winter
Posted at 01:30 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Another Snowfall Fiasco for Ciccline
As of 9:30 pm, the news reported that there were still 40 Providence school buses, with kids still on them, stranded on Rt. 95!
How utterly embarrassing!
According to the Boston news, that city, harder hit than Providence, has its streets cleared and traffic moving as normal by 6 pm.
What's wrong with our bozos -- incompetence coupled with stupidity and with a "let them eat cake" attitude? They don't give a fuck as long as they can collect high taxes and put out overpaid and under-worked services like the police and fire departments. Let's not mention the salaries people like John Nicholson of the DPW, the man largely responsible for the snow removal fiasco, make. Your tax dollars at work.
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Posted at 12:44 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Mt. Hope v College Hill & Why
I've often maintained that that Mt. Hope gets short shrift from the City as far as services and this is nowhere as evident as when it comes to snow removal. I've often verified this by driving over to College Hill during a snow storm to see how those streets are being cleared compared to Mt. Hope streets. I am able to do this because I am self-employed and as such I control my own time, and I am driving around in a 4-wheel drive vehicle that can navigate even our streets that have not been cleared.
I draw a sharp parallel between College Hill and Mt. Hope because both neighborhoods are situated on steep hills, difficult to negotiate during snow storms. Yet in my observations college Hill streets are cleared immediately while even main streets in Mt. Hope, like Camp Street, Cypress Street, and Doyle Street are ignored for hours and hours.
Why is this? Is it because traditionally Mt. Hope has been home to a largely impoverished minority community? Where is our Councilman in this inequality? Our councilman who is so quick to come to the aid of our poor oppressed African-American drug dealers always alleging racial profiling and police harassment while denying that a drug dealing problem even exists in Mt. Hope? Why isn't he alleging discrimination in allocating City services to Mt. Hope? You can bet your ass he is advocating for the Summit, for he is a savvy politician who plays Mt. Hope and the Summit like a harp -- he knows just what these poor suckers like to hear.
But Mt. Hope is no longer a community dominated by minorities. Minorities are now a minority, largely marginalized to subsidized ghettos like that on Pleasant Street, while most of Mt. Hope is middle class property owners, and almost all of the property tax revenue is
generated by middle class homeowners.
So this poll goes to beg the question, why is Mt. Hope treated like a second class citizen and why isn't our councilman fighting for Mt. Hope? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, our Councilman lives on Jenkins Street and in case you've never noticed, Jenkins Street is always well ploughed.
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Posted at 11:54 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Criminal Activity on the Rise?
I've had a feeling that criminal activity has been on the rise in Mt. Hope lately.
My white picket fence on Camp street has been vandalized 3 times in the last month and yesterday they pulled down an entire eight foot section, which I immediately repaired.
In addition some knucklehead has a supply of firecrackers and has been shooting them off up near the Crossroads, Camp & Cypress, for the last week.
Yesterday I saw a three man foot-patrol around 5 thirty within hours after my fence had been vandalized but several hours before another round of firecrackers went off. They did not seem to have an impact on either event.
When a police officer came at our request to report the vandalized fence my wife had to cajole a report out of him. He repeatedly asked her if she was sure it had been vandalized and it wasn't the wind that blew it down. A picket fence, for chris-sake, you know the kind that the wind blows right through, right between the pickets, which are at least 5 inches apart.
I've noticed a group of young men, maybe 18 to 22, walking back and forth from Pleasant street to the Crossroads lately and I suspect them as the vandals. I also see them stop to look into any cars parked along Camp, looking, I suppose, to see if there is anything in plain sight that they could break in and steal.
I'm sure others have made similar observations.
John
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Posted at 04:12 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Hightime for Lowlifes
Yes, we have some nice graffiti on the side of our building. Couple that with my roommate's rims being stolen and the constant trespassing by neighborhood lowlifes, it's been a good month!
Adam
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Posted at 02:31 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Blog Contributions Welcome
Blog in need of entries.
Send in your news, commentary on current events, newspaper pieces, movie reviews, book reviews, dance, theater, opinion pieces, letters to the editor, announcements, commentary, essays, poetry, short-short stories or send in digital photos of your pets, your kids, your flowers, items of interest, etc. etc. etc, & whatever. Right now I'm unable to make blog posts. If you want to further this blog submit items that are of interest to you and may be of interest to somebody else.
Posted at 01:50 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Sox Sweep Series: World Champs!!!
A long strange perilous journey
The Red Sox won the World Series again. Front-runners from April to the end of October the Sox shut all doubters mouths by never faltering enough to let the hellounds (New York Yankees) catch up to them and by narrowly escaping getting their scalps handed to them by the Indians (Cleveland).
All the people were waiting for Crazy Face . . .
The victory parade began at noon today and rolled through the streets of Boston. A special flatbed truck carried Jonathon Papelon so that he could do his riverdance to the music of the DropKick Murpheys.
Superstar!
Four Game Sweep
The four game sweep of the rockies was a team effort from top to bottom with clutch contributions from the manager, a pinch hitter, defensive replacements, rookies, the bullpen, the starting pitchers and every position player. What a satisfying victory!
Pedy makes a play -- Dustin Pedroia - Rookie Extraordinarie
Again, Oki Doki and Paps came in to save the game despite being tired and worn from almost overuse in the playoffs. But they had just enough gas left to get us to the finish line. Paps gave us a scare in the ninth with a mistake that was washed away by rookie Jacoby Ellsbury's great leaping catch at the wall.
Jacoby Ellsbury defensive replacement for Manny in left field catches penultimate out in game four.
Mike Lowell won the World Series MVP award, and it was well deserved and it was wonderful to see him get the recognition he deserves after flying beneath the radar all season and being nearly overlooked. What a classy player.
MVP Mike Lowell connects for a home run in game four.
But this is not the time for a review of the Sox season but a time for celebration and for bathing in the excitement that sweeps New England.
Some must reading for Red Sox fans, Jackie McMullen's Measure this teams worth in sox & bonds.
Also of interest, Stan Grossfeld's Team on cloud nine, but flight is low-key
Bob Ryan gives tribute to the much maligned Tito Francona, who has never lost a World Series game being now 8 and 0, in his, In post season Francona was impeccable
For a real treat check out the fan blog The Soxaholic for their unique take on the post-modern angst of the Boston fandom and their relationship to the New York fandom using a clever take on the comic strip.
Congratulations, Boston Red Sox!
Posted at 02:59 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Interested Resident Speaks
I have been looking for a community outlet to Mt. Hope and am extremely excited to have coincidentally stumbled on to this. I too am so disappointed in the lack of addressing the real concerns in the neighborhood as to the lack of workshops that should be available to the youth as well as young adults in the neighborhood.
I would never consider myself an Uncle Tom but an African American man who takes pride in home ownership and a man who wants to take care of his family. The men in the neighborhood must make a stand and stick to their morals to make a change in the neighborhood.
Let our actions speak louder than the words that so happen to fall on deaf ears. We can never expect to make any changes unless we make them first. So I say this to say this; Is there anyone willing to make this change?????
Although One person can make a change but I feel strongly that this MUST be a unified effort in order to make any inroads in our great melting pot we call Mount Hope.
Interested Resident
Posted at 12:50 PM | Community | Comments (2)
Sox Stay Solvent: Beckett Seals Solid Sale 7:1
Sox stay alive in one of the most entertaining outings of the season given Beckett's performance and the pre-game and post-game comments by Manny and Beckett.
In a games-man-ship ploy that may have backfired, the Indians trotted out an ex-girlfriend of Beckett's, an aspiring country singer, to sing the national anthem. When a reporter asked Beckett how he felt about the Indians doing that, in a live post-game interview, Beckett said, without a moments hesitation,
I don't have any fucking control over what they do, I just go out there to pitch my game. I think it's great that they gave a friend of mine a free ticket to see the game.
Yesterday Manny created some controversy by saying:
We play with confidence every game. Hey, If it doesn't happen, so who cares? It's not like it's the end of the world. We'll be back next year to try again."
Beckett: Not Waiting for Godot (or Lofton)
This was a great team victory, but all you really have to know about it is that Beckett dominated in one of the all time great Red Sox clutch pitching performances of all time. He gave up one lousy run and that run should not have scored. Did I say all time" That includes Beckett's post-game comment. I thought I mis-heard until Tom Carron came out with the disclaimer, "Of course NESN is not responsible for what is said in post-game interviews."
Way to go Josh! Oh say can you see.
