Bartender’s death spurs outcry against crime
A public outcry against crime in Atlanta gathered more momentum at a community meeting Sunday in Little Five Points.
Upset by last week’s shooting death of Grant Park bartender John Henderson, about 100 people met outside the Aurora Coffee to share concerns, information and e-mail addresses.
“I was heartbroken over what happened to John,” Kyle Keyser, an Atlanta resident who also was a recent crime victim, told the crowd. “Let’s get one voice together. With that power, we can effect some change in this city.”
Keyser formed Atlantans Together Against Crime after he was robbed at gunpoint last month.
Within four days of starting the Web site atlantanstogether.org, he said, 750 people had signed up for e-mail updates and about 3,500 people had joined its Facebook page on the Internet. Among other efforts, the group plans to hold monthly rallies around town.
Henderson was shot during an early morning robbery Wednesday at Standard Food & Spirits. The following day, more than 200 people gathered outside a nearby restaurant to remember the 27-year-old victim and to protest cuts in Atlanta’s police services.
On Sunday, Liam McKaharay, an East Lake resident and a leader of the meeting, advised people to be pro-active: Keep their doors locked, get to know their neighbors, walk in threes, and encourage neighborhood bars and restaurants to hire security.
“If they can’t afford security, nobody’s going there anyway,” McKaharay said.
Donna Williamon, of the East Atlanta-based Safe Atlanta For Everyone, implored people to get involved and stay involved in this burgeoning movement.
“You can blog about it and you can [complain] about it until the cows come home, but unless you reach inside and do something about it, nothing’s going to happen,” Williamon said. “Keep the fire in your belly, ‘cause I’m mad, and I’m scared, and I’m sick of all that’s happening to us.”
Atlantans Together - anti-crime group
Atlantans Together Against Crime & Cutbacks (ATACC) has been established in response to the wave of violent crime that is taking over our city. More and more we hear stories of friends and family being assaulted, robbed at gunpoint, and now, just recently, murdered. The increase in violent crime is staggering - and heartbreaking - but as these stories become more and more common, city officials are cutting back the police force and claiming crime is on the decline.
Please add your name to the mailing list to help raise awareness to the rise in violent crime as well as to take action with Atlanta’s lawmakers.
Framing of this protest is critical.
There are five groups at play over this rather classic land battle.
- The White people who are "rediscovering" life inside of the city of Atlanta
- The Bourgeois Black people who are moving back in as well
- The poor Black people who reside in the communities that are being revitalized
- The Black Civil Rights groups and their members who seek to protect the interests of the poor
- The Black Criminal class that comes from the poor Black segment - who are bent on exploiting the opportunity to rob people
Let's be honest - the writing is on the wall. With each premises that is being rehabitated with hundreds of thousands of dollars being invested in each home and/or business that is bring brought back to life it is clear as to which party the law enforcement authorities are going to seek to protect. With the City of Atlanta facing a major budget shortfall they are in desperate need of property tax revenues and people who pay their utility bills.
The story about the conflicts in east Atlanta and Grant Park are well documented. These immigrant groups are seeking to customize the public safety in their community up to the standards that they walked into the community with. Thus they are demanding more police protection. When the police are called - it is not usually to protest the actions of an imbeded property owner with some skin in the game. They are typcially calling about a threat from the original inhabitants in the community.
As the cycle of increased focus upon them continues - the original inhabitants start getting the message that they are seen as "the problem" in the community - regardless of if this is an accurate assessment or not.
What we have is a confluence of different classes and the characteristics that go along with this. Some of the "code enforcement" standards that were permissible when the area was poor is not going to be tolerated by people who have made a substantial investment in the property and looking to retain their property values. At the same time most of those who are moving in are typically advocates of DIVERSITY. It becomes clear that they are indeed advocates of such - just not when they are the ones who bear the risk of diversification if it threatens their own interests.
The Protests Against Crime
On this blog I frequently work to understand the focus of people's protestations. From this we can get a good idea of the effectiveness of the ideology that they are bound to.
