I'm Not the only one that believes we are at War with Ourselves.....Let's See What Mr. Louis Thinks

I have been espousing since this blog's inception that we are literally in a war within a war. Or more specifically, due to limited opportunities, young people of color are finding themselves fighting in Iraq or warring with each other in urban areas throughout the nation. Perhaps because this next story was local in scope, I refrained from editorializing about it-but NY Daily News columnist, Errol Louis provided an excellent synopsis regarding a recent police shooting that resulted in the death of a young officer. Louis, as always, gives an erudite analysis of the atmosphere that many Black people in the Big Apple are finding themselves in after this specific incident (the officer's partner did survive) inolving three thugs who were responsible for a litany of prior offenses. Here's Louis' take on the Officer Timoshenko shooting, courtesy of the NY Daily News:

Rise up against thugs

Besieged nabes must wage war on street violence


Thursday, July 19th 2007, 4:00 AM
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As a grieving, grateful city celebrates the sacrifice of Police Officer Russel Timoshenko, who was suddenly, brutally murdered in the streets of Brooklyn last week, the cry goes out for the millionth time: Where are the leaders - the men and institutions - taking action to bring order to New York's violent neighborhoods?

By all indications, Timoshenko was the victim of three losers who capped their criminal careers with a savage, unforgivable act.

But the 23-year-old hero was also a casualty in a cultural war within the black community - increasingly, a shooting war - that pits stable, law-abiding families in inner-city neighborhoods against a criminal class and its enablers.

The war is not going well. In too many neighborhoods, the institutions charged with rearing the young - from the family and the church to the schools, courts and civic associations - are failing to get a critical mass of our kids educated, motivated and ready to lead productive lives.

Far too often, we are losing the fight to dope dealers, pimps, thieves and thugs.

New York remains in denial about the fact that an overall decline in crime citywide has been accompanied by a rising tide of lawless violence in a handful of neighborhoods - including Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where I live, and where Timoshenko spent his short, heroic career.

The NYPD's homicide statistics go up and down - in fact, murders are down in Crown Heights compared to this time last year - but in some areas, the long-term murder trend is up.

In 1998, there were nine homicides in the 77th Precinct, which covers North Crown Heights. Last year, there were 23 - an increase of 155%. The adjacent 71st Precinct, which includes southern Crown Heights and where Timoshenko served, had 18 murders last year, a 20% increase from 1998.

While the rest of the city is getting safer, we're falling back to where we were almost a decade ago.

So-called leaders in central Brooklyn and elsewhere must summon the energy, creativity and nerve to reverse this slide. We have the power, or can build the power to do it.

But too many parents, preachers, politicians and professionals are standing on the sidelines, literally hiding in their homes and praying for change while whole neighborhoods spiral downward.

That's a good way to lose the battle.

If every inner-city family would commit to investing time and/or money in one institution outside their home - be it the local church, an after-school program, a block or tenant association or the community precinct - the streets would begin changing for the better in no time flat.

Civic engagement leads to the informal daily interactions that civilize a neighborhood: a cold stare and an anonymous call to the precinct for the drug dealers on the corner, a reprimand to young kids when they start acting out, a nosy "Can I help you?" to strangers loitering on residential blocks.

It works. Not long ago, Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-Crown Heights), who is also a Baptist minister, began convening neighborhood meetings to address crime along Nostrand Ave. in Crown Heights. Within months, under pressure from an outraged, organized community, the Brooklyn district attorney and NYPD's Brooklyn North command organized an undercover operation that shut down five crack houses.

We need to do that again and again.

To those living under siege by criminals, my plea today would be: Say a prayer for the soul of Russel Timoshenko - and then choose sides in the war that killed him.