Posted at 12:34 AM | Community | Comments (0)
A Cri de Coeur Against the Forces of Self-sabotage
Someone sent me a link to New York Times op-ep columnist Bob Herbert's recent column, so thank you, good catch, I think it will fit quite nicely as a follow up to the Cosby post a few days ago. You can read it on line by clicking this link
Tough, Sad and Smart or just continue reading.
Bob Herbert
Tough, Sad and Smart
By BOB HERBERT
They are a longtime odd couple, Bill Cosby and Harvard’s Dr. Alvin Poussaint, and their latest campaign is nothing less than an effort to save the soul of black America.
Mr. Cosby, of course, is the boisterous veteran comedian who has spent the last few years hammering home some brutal truths about self-destructive behavior within the African-American community.
“A word to the wise ain’t necessary,” Mr. Cosby likes to say. “It’s the stupid ones who need the advice.”
Dr. Poussaint is a quiet, elegant professor of psychiatry who, in public at least, is in no way funny. He teaches at the Harvard Medical School and is a staff member at the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston, where he sees kids struggling in some of the toughest circumstances imaginable.
I always wonder, whenever I talk to Dr. Poussaint, why he isn’t better known. He’s one of the smartest individuals in the country on issues of race, class and justice.
For three years, Mr. Cosby and Dr. Poussaint have been traveling the country, meeting with as many people as possible to explore the problems facing the black community.
There is a sense of deep sadness and loss — grief — evident in both men over the tragedy that has befallen so many blacks in America. They were on “Meet the Press” for the entire hour Sunday, talking about their new book, a cri de coeur against the forces of self-sabotage titled, “Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors.”
There weren’t many laughs over the course of the hour. Speaking about the epidemic of fatherlessness in black families, Mr. Cosby imagined a young fatherless child thinking: “Somewhere in my life a person called my father has not shown up, and I feel very sad about this because I don’t know if I’m ugly — I don’t know what the reason is.”
Dr. Poussaint, referring to boys who get into trouble, added: “I think a lot of these males kind of have a father hunger and actually grieve that they don’t have a father. And I think later a lot of that turns into anger. ‘Why aren’t you with me? Why don’t you care about me?’ ”
The absence of fathers, and the resultant feelings of abandonment felt by boys and girls, inevitably affect the children’s sense of self-worth, he said.
The book lays out the difficult route black people will have to take to free the many who are still trapped in prisons of extreme violence, poverty, degradation and depression.
It’s a work with a palpable undercurrent of love throughout. And yet it pulls no punches. In a chapter titled “What’s Going on With Black Men?,” the authors (in a voice that sounds remarkably like Mr. Cosby’s) note:
“You can’t land a plane in Rome saying, ‘Whassup?’ to the control tower. You can’t be a doctor telling your nurse, ‘Dat tumor be nasty.’ ”
Racism is still a plague and neither Mr. Cosby nor Dr. Poussaint give it short shrift. But they also note that in past years blacks were able to progress despite the most malignant forms of racism and that many are succeeding today.
“Blaming white people,” they write, “can be a way for some black people to feel better about themselves, but it doesn’t pay the electric bills. There are more doors of opportunity open for black people today than ever before in the history of America.”
I couldn’t agree more. Racism disgusts me, and I think it should be fought with much greater ferocity than we see today. But that’s no reason to drop out of school, or take drugs, or refuse to care for one’s children, or shoot somebody.
The most important step toward ending the tragic cycles of violence and poverty among African-Americans also happens to be the heaviest lift — reconnecting black fathers to their children.
In an interview yesterday, Dr. Poussaint said: “You go into whole neighborhoods and there are no fathers there. What you find is apathy in a lot of the males who don’t even know that they are supposed to be a father.”
The book covers a great deal that has been talked about incessantly — the importance of family and education and hard work and mentoring and civic participation. But hand in hand with its practical advice and the undercurrent of deep love for one’s community is a stress on the absolute importance of maintaining one’s personal dignity and self-respect.
It’s a tough book. Victimhood is cast as the enemy. Defeat, failure and hopelessness are not to be tolerated.
Hard times and rough circumstances are not excuses for degrading others or allowing oneself to be degraded. In fact, they’re not excuses for anything, except to try harder.
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October 16, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
New York Times
Posted at 11:42 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Tribe Tattoos & Traumitizes our Troubled Team
The Red Sox face elimination Friday in a do or die game in which two aces will face off again, Becket and Sabathitia.
The indians took a commanding 3 to 1 lead in the series.
It all unraveled in the 5th last night, a dropped pop foul, a mis-played shot up the middle, in a game of inches these two flukes sent Tim Wakefield to an early shower despite the fact he had pitched well and had been in command. Dorchester's own Manny Delcarmen came in in relief and served up a juicy fastball to shortstop Johnny Peralta that ended up in the right rield stands for a 3 run homer. That was all she wrote.
The Sox bats, except for Papi & Mannny for the most part, have been useless. The big lugs can't win it all by themselves.
Hang down your head Delarmen
A Sox win on Friday will keep their hopes alive and bring the series back to Boston.
Posted at 11:30 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Bill Cosby's Speech to the NAACP
Comedian and Black Activist Bill Cosby was in the news again promoting his new book, COME ON, PEOPLE! ON THE PATH FROM VICTIMS TO VICTOR of which you can read a review by clicking on the link to the BlackVoices Blog.
Cosby has been excoriated by some in the black community for truth telling and for the so called "airing of dirty laundry" in front of white people. Much of this comes from his speech delivered to the NAACP in 2004, a speech which sounds to me like an unscripted, off the cuff speech by someone who just grew tired of the same old rhetoric of victimhood.
Bill Cosby delivering his speech to the NAACP
If you'd like to hear this controversial speech you can hear it by clicking on this link Bill Cosby: 2004 NAACP Speech/ American Rhetoric or you can read it here. It is one freaking incredible speech!
Bill Cosby Speaking to the 2004 NAACP Convention
Ladies and gentlemen, I really have to ask you to seriously consider what you’ve heard, and now this is the end of the evening so to speak. I heard a prize fight manager say to his fellow who was losing badly, “David, listen to me. It’s not what’s he’s doing to you. It’s what you’re not doing."
Ladies and gentlemen, these people set -- they opened the doors, they gave us the right, and today, ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have 50% drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.
Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic and lower middle economic people are not holding their end in this deal. In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on. In the old days, you couldn’t hooky school because every drawn shade was an eye. And before your mother got off the bus and to the house, she knew exactly where you had gone, who had gone into the house, and where you got on whatever you had one and where you got it from. Parents don’t know that today.
I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don’t know he had a pistol? And where is his father, and why don’t you know where he is? And why doesn’t the father show up to talk to this boy?
The church is only open on Sunday. And you can’t keep asking Jesus to ask doing things for you. You can’t keep asking that God will find a way. God is tired of you . God was there when they won all those cases. 50 in a row. That’s where God was because these people were doing something. And God said, “I’m going to find a way.” I wasn’t there when God said it -- I’m making this up. But it sounds like what God would do.
We cannot blame white people. White people -- white people don’t live over there. They close up the shop early. The Korean ones still don’t know us as well -- they stay open 24 hours.
I’m looking and I see a man named Kenneth Clark, he and his wife Mamie. Kenneth’s still alive. I have to apologize to him for these people because Kenneth said it straight. He said you have to strengthen yourselves, and we’ve got to have that black doll. And everybody said it. Julian Bond said it. Dick Gregory said it. All these lawyers said it. And you wouldn’t know that anybody had done a damned thing.
50 percent drop out rate, I’m telling you, and people in jail, and women having children by five, six different men. Under what excuse? I want somebody to love me. And as soon as you have it, you forget to parent. Grandmother, mother, and great grandmother in the same room, raising children, and the child knows nothing about love or respect of any one of the three of them. All this child knows is “gimme, gimme, gimme.” These people want to buy the friendship of a child, and the child couldn’t care less. Those of us sitting out here who have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our parents. And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid -- $500 sneakers -- for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics.
Kenneth Clark, somewhere in his home in upstate New York -- just looking ahead. Thank God he doesn’t know what’s going on. Thank God. But these people -- the ones up here in the balcony fought so hard. Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged: “The cops shouldn’t have shot him.” What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. And I looked at it and I had no money. And something called parenting said if you get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother." Not, "You’re going to get your butt kicked." No. "You’re going to embarrass your mother." "You’re going to embarrass your family." If you knock that girl up, you’re going to have to run away because it’s going to be too embarrassing for your family. In the old days, a girl getting pregnant had to go down South, and then her mother would go down to get her. But the mother had the baby. I said the mother had the baby. The girl didn’t have a baby. The mother had the baby in two weeks. We are not parenting.