For example - in the Black community when a police officer assaults a Black person there will no doubt be protests. These protests will be focused against the police and the city. There may be calls for the federal justice department to come in and regulate the local authorities.
If there are too many Black on Black gun crimes many of these same protesters will go to the state and federal government and demand that they crack down on GUN DEALERS as a means of keeping guns out of the hands of their young people who are killing each other.
The bottom line of it all is that the politics of "derivative behavior" which says that "oppressed people have been conditioned to attack each other and thus should not be held individually responsible for their acts" prevents the protesters from directly attacking the systematic actions of these operatives. Instead the crowd goes after those who they belive can accept a measure of responsibility and accountability upon their backs.
This particular incident brings forth a very different set of dynamics. We have White people of means who are concerned that poor Black people are robbing and killing them. I have to give credit to the group "Atlantans Together Against Crime & Cutbacks". They KNOW who the problems is. As largely White liberals that are also alive in 2009 rather than 1949 - they are coy enough to achieve their means in a more methodical manner.
Rather than having a straight up confrontation with "the Blacks" as would have happened in the past they seek to make use of the government authorities to apply the regulation upon the "misbehaving Blacks" in their midst. (I am not saying that all Blacks are misbehaving. I am speaking about the subset of the Black population who are.) They are calling for more police protection of their communities and are quick to remind the city officials that "WE PAY TAXES".
The key issue that once drove "their kind" out of the city into the suburbs in the first place
was the fact that despite them paying so much in taxes they did not feel that it was being returned in the way of government services. The fact that their money was ultimately thrown into a big pool of money and then reallocated for so many needs that others had protested about motivated them to do a "How ya like me now that I am gone" move. They took their bodies and their wallets and left the city.
It stands to reason that if this group is protesting against city budget cutbacks for police and fire lest they be left more vulerable then they would also be supportive of playing more taxes in support of their lifestyle within the island that they live upon.
The Civil Rights Community
Rest assured reading every edition of the morning paper are the civil right stalwarts. (Some of them might even read their news "on-line" - a tool that Martin Luther King Jr - who they marched with - did not have access to).
They are being kept up to date regarding each incident in which a White resident is assaulted in the area of convergence. They are also making note as to the response that the White community takes. If the White community seeks to make this into a RACIAL issue you can better believe that the Civil Rights stalwarts will forge a counter-protest seeking to tell their side of the story: Economic Marginalization of the original inhabitants.
Thus far the White Progressive and the Black Progressive are dancing a delicate dance on this issue. The White Progressive is dutifully blaming the GOVERNMENT for the failures and are against more budget cuts. This message is nearly a duplicate of that which the Civil Rights machine might put forth. Thus there is not yet cause to fight against the White Progressives.
The one key group that is left out of the direct discusions but which all of this conversation is ultimately about is the Black Criminal Class! The progressive is so used to talking "about him" and working on "behalf of him" or trying to "change his behavior" through preemptive distribution of resources that they are rarely brought to the table for a meeting with these other two groups to explain their part and to accept responsibility.
It would be wise for the Civil Rights machine to preemptively ask for some type of community center for this area. They could setup an arraingment where the new young profesisonals who are moving in (White and Black) to form some type of more constructive relationship with the marginalized youth in the area. Having formed a bound and gotten to know each other better - since they both live right around the corner from each other - they might be less inclined to rob one another. They might be less inclined to allow the other to be summarily pushed out of the community. They might be less inclined to allow some external party to come in and exploit the obvious racial angle to the situation.
I will key an eye out on this developing situation. I do hope that some "progressive" agreement can be worked out. It is ironic however that how in regards to the police shooting in Oakland - "MAXIMUM EFFECT" is necessary as a means of generating the anger and emotion that is necessary to keep this reoccuring incident on the front pages so that it won't be swept away. In Atlanta and other areas where White people are being robbed and killed - the amplification of these events by beating upon the racial drums is said to be a throwback to the "racial jingoism" of the pre-civil rights movement.
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