Ladies and gentlemen, listen to these people. They are showing you what’s wrong. People putting their clothes on backwards. Isn’t that a sign of something going on wrong? Are you not paying attention? People with their hat on backwards, pants down around the crack. Isn’t that a sign of something or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got her dress all the way up to the crack -- and got all kinds of needles and things going through her body. What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail. (When we give these kinds names to our children, we give them the strength and inspiration in the meaning of those names. What’s the point of giving them strong names if there is not parenting and values backing it up).
Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We’ve got to take the neighborhood back. We’ve got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It’s right around the corner. It’s standing on the corner. It can’t speak English. It doesn’t want to speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk. “Why you ain’t where you is go, ra.” I don’t know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t land a plane with, “Why you ain’t…” You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they’re moving ahead on this. Well, they know they’re not; they’re just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you’re just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out.
Now, look, I’m telling you. It’s not what they’re doing to us. It’s what we’re not doing. 50 percent drop out. Look, we’re raising our own ingrown immigrants. These people are fighting hard to be ignorant. There’s no English being spoken, and they’re walking and they’re angry. Oh God, they’re angry and they have pistols and they shoot and they do stupid things. And after they kill somebody, they don’t have a plan. Just murder somebody. Boom. Over what? A pizza? And then run to the poor cousin’s house.
They sit there and the cousin says, “What are you doing here?”
“I just killed somebody, man.”
“What?”
“I just killed somebody; I’ve got to stay here.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Well, give me some money, I’ll go….”
“Where are you going?”
“North Carolina.”
Everybody wanted to go to North Carolina. But the police know where you’re going because your cousin has a record.
Five or six different children -- same woman, eight, ten different husbands or whatever. Pretty soon you’re going to have to have DNA cards so you can tell who you’re making love to. You don’t who this is. It might be your grandmother. I’m telling you, they’re young enough. Hey, you have a baby when you’re twelve. Your baby turns thirteen and has a baby, how old are you? Huh? Grandmother. By the time you’re twelve, you could have sex with your grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I’m just predicting.
I’m saying Brown versus the Board of Education. We’ve got to hit the streets, ladies and gentlemen. I’m winding up, now -- no more applause. I’m saying, look at the Black Muslims. There are Black Muslims standing on the street corners and they say so forth and so on, and we’re laughing at them because they have bean pies and all that, but you don’t read, “Black Muslim gunned down while chastising drug dealer.” You don’t read that. They don’t shoot down Black Muslims. You understand me. Muslims tell you to get out of the neighborhood. When you want to clear your neighborhood out, first thing you do is go get the Black Muslims, bean pies and all. And your neighborhood is then clear. The police can’t do it.
I’m telling you Christians, what’s wrong with you? Why can’t you hit the streets? Why can’t you clean it out yourselves? It’s our time now, ladies and gentlemen. It is our time. And I’ve got good news for you. It’s not about money. It’s about you doing something ordinarily that we do -- get in somebody else’s business. It’s time for you to not accept the language that these people are speaking, which will take them nowhere. What the hell good is Brown V. Board of Education if nobody wants it?
What is it with young girls getting after some girl who wants to still remain a virgin. Who are these sick black people and where did they come from and why haven’t they been parented to shut up? To go up to girls and try to get a club where “you are nobody....” This is a sickness, ladies and gentlemen, and we are not paying attention to these children. These are children. They don’t know anything. They don’t have anything. They’re homeless people. All they know how to do is beg. And you give it to them, trying to win their friendship. And what are they good for? And then they stand there in an orange suit and you drop to your knees: “He didn’t do anything. He didn’t do anything.” Yes, he did do it. And you need to have an orange suit on, too.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for the award -- and giving me an opportunity to speak because, I mean, this is the future, and all of these people who lined up and done -- they’ve got to be wondering what the hell happened. Brown V. Board of Education -- these people who marched and were hit in the face with rocks and punched in the face to get an education and we got these knuckleheads walking around who don’t want to learn English. I know that you all know it. I just want to get you as angry that you ought to be. When you walk around the neighborhood and you see this stuff, that stuff’s not funny. These people are not funny anymore. And that‘s not my brother. And that’s not my sister. They’re faking and they’re dragging me way down because the state, the city, and all these people have to pick up the tab on them because they don’t want to accept that they have to study to get an education.
We have to begin to build in the neighborhood, have restaurants, have cleaners, have pharmacies, have real estate, have medical buildings instead of trying to rob them all. And so, ladies and gentlemen, please, Dorothy Height, where ever she’s sitting, she didn’t do all that stuff so that she could hear somebody say “I can’t stand algebra, I can’t stand…" and “what you is.” It’s horrible.
Basketball players -- multimillionaires can’t write a paragraph. Football players, multimillionaires, can’t read. Yes. Multimillionaires. Well, Brown v. Board of Education, where are we today? It’s there. They paved the way. What did we do with it? The White Man, he’s laughing -- got to be laughing. 50 percent drop out -- rest of them in prison.
You got to tell me that if there was parenting -- help me -- if there was parenting, he wouldn’t have picked up the Coca Cola bottle and walked out with it to get shot in the back of the head. He wouldn’t have. Not if he loved his parents. And not if they were parenting! Not if the father would come home. Not if the boy hadn’t dropped the sperm cell inside of the girl and the girl had said, “No, you have to come back here and be the father of this child.” Not ..“I don’t have to.”
Therefore, you have the pile up of these sweet beautiful things born by nature -- raised by no one. Give them presents. You’re raising pimps. That’s what a pimp is. A pimp will act nasty to you so you have to go out and get them something. And then you bring it back and maybe he or she hugs you. And that’s why pimp is so famous. They’ve got a drink called the “Pimp-something.” You all wonder what that’s about, don’t you? Well, you’re probably going to let Jesus figure it out for you. Well, I’ve got something to tell you about Jesus. When you go to the church, look at the stained glass things of Jesus. Look at them. Is Jesus smiling? Not in one picture. So, tell your friends. Let’s try to do something. Let’s try to make Jesus smile. Let’s start parenting. Thank you, thank you.
Bill Cosby, to the NAACP, 2004
Posted at 11:42 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Sox Tied 1 - 1 in ALCS
After a handy victory in Game 1 the Sox lost a brutal game 2, extra inning battle that wasn't over till after 1 am Sunday morning. The deadly dagger that did 'em in was delivered by old friend Trot Nixon with a pinch hit game winning single that drove in the decisive run.
I told them not to let Trot go. And the guy who replaced him hasn't won a game for us all season.
Trot Delivers
Trot's Instant Replay
The Sox and the Tribe go at again tonight in Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Dice-k on the mound for the Red Sox.
Posted at 06:38 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Racists in Mt. Hope
Several times in the last week, I have been called a "cracker" as I walked through or drove by the Crossroads (Camp & Cypress) by groups of young thugs.
This overt racism is intolerable. Do I go around yelling the N word? Of course not. Why do I have to put up with being called a "cracker" by young black men who likely don't even know the etymology of the term?
There is overt racism in Mt. Hope. The next time I'm called a "cracker" I am going to confront the thugs and likely risk being harmed.
I know the real estate market is tough right now, but I'm going to sell and get the f*** out of this open sewer of a neighborhood while I still can. Any white person who continues to live here with these racists is nuts.
Peter Cassels
Posted at 11:09 PM | Community | Comments (1)
Big Daddy, Big Papi & Manny bien Manny!
After sweeping the Angels 3 straight the Sox are resting up for the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians. The winner takes home the American League Pennant.
Curt Schilling, dubbed "Big Daddy" by Jon Papelbon, came through in dramatic fashion against an injury weakened Angels lineup with 7 strong innings, and Papi and Manny provided the fireworks with back-to-back homers.
Big Daddy
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Big Papi
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Manny bien Manny
Again the champagne flowed freely after clinching the first round playoff, and Jackie MacMullan, of the Boston Globe, wrote a nice article on the frat-boy like celebration, They're soaking it all in which you can read by clicking the title link or continue reading below the fold.
They're soaking it all in
By Jackie MacMullan, Globe Columnist | October 8, 2007
ANAHEIM, Calif. - It was a frat party run amok, a band of delirious baseball brothers who raucously celebrated as if they had won the World Series.
The Boston Red Sox haven't done that - yet. But they unabashedly partied like it was 2004 yesterday afternoon after thrashing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 9-1, to complete a thoroughly humiliating sweep of the best the West had to offer.
As the smell of sweat and champagne wafted throughout Boston's clubhouse, the Red Sox let loose, hugging and shouting and dancing to the heavy beat of their victory tunes. Kevin Youkilis, clad in royal blue swim goggles, screamed with delight as he doused Mike Lowell with a champagne and Budweiser cocktail. Jonathan Papelbon screeched like a little kid with a liquor license, tormenting anyone and everyone in his path with a bath of liquid refreshments.
David Ortiz, who knocked yet another ball out of the park yesterday, traded some elbow high-fives, then quickly donned a rain poncho and retreated to the back of the room. Manny Delcarmen, the pride of Hyde Park, grabbed his own bottle of bubbly and promptly poured it down Papelbon's pants.
General manager Theo Epstein, who on this day did not have to answer questions about J.D. Drew's production or Eric Gagné's price tag, smiled broadly and proclaimed, "This is fun. The guys have worked so hard . . . "
Slugger Manny Ramírez interrupted Epstein's victory speech by drenching the young GM with a bucket full of ice water. With no Gatorade readily available, it was the next-best thing to the well-known postgame tradition.
With the Angels safely eliminated, the Red Sox happily put the playoff button on pause for a moment to enjoy their accomplishments. The beauty of these celebrations is it doesn't matter whether you were a playoff hero or a playoff scrub. Kyle Snyder and Curt Schilling were indistinguishable in the madness that unfolded late yesterday. Both were soaked in alcohol, and mobbed by teammates.
The question was raised whether such a spirited celebration was premature - and, perhaps, a bit overdone. After all, winning a Division Series was hardly the established goal when this team trucked its gear down to Fort Myers, Fla., in February. No one in the clubhouse is supposed to be truly satisfied until the Red Sox win another championship.
"We understand that," said manager Terry Francona. "We haven't accomplished all that we've wanted to yet. But I don't mind this. The emotion you see in here is real."
Who could help but notice Jon Lester quietly taking it all in, knowing one year ago at this time his life - never mind his baseball future - was so cloudy because of a shocking cancer diagnosis? And there was Delcarmen, who grew up idolizing the team of his native city, who shuttled back and forth to Pawtucket wondering if he would ever get his chance to prove he belonged in the big leagues.
"I'm living my dream right now," he said. "All I ever wanted was to play for the Boston Red Sox, to have a chance to be in a playoff series. It's even sweeter, too, because I'm here with Pap [Papelbon] and [Dustin] Pedroia. We were in the minors together, hoping for the day something like this would happen to us."
Red Sox owner John Henry visited the clubhouse and offered his congratulations to his ball club, upon which he, too, was subjected to a victory bath of Bud and bubbly. Asked to characterize his team, the owner answered, "Relentless. That's the word that came up today. The lineup we had out there was so perfect. When you drop Manny back into that four spot, behind Ortiz and ahead of Mike Lowell, I can't imagine anything better. And Schilling - every pitch sequence was so crisp. It was a joy to watch.
"This group totally reminded me of the teams from 2003 and 2004. But even those teams didn't have this kind of bullpen."
The stars appear to be aligned for the Old Towne Team. Schilling fired seven shutout innings, aided in the third inning when catcher Jason Varitek chased down a tricky pop fly, dived for it, bobbled it, then hung on for the third out to end a bases-loaded situation.
As they have done so many times before, Boston's batters gave their pitcher some subsequent breathing room. Ortiz led off the fourth with a towering home run to right field, then Ramírez followed with a shot to center field.
"Manny and I are the heart of this team," proclaimed Big Papi afterward. "This was our short series. We didn't want to waste any time. We wanted to win this one and get going. When Manny and I are swinging the bat like this, we are very tough to beat."
He is right. With timely hitting, timely pitching, and consistent defense, the Red Sox are peaking at the right time. There are a number of alumni from the 2004 championship team - Ortiz, Ramírez, Varitek, Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Youkilis, Mike Timlin, and Doug Mirabelli - but there are also a collection of kids who have heard all about the World Series wins, but were itching to create their own memories.
"It's a beautiful scene," said Papelbon, in between ripping open beers with his teeth. "It is what all of us have been working toward. And now we're here, and for a little while, at least, we're going to have some fun."
The fun is officially over this morning. The Angels must be relegated to the past, along with the champagne and the Budweiser and the buckets of ice.
If the frat boys want another party, they better be ready to get back to work.
Posted at 03:46 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Manny Being Walk Off Manny: 6 - 3 Sox
In the bottom of the ninth with the game tied 3 to 3, with a man on, the Angles walk Big Papi to pitch to Manny -- lights out!
Did he know it was gone!
Manny Rameriez hit his first walk off home run of his career and it could not have come at a more clutch time: bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, and men in scoring position. They walked Big Papi to pitch to Manny, and Manny made them pay.
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Manny knew, the catcher knew
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Manny dives into the scrum at home
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Papi: "They walk me to get to you!"
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The Fan stole the ball! The fan stole the ball!
This youjng man may have made the play of the game by keeping Manny's foul ball from being caught. After Manny drew a walk, loading the bases, and Lowell followed with a sacrifice fly to score the man from third tying the game 3 all.
Sox up 2 games to none: Big Schill up next in LA.
Posted at 03:12 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Playoff Pandemonium
Jerry Remy is officially the President of Red Sox Nation and will be the dignitary throwing out the first ball. The Sox are Eastern division Champions. Playoff Pandemonium begins now.
Tito Francona
This ALDS should be a great match up for the Sox. We've the better record head to head. But it can be interesting in the playoffs where pitching and defense usually wins. The Angles play small ball and do it in classic manner: they hit and run, they bunt to move a runner over, they go from first to third on a single and score from first, and they steal a lot of bases.
Old friend Orlando Cabrarea put together a great year and he will be dancing off base trying to distract our pitchers and taunt our catchers. Josh Beckett's main job tonight, keep those speedy Angles off the base paths.
Posted at 06:22 PM | Community | Comments (0)
The New Mural in Billy Taylor Park / Joseph I. Hector Victims of Crime Day
A new mural appeared in Billy Taylor Park courtesy of a $4500 grant orchestrated by Rep. Gordon Fox on September 22, during the event Joseph I. Hector Victims of Crime Day.
ProJo covered the event in a fine article by Philip Marcelo, titled, Mount Hope neighbors remember Joe.
Marcelo’s report:
Hector’s death, a case of mistaken identity in a long-running feud between East Side and South Side gangs, has come to symbolize for many the senselessness of the street violence that still plagues the city.
contradicts the conventional wisdom on the streets of Mt. Hope that the young Hector’s death was not a case of mistaken identity but a case of his being targeted by a rival drug dealing organization albeit from the south side.
The fact that you can still drive by the vicinity of his home near the corner of Camp and Evergreen and still see young African American teenagers selling drugs right in front of his house testifies to the fact that the profit motive of these kingpin drug dealers in Mt. Hope knows no bounds; when it comes to financing expensive cars and expensive habits, there is too much money to be made to let the deaths of a few young people get in the way.
At any rate, the event in BTP this year, unlike last year, went off without any violence or any overt vandalism. Kudos to the Hector family and everyone involved for keeping a lid on it. They put forth a great deal of effort to do so and the entire neighborhood appreciated their effort. Of course the City made sure they had an adequate police detail at the event and that the proper permits were pulled: at least an entertainment license was pulled for the music, which still by far exceeded the legal limits set by the Providence noise ordinance.
Unfortunately the event was capped off by a drive by shooting at the Crossroads, the corner of Camp & Cypress at around 10:45 pm that night.
The mural pictures are dedicated to Dennis and to his girlfriend down at the Park’s Department. Some improvement.
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Posted at 12:40 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Sox Clinch Division Title
The Red Sox celebrated in raucous fashion last night after winning their first Eastern Division Title in ten years behind Dice-K Matsusake's 8 inning 2 run performance and Jonathon Papelbon's 37th save. The game crowd stayed around as well as those watching on TV to see the outcome of the Yankees Orioles game which the Orioles won in fine baseball fashion with a squeeze play in the 10th, giving the Eastern Division Title to the Rod Sox.
Paps goes wild with DK
The champagne flowed (or rather sprayed) in copious amounts as fans, players, owners, even the cops got a dose of the bubbly.
Wake & Paps hose down Big Papi
Last night Daisuke pitched 8 strong innings an Papi hit his 35th home run and his 52nd two-bagger.
Dice-K ready to bust some bubbly
Now the Sox are playing for the best won lost record and are tied with Cleveland at 95 - 65, with two game yet to play. With the best record comes home field advantage in the playoffs. Their first opponent? The Los Angeles Angels in a 5 game series. If the Sox win that series they the will play for the American League Pennant.
Congratulations Red Sox on your Eastern Division Title.
Posted at 06:48 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Charrette Wrap
This evening, 7 to 10, the Neighborhood Charrete for the Mt. Hope, Blackstone, and Hope neighborhoods will wrap up at the Martin Luther King School.
There will be a wrap up presentation of findings and discussion on how they translate into guiding principals for the future of these neighborhoods. You can still make suggestions and give feedback on the process. Free pizza too.
Providence Tommorrow: Charrette 2 is a link to our neighborhood's page on the city's Department of Planning and Development website, and it has all the information you need to participate.
Posted at 02:16 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Sox Magic Number 2
It could come tonight for the Red Sox, the first Division title since 1995. If the New York Hellhounds lose a game and the Sox win a game then it's clinched. It would be nice to get those HellHounds off our trail and the monkey off our back. There are 4 games left in which to get it done.
Big Papi & Dusty Pedro
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Gorden Edes of the Globe explains what the future may hold.
The immediate future came into focus for the Sox with last night's 11-6 win over the Oakland Athletics. Their magic number to clinch the AL East and win their first division title since 1995 is down to 2 - any combination of Sox wins and Yankee losses totaling that number and the Sox will have captured the division.And with the Angels being routed by Texas, the last-place Rangers completing a three-game sweep, the Sox are now virtually certain of meeting the Angels in the first round of the playoffs. The Angels are on the verge of being eliminated from the race for best record in the league; if that distinction falls to either the Indians or Red Sox, the Angels will play the Sox in the first round, because the Indians will play the AL East wild-card entry.
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
That AL east wild card entry he's talking about in the above scenario, that would be the New York Yankees.
Posted at 12:11 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Mach on Gentrification
Thanks for the tip and a nod to Matt's blog entry on the Gentrification issue in Olneyville on RIFuture website.
Very interesting reading. But what I liked was the comment made by Mach after the post and the one that mentioned Mt. Hope by Dan. It seems some of the same forces are at work over there but even worse with some far left leaning artsy fartsy types crying foul after spitting into the soup. Read it and you'll see what I mean even if you may not agree with me.
Heres's the link to the post:
Debate on Olneyville Gentrification Continues
And here is Mach's comment quoted from the rifuture.org website (Why can't we get people like him in Mt. Hope?):
Right this wrong?I'm sorry, but maybe because I'm one of those who moved into the area I have trouble seeing how my move was a "wrong" that needed someone to be "righted." Apparently what some want is for better living conditions in Olneyville, but when these better living conditions present themselves they don't want white people to move into them. Or, they want what is bought and developed to be turned into low-cost housing, although nobody was apparently willing to make the significant investment necessary to rehab the blighted and polluted lands if they couldn't get their money back - i.e. if they had to be low-cost units. What a surprise, that there is little interest in spending vast sums of money to fix-up buildings that won't generate a return. Would it be nice if there was such an interest? Absolutely. Was there such an interest? Not that I know of.
People bitch and moan about gentrification and complain about how nobody tries to improve their neighborhoods, but when people actually move in and start improving things they scream "gentrification!" As far as I have seen, that means "WHITE PEOPLE!" I eat at Olneyville restaurants (La Lupita is the best Mexican food around and of course NY System), I ride the bus with my neighbors, I used to buy my groceries at Shaw's (not anymore), I get my tires fixed at George's, I get cheap booze at Al's. I don't rob people, I don't assault people, I don't pay for prostitutes, I don't buy or sell drugs, I don't blow through the stop sign at Delaine & Valley like most people do, I pick up trash on my street as I walk to the bus stop (sadly, no garbage cans around though), and I even relax with a good game of kickball in the PKL. In short, I try my best to be a good neighbor and I support my neighborhood because I like it. What I don't like is the possibility of being stabbed when I get off the bus (end of my street last week, guy lived), prostitutes in my park, trash up and down my street, and shootings in my neighborhood (August was a aprticularly active month).
Olneyville can't have it both ways - you can't say you want to improve your neighborhood and then bitch that the people who are actually trying to help out are white and not minorities. If you want the shootings, stabbings, rampant littering, and poor business to end then the people responsible for those things need to go and people who don't do those things need to stay. But, you shoot yourself in the foot when people who move into the neghborhood and don't happen to be poor or a minority are derided as supporting "gentrification" despite the fact that they are exactly what Olneyville wants to be - good neighbors who make a decent wage.
Discourse is, with respect to the relation of forces, not merely a surface of inscription, but something that brings about effects. - Michel Foucault
Mach
Posted at 06:33 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Neighborhood Safety Charrette
Today on short notice, I was able to attend the charrette on neighborhood safety held from 11:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon. One question begs to be asked, who can attend such a meeting at such a time? Do you think the City may be scheduling these meetings so that no one of any consequence can attend.
Of course the Ann Marie Reddy's and Ray Watson's among us, government funded non-profit, welfare recipients all, were well represented as their non-jobs allow them such flexibility while still being paid. I was able to attend because I am self employed, and I sacrificed my time (my for profit time) because it was important to me.
I expected to hear the usual rhetoric, but instead I sat at a table with a woman of oriental decent from the Summit and six young African Americans from Mt. Hope. And me. To my surprise everyone agreed that the biggest problem in Mt. Hope was the drug dealing. And that the second biggest problem was the police. Specifically the police's failure to target the bad guys and instead harass people of color because they fit the profile of Mt. Hope drug dealers.
I pointed out that the police are poorly trained and that it doesn't matter whether you are young or old, black or white, the District 8 police do not know how to interact with Mt. Hope residents with respect. To the police, we are all scum because we live in Mt. Hope, a problematic neighborhood.
One young man, Steve, described how he was walking down Camp Street and a cop pulled over on the other side of the street and ordered him to cross the street and put his hands up on the retaining wall and spread his legs. He told him that he fit the profile of a suspect. I believe that my wife, Irene, witnessed this incident last week.
Now, let me tell you, I know every drug dealer in Mt. Hope because I've been fighting this battle for ten years and because I work all day every day in the neighborhood, and I know many people in the neighborhood, and I employ many people from the neighborhood, and I knew with one glance that Steve was not a drug dealer, so why don't the cops, whose job it is to know these things, know the same as I know. Why did they harass Steve: that is a rhetorical question: to create more distrust in the African American community, to perpetrate the belief that the police are stupid, that they racial profile.
I can tell you why, but I already did. And it came up in the charrette: the police are afraid, scared, they'd rather harass innocent African Americans than take on the ones whom they know are bad, and I mean "bad" as in dangerous. Who wants to fuck with dangerous drug dealers who may be packing heat when you can harass some kid and still look like you are doing your job?
A bunch of tough guys, huh.
But we still got drug dealing in Mt. Hope.
The police will not solve this problem for us. In fact, they are part of the problem.
The African American young people at our table this afternoon spoke of being completely disenfranchised -- one spoke of Mt. Hope as the neighborhood that is invisible, that doesn't count, that has been forgotten, and believe me these young adults are the best of the best.
It doesn't matter who you are, young or old, black or white, if you live in Mt. Hope, to the City, to the Police, you are a loser, and you are scum, and you don't count.
I'm often tempted to give up, sell out, move, but my warrior instinct always kicks in at some point, and now, I'm in full warrior mode.
All we need is a group of strong minded, strong willed, courageous, independent thinking individuals to turn this neighborhood around.
It's a shame that a small group of criminals and knee jerk liberals -- did I mention mamby pamby academics (;>) -- hold Mt. Hope hostage, hold it back from being a safe neighborhood free of political corruption, non-profit corruption, and the drug trade this corruption supports.
We can beat it. Listen to me.
John Twomey
Posted at 11:49 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Comprehensive Plan Process -- This Week
Neighborhood charrette
If you want input into the future of your neighborhood plan to attend and participate in the Comprehensive plan being put in place for Providence's neighborhoods. This plan, once enacted, will impact our neighborhood and the city for years to come.
Providence Tommorrow: Charrette 2 is a link to our neighborhood's page on the city's Department of Planning and Development website, and it has all the information you need to participate.
Toward the bottom of the page, highlighted in red is a survey residents can fill out. The very least a resident should do is to fill out this survey and clearly state your concerns about the Mt. Hope neighborhood so that those who lobby against gentrification and for fewer police patrols and for more subsidized housing are not the only voices that the City hears.
The paragraphs quoted below are from the Providence Journal.
City planners are conducting a charette for the Mount Hope, Hope and Blackstone neighborhoods as part of the Comprehensive Plan process, where planners are dissecting the city neighborhood by neighborhood to see what changes are wanted and needed.
Yesterday, in events at the Martin Luther King School on Camp Street and the Church of the Redeemer on Hope Street, residents of the East Side got their first chance to tell the city what changes they wanted to see in their neighborhoods.
The sessions soon evolved into discussions among residents about the best and worst parts of their neighborhoods: which buildings need replacing, where residents think illegal drugs are sold, and where a good turkey sandwich can be found (they recommend the Butcher Shop on Elmgrove, in case you’re curious).
The charette continues this morning at 9:30 with sessions on neighborhood character, community safety, affordability and youth. A roundtable with area elected officials is scheduled for tonight.
The charette will wrap up Thursday night with a session starting at 7.
Read the ProJo article by clicking the link or continue reading
East Siders help map their neighborhood
East Siders help map their neighborhood
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 25, 2007
By Daniel Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — East Siders stood poised around maps of the Hope, Mount Hope and Blackstone neighborhoods, ready to pounce.
Jonathan Harris, a consultant working with the city’s Planning Department on the Comprehensive Plan process, handed out colored markers, with the brief instructions that residents were to mark the areas in their neighborhoods that they wanted to preserve, and strike those they wanted to eliminate.
“Red is keep. Green is change. Go.”
Soon, arms were intertwined like it was a game of Twister, and the map was marked up with red and green.
Sadly for the Brown Bears, Brown Stadium was the first to go.
“Move the football stadium down to the river. We don’t need it in our neighborhood,” said Pamela Vogel, who said she felt that way despite being a Brown graduate.
Yesterday, in events at the Martin Luther King School on Camp Street and the Church of the Redeemer on Hope Street, residents of the East Side got their first chance to tell the city what changes they wanted to see in their neighborhoods.
City planners are conducting a charette for the Mount Hope, Hope and Blackstone neighborhoods as part of the Comprehensive Plan process, where planners are dissecting the city neighborhood by neighborhood to see what changes are wanted and needed.
Some of the popular suggestions — like improved walking paths, and renovations to Billy Taylor Park — may result in real changes. Others, like the stadium demolition, seem unlikely.
Planners are trying to determine where the boundary lines fall between areas, and so residents were asked to define their “neighborhood” — but no two definitions were the same. Jim Kelley circled the entire map — including the cemeteries. Wayne Rosenberg and Priscilla Shube drew a long, kinked neighborhood that looked like a gerrymandered congressional district, seemingly without logic — until the family pet is factored in.
“This is where we look for our cat,” Rosenberg explained.
Moderators asked hyper-specific questions to gauge residents’ interests in topics from crime to the best places to grab lunch.
“Where do you shop? What’s the longest walk you’ve ever taken in your neighborhood? How far do you walk without driving? What’s your favorite place to eat?” asked Steven Cecil, a consultant with the Boston-based Cecil group, which is assisting the city with the process.
The sessions soon evolved into discussions among residents about the best and worst parts of their neighborhoods: which buildings need replacing, where residents think illegal drugs are sold, and where a good turkey sandwich can be found (they recommend the Butcher Shop on Elmgrove, in case you’re curious).
The answers will help the city formulate a neighborhood plan for each area.
Once the neighborhood plan is completed, it will go before the City Plan Commission and serve as a handbook for zoning and planning decisions in individual neighborhoods.
This is the second of a total of 11 charettes to be held through 2009. South Elmwood and Washington Park received the attention of city planners this spring. The Olneyville, Smith Hill and Valley neighborhoods are next.
The charette continues this morning at 9:30 with sessions on neighborhood character, community safety, affordability and youth. A roundtable with area elected officials is scheduled for tonight.
The charette will wrap up Thursday night with a session starting at 7.
dbarbari@projo.com
Posted at 09:11 AM | Community | Comments (0)
Shots Fired in Drive-by -- Camp & Cypress
A few minutes ago drive by shooters fired 4 shots at a group of African Americans who were hanging out on the corner of Camp & Cypress around 10:45 this Saturday night.
I'm sure this is related to the Hector Event that was held in Billy Taylor Park this afternoon, an event held in memory of the 17 year old Hector child shot to death a few years ago near the same corner.
This shooting took place a few feet from the Police Substation and of course no policemen were around it being shift change.
Posted at 11:07 PM | Community | Comments (0)
Black on Black
An interested party sent me this link to a Boston Globe column by Jeff Jacoby, titled, Destruction in black America is self-inflicted. Click the above underlined, boldfaced link to access the column.
In the column Jacoby sites some interesting stats:
In a new study, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics confirms once again that almost half the people murdered in the United States each year are black, and 93 percent of black homicide victims are killed by someone of their own race. (For white homicide victims, the figure is 85 percent.) In other words, of the estimated 8,000 African-Americans murdered in 2005, more than 7,400 were cut down by other African-Americans. Though blacks account for just one-eighth of the US population, the BJS reports, they are six times more likely than whites to be victimized by homicide - and seven times more likely to commit homicide.
Jacoby visits the belief among African Americans that they have much to fear from racist whites:
But the data aren't in dispute. Though outrage over "racism" is ever fashionable, African-Americans have long had far less to fear from the violence of racist whites than from the mayhem of the black underclass."Do you realize that the leading killer of young black males is young black males?" asked Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan 16 years ago. "As a black man and a father of three, this really shakes me to the core of my being."
Jacoby provides us with an interesting quote from Rev. Jessie Jackson:
"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life," Jesse Jackson said in 1993, "than to walk down the street and hear footsteps . . . then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved."
And Jacoby echoes the sentiments of Daniel Patrick Moynihan 40 years ago that have proved prescient:
Such huge disproportions don't just happen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously warned 40 years ago that the collapse of black family life would mean rising chaos and crime in the black community. Today, as many as 70 percent of black children are raised in fatherless households. And as reams of research confirm, children raised without married parents and intact, stable families are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior.
Jacoby expounds on the topic in his column with the two following paragraphs:
If there is racial bias in the system, it clearly isn't in favor of whites.But if you choose to focus on the race of victims, I added, remember that nearly all black homicide is intraracial - more than nine out of 10 black murder victims in the United States are killed by black murderers. So applying the death penalty in more cases where the victim is black would mean sending more black men to death row.
What is going on in Mt. Hope?
In light of what is going on in Mt. Hope today, with black on black violence erupting regularly on Pleasant Street, with African American drug dealers selling their evil poison to their own kind, with African American kids not knowing any better than to throw garbage on the streets of their own community isn't it time for a Black on Black dialog about the self-destructive problems the African American community is experiencing in Mt. Hope?
The Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association
The MHNA has traditionally represented the African American community in Mt. Hope. The MHNA has never offered any pretense of representing the entire community, only in their representing the interests of the African American community in Mt. Hope. Why doesn't the MHNA step up and address the pressing problems the African American community of Mt. Hope is experiencing.
Gentrification Workshop
The MHNA offered a Gentrification Workshop in conjunction with D.A.R.E. as if Gentrification is the biggest problem facing the African American community in Mt. Hope. No wonder so many people were outraged and treated it like a bad joke.
Letters to the MHNA
Why is no one writing letters to the MHNA, at 199 Camp Street, Providence, RI 02906, suggesting that they hold workshops on Drug Dealing in Mt. Hope: How do we stop it?,
Or this workshop: On Black on Black Violence: How do we stop young black men in Providence from shooting each other over an old feud?
Or this workshop: Why does the African American community in Mt. Hope perceive white people as the problem in Mt. Hope, when it is clear that the problems of crime and filth originate with the African American community in Mt. Hope?
Or this workshop: Why does the African American community in Mt. Hope blame everyone else for their problems instead of taking responsibility for their own self determination?
My guess as to the reason why nobody asks these questions of the MHNA is that no white person wants to risk being portrayed as racist for asking these questions, and no black person wants to be portrayed as an Uncle Tom for asking the same questions.
Again, have I mentioned cowardice on this blog? Is that too strong a word. Ok, how about timidity. Is that more palatable? It's all semantics. People are too cowed to say what they really believe because of fear. Call it whatever you want to call it: it does have a name. Where does the word "cowed" come from?
Read Jacoby's column below.
Destruction in black America is self-inflicted
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | September 5, 2007
DEBATING capital punishment at an Ivy League university a few years ago, I was confronted with the claim that since death sentences are more often meted out in cases where the victim is white, the death penalty must be racially biased. It's a spurious argument, I replied. Whites commit fewer than half of all murders in the United States, yet more whites than blacks are sentenced to death and more whites than blacks are executed each year.
If there is racial bias in the system, it clearly isn't in favor of whites.
But if you choose to focus on the race of victims, I added, remember that nearly all black homicide is intraracial - more than nine out of 10 black murder victims in the United States are killed by black murderers. So applying the death penalty in more cases where the victim is black would mean sending more black men to death row.
After the debate, a young black woman accosted me indignantly. Ninety-plus percent of black blood is shed by black hands? What about all the victims of white supremacists? Hadn't I heard of lynching? Hadn't I heard of James Byrd, who died so horribly in Jasper, Texas? When I assured her that Byrd's murder by whites was utterly untypical of most black homicide, she was dubious.
I thought of that young woman when I read recently about James Ford Seale, the former Mississippi Klansman sentenced last month to three life terms in prison for his role in murdering two black teenagers 43 years ago. The killing of Charles Moore and Henry Dee in 1964 was one of several unsolved civil-rights-era crimes that prosecutors in the South have reopened in recent years. Seale's trial was a vivid reminder of the days when racial contempt was a deadly fact of life in much of the country. His sentence proclaims even more vividly the transformation of America since then. White racism, once such a murderous force, is now associated mostly with feeble has-beens.
Yet many Americans, like the woman at my debate, still seem to view racial questions through an antediluvian haze. To them, white bigotry remains a clear and present danger, and the reason so many black Americans die before their time.
But the data aren't in dispute. Though outrage over "racism" is ever fashionable, African-Americans have long had far less to fear from the violence of racist whites than from the mayhem of the black underclass.
"Do you realize that the leading killer of young black males is young black males?" asked Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan 16 years ago. "As a black man and a father of three, this really shakes me to the core of my being."
From Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, came a similar cry of anguish. "Nothing in the long history of blacks in America," he lamented in 1994, "suggests the terrible destruction blacks are visiting upon each other today."
Happily, crime rates have declined from their 1990s peak. But it remains that the worst destruction in black America is self-inflicted.
In a new study, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics confirms once again that almost half the people murdered in the United States each year are black, and 93 percent of black homicide victims are killed by someone of their own race. (For white homicide victims, the figure is 85 percent.) In other words, of the estimated 8,000 African-Americans murdered in 2005, more than 7,400 were cut down by other African-Americans. Though blacks account for just one-eighth of the US population, the BJS reports, they are six times more likely than whites to be victimized by homicide - and seven times more likely to commit homicide.
Such huge disproportions don't just happen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously warned 40 years ago that the collapse of black family life would mean rising chaos and crime in the black community. Today, as many as 70 percent of black children are raised in fatherless households. And as reams of research confirm, children raised without married parents and intact, stable families are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior.
High rates of black violent crime are a national tragedy, but it is the law-abiding black majority that suffers from them most. "There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life," Jesse Jackson said in 1993, "than to walk down the street and hear footsteps . . . then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved."
It isn't an insoluble problem. Americans overcame white racism; they can overcome black crime. But the first step, as always, is to face the facts.
Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 2007 The New York Times Company
Posted at 08:05 PM | Community | Comments (1)
Lackadaisical Policing in Providence
I am a small woman who lives in Providence. All 100 pounds of me is scared to walk from my car to the door of my apt. building sometimes. Occasionally, I scoot around the block or to the closest block in an effort to have an officer watch me walk to my door, since it's a bit dark where I park my car and possible mishaps can be eliminated by asking for this minor favor.
I say favor, but our tax dollars pay for that to be their job. Unfortunately, I have had a recent incident where it took Providence Police ONE HOUR to respond to my call.
As I expressed my frustration, the officer who responded (in a less than prompt fashion) proceeded to get very defensive with me. She phoned other officers to show up, since all 100 lbs of me must be so intimidating, and there I was- all of a sudden 5 mintutes later 2 cops come popping out of the woodwork, talk about favoring phone calls vs inadequate response times.
After I was surrounded by 3 cop cars, the 2 male officers proceeded to assure me that I was fine and watched me walk to my door. Although it ended well, must the first responded be so defensive after responding an hour later- whatever I was complaining about could have harmed me and left me long before she got there had I gotten the nerve to get out of my car alone in that dark ally.
Providence Police are too lackadaisical, as this is not the first time they have taken their sweet time responding to my calls ...I don't live in the best area.
Alyssa
Posted at 01:57 PM | Community | Comments (1)
A Different Recipe for Change
To those who agree with the person who posted Recipe for Not Stopping Gentrification.
Uppity white folks? Maybe they just don't feel comfortable moving to that area, as crime is going to exist in poverty stricken areas -and Camp street doesn't exactly have millionaires. How ignorant to think that changing the elected official would stop crime.
What about giving the teens in that neigboorhood a place to go, where they can legally practice graffiti artwork and other art forms that fall under the category of hip hop as a MOVEMENT.
Perhaps the person who runs the Mt Hope Community center could be held more responsible for conducting activities that the kids actually would be interested in.
The last time I heard him speak of his plans for youth programs, I heard chess get mentioned. I'm sure that's just what these kids need ...yea maybe 8 in the whole community. The rest of these kids face REALITY on a daily basis, to which chess and uppity white folks do not apply.
Perhaps the answer is staring us in the face -ASSIMILATION with our youth, to start bridging some of these gaps.
As for Councilman Jackson- he supports this realistic notion that we need to meet the youth in the middle somewhere, and provide for them activities that don't involve hand selecting teens, only to select ones that were going to be successful anyway, to glorify their own stance, to satisfy their own ego. Rather, assimilating to teens and incorporating their chosen activities into a program structured around ending crime in this neighboorhood is a more effective way to deal with these concerns.
Jackson is a fine example of what this community needs in office.
Alyssa
Posted at 01:53 PM | Community | Comments (0)
"Providence is still an extremely safe city."
27 and counting, that is how many shootings we experienced in the city of Providence since August 1st (ProJo: Providence shooting is 27th for August) and the shooting began well before August rolled along.
I wonder how many of those shots we can call our own, here in Mt. Hope. Read the blurb below for an account of recent Mt. Hope shootings.
From A violent month in Providence: Providence Journal -- with map feature locating shootings.
McCann Place, a cluster of subsidized, low-income housing in the Mount Hope neighborhood, also has seen its share of violence in recent weeks. Specifically, a peeling drab gray unit with red trim at 61 Pleasant St.On Aug. 1, Kevelin Davis, 29, was riddled with gunfire outside the apartment. He suffered four bullet wounds to the back and one to the right arm. He told the police that he was on the front steps of 61 Pleasant St. at 12:50 a.m. when a gold-colored car occupied by two men wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts pulled up. They opened fire and sped off.
Davis was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, and survived the shooting. At the hospital, a health-care worker discovered a plastic bag containing crack cocaine stuffed up Davis’ buttocks. He was arrested and charged with a drug violation.
On July 22, Justin T. Potter, 26, of East Providence, was grazed in the head by a bullet as he was hanging outside the same apartment on Pleasant Street.
The neighborhood, described as a trouble spot for decades, is just a few hundred yards from Hope High School and less than a mile from Thayer Street and Brown University.
Deputy Police Chief Kennedy said,
“Providence is still an extremely safe city,” Kennedy said. “We are an urban city and with that comes a certain level of crime. You have to realize that in this business you do have upticks in violence.”
John Lombardi
JOHN J. LOMBARDI, a city councilman from the Federal Hill neighborhood, said that many people do not feel safe, and he said he talks with elderly residents who are afraid to leave their homes after 4:30 p.m.
A violent month in Providence
08:40 AM EDT on Thursday, August 30, 2007
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — A blazing sun beat down on the makeshift memorial yesterday where Vidal “Lucky” Rodriguez, a leader of the Almighty Latin Kings Nation street gang, was gunned down early Saturday.
A white T-shirt featuring “King” in bold gold lettering and the gang’s emblem, a crown surrounded by dollar signs, was pinned on the wall of El Tiburon Sports Bar at the corner of Valley and Harold streets.
About 50 candles flickered under a crude altar on the sidewalk where Rodriguez’s life came to an end. Empty bottles of champagne, brandy
and beer were crowded among the candles.
Another weekend and another shooting, this one leading to the ninth homicide of the year in the capital city. Over the past month there has been an explosion of gun violence and bloodshed in different neighborhoods, some less than a mile or two from the much-celebrated downtown Providence Renaissance.
In terms of violence, the Providence police say August has been the worst month in at least five years.
A review of the gunfire by The Providence Journal reveals that since Aug. 1, there have been at least 26 shootings in the city that have been reported to the police. During that span, 20 people have been shot and 2 people, including Lucky Rodriguez, have been killed. The police have yet to make an arrest in the latest homicide.
The total number of shootings for August has accounted for more than half of the shootings in the city this year. In the previous seven months, 19 shootings were reported to the police.
“It kind of reminds me of 30 years ago, when there were a lot of mob shootings,” said City Council President Peter Mancini. “I haven’t had any formal meetings with the council or the police, but the whole council is concerned about these shootings.”
Mancini, who serves on the police advisory board, vowed to raise the subject at its next meeting, in Police Chief Dean Esserman’s conference room on Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8:30 a.m.
Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy said he hopes August was an “aberration.” Still, the department is not sitting on its hands hoping for a reduction. He said the police have redirected officers and resources to hot spots in the city that have seen a significant uptick in shootings. The department has also tapped officers from the gun squad, narcotics and gang unit to help quell the violence.
Among the problem areas are Asian enclaves in the city’s south and west sides, Smith Hill and Mount Hope on the city’s East Side.
“We really believe that cops count,” Kennedy said. “We try to put more cops out there.”
He said that many of the shootings can be attributed to long-simmering feuds between rival gangs, the recent release of violent felons from prison and drug-related disputes.
“These are not random acts,” he said.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE to study the shootings and come up with a definitive reason for the violence. But almost all of them involved young men and many of them involved drugs.
Maj. Stephen M. Campbell, who oversees the detective division, said the police crackdown has yielded results. He pointed out that the police have arrested eight people with guns in the past two weeks. A felon in possession of a gun faces an automatic five years in federal prison.
The police say the month’s other murder, on Aug. 15, was a drug deal gone bad.
The police say that Marc Quintal drove David Rocha and two other men from Fall River to South Providence to buy drugs.
They said that David Mello, using a cell phone, directed Quintal to a driveway outside a house at Pearl and Hayward streets. Once there, Mello and Sylvester Moses, both 20, of Providence, approached the car with drawn handguns.
About 6:40 p.m., gunfire erupted and Quintal, 20, was fatally shot in the back. Mello was arrested last week and charged with murder, first-degree robbery and using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.
Moses turned himself in yesterday morning and has been charged with murder, according to the Providence police.
The police have not said which of the suspects is believed to have fired the shot that killed Quintal.
McCann Place, a cluster of subsidized, low-income housing in the Mount Hope neighborhood, also has seen its share of violence in recent weeks. Specifically, a peeling drab gray unit with red trim at 61 Pleasant St.
On Aug. 1, Kevelin Davis, 29, was riddled with gunfire outside the apartment. He suffered four bullet wounds to the back and one to the right arm. He told the police that he was on the front steps of 61 Pleasant St. at 12:50 a.m. when a gold-colored car occupied by two men wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts pulled up. They opened fire and sped off.
Davis was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, and survived the shooting. At the hospital, a health-care worker discovered a plastic bag containing crack cocaine stuffed up Davis’ buttocks. He was arrested and charged with a drug violation.
On July 22, Justin T. Potter, 26, of East Providence, was grazed in the head by a bullet as he was hanging outside the same apartment on Pleasant Street.
The neighborhood, described as a trouble spot for decades, is just a few hundred yards from Hope High School and less than a mile from Thayer Street and Brown University.
A 24-hour period that began early on Aug. 12 was a particularly bad stretch. On Aug. 12, at 2:21 a.m., two cousins, Sophon Meas, 17, and Kan Hosp Bou, 20, were shot in front of Bou’s house at 24 Bernon St. in Smith Hill. A 17-year-old witness who accompanied the wounded men to the hospital told the police that he was a member of the Tiny Rascals, an Asian gang.
Meas was shot in the left hip, while Bou was hit in the shoulder and upper chest area.
Six minutes later, Keivan DeLeon, 21, and Jose L. Garcia, 18, were both shot outside 126 Julian St., in Olneyville, after an apparent altercation. DeLeon suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg; Garcia was hit in the buttocks and knee.
On Aug. 13, at 1:15 a.m., three Asian men were ambushed and shot during a backyard party at 168 Waverly St., in the West End, a known hangout of the Dark Side Asian gang. The unidentified gunman fired five or six shots from behind thick shrubbery at 179 Althea St. A young man wearing a red bandana was seen running from the area.
Thompson Eang, 16, was shot in the thigh; Sophea Hem, 19, was hit in the leg and arm; and Sareivouth Cheam, 18, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.
JOHN J. LOMBARDI, a city councilman from the Federal Hill neighborhood, said that many people do not feel safe, and he said he talks with elderly residents who are afraid to leave their homes after 4:30 p.m.
He said he recently met with a constituent off Broadway when several loud cracks that sounded like gunshots echoed outside her home. “She didn’t even flinch,” he said.
Kennedy, the deputy police chief, said the police will continue to tap every means possible to attack the sudden escalation of violence in the city. He said the Providence police are working with the state police and FBI.
Still, career criminals such as Lucky Rodriguez will always find their way onto the police blotter or a gurney at the state medical examiner’s office. The police say that the gang member survived a shooting four years ago and had spent time in prison.
Kennedy said that Rodriguez, murdered at 33, chose a lifestyle that placed him directly in harm’s way, but that doesn’t mean that law-abiding citizens or downtown visitors should live in fear.
The city’s Board of Licenses also has gotten involved. At the request of the police, the board temporarily shut down El Tiburon, a known Latin Kings hangout where Rodriguez spent the final moments of his life. The board is moving to permanently close the bar.
“Providence is still an extremely safe city,” Kennedy said. “We are an urban city and with that comes a certain level of crime. You have to realize that in this business you do have upticks in violence.”
bmalinow@projo.com
Posted at 05:01 PM | Community | Comments (0)
The Inconvenience Store
A significant contributor to the ambiance of the Crossings (Camp & Cypress Streets) in Mt. Hope is what I call the "inconvenience store," a magnet for the 'hood's thugs. Yes, it's better than it was five years ago when the store's previous manager was selling drugs, but it still contributes to the poor atmosphere.
Since I live in a condo in the same building, I'm constantly picking up trash dropped by the store patrons, and even have to climb up on its roof to pick up cans, bottles and other refuse the pigs (thugs) toss up there. I suppose it's too much to ask that the store manager put a large trash container outside the door for patrons to dispose of their trash.
The inconvenience store recently began selling hot American and Spanish food. Unbelievably, I spotted the concessionaire dumping unbagged garbage in the store Dumpster, situated conveniently right under my living room windows. I witnessed him with a plastic trash container lined with a plastic bag dumping the food in the Dumpster, then drop the empty plastic liner in after it. How can anyone be THAT stupid? Because of his unsanitary practices, the Dumpster was swarming with flies during last week's hot and humid weather.
I complained to the concessionaire and the store clerk about the health hazard and was told it was being taken care of. Yeah, sure. On Thursday, I notified the state health department, which then closed down the hot food operation. The clerk and the concessionaire put two and two together and figured out it was I who caused the shutdown. They are angry. Well, so am I. They should have followed the food regulatory laws before starting to serve hot food. Thankfully, we won't be seeing chicken bones and half-eaten food on the streets or unbagged garbage in the Dumpster. Perhaps that will keep down the fly population.
Peter C.
Posted at 03:09 PM | Community | Comments (0)
A No No by Buchholz
Clay Buchholz
Red Sox Nation rejoiced as last night, twenty-two year old rookie Red Sox righty Clay Buchholz, called up from Triple AAA Pawtucket only hours earlier, hurled a no-hitter at the Baltimore Orioles.
Game Over -- No-hitter!
Buchholz spun his magic with no hit stuff that baffled the Oriole batters with a devastatingly deceptive change up clocking in at around 77 mph, a fastball in the low 90’s, a 12 to 6 curveball that clocked in around 80 – 84 mph and the occasional slider. That he was able to throw any of these pitches at any point in the strike count kept the Orioles off balance all night. Captain Jason Varitek called a superb game and deserves, if not almost equal credit, a great deal of credit for the night’s accomplishment.
The Captain & the Kid
Solid defensive helped the No No along with outstanding plays by Crisp, Pedroia, and Buchhloz himself (a former shortstop) preventing potential base-hits. Coco Crisp made several good catches in the outfield, but Dustin Pedroia undoubtedly made the play-of-the-game with a diving backhand stab behind second base where in seemingly one motion he dove outstretched for the ball, landed face down with the ball in his glove, rose and threw a strike to first to nab the runner by a split second.
To illustrate the rarity of a no-hitter, Buchholz’s was only the 3rd no-hitter at Fenway in the last 45 years, following one by Hedio Nomo and Derek Lowe. It’s the first ever by a Red Sox rookie. It’s the 2nd ever in the history of Major League ball of a rookie No No in his 2nd big league game.