52 people arrested after looters target stores across Philadelphia
Victims of black crime matter, too
Two black teenagers brutally attacked an Asian mother of three, causing severe physical damage. Once the news finally picked up on her story, generous Americans donated more than $300,000 to a fund for her medical care. However, most victims of black crime are blacks, and few benefit from a GoFundMe. Worse, none benefit from the tens of millions of dollars that Black Lives Matter collected. That needs to change.
Every year in America, some 500 whites are murdered by black assailants, more than twice as many as blacks killed by whites. The media need to report all of these cases fairly and without bias so as to counter the false reporting and misplaced emphasis in the national press. All victims, of whatever race, deserve justice because all human life is precious. The reporting of violence should not be based on race — it should be proportionate to the crime, without regard to the race of the perpetrator or the victim. Jeffrey Folks
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week attempted to blame Republicans for rising crime in Washington, D.C.
"The president—unlike Republicans—has actually put forth billions of dollars," Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday press conference when asked about the carjacking of Democratic representative Henry Cuellar (Texas). "Let's not forget, there were billions of dollars in his American Rescue Plan so that local communities and the state and federal police as well—law enforcement—were able to make sure that they had the funding so that they can hire more law enforcement."
She added that "Republicans have not helped."
When Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pushed back, noting that D.C. is "run by a bunch of Democrats," Jean-Pierre deflected and said she is "going to speak to what the president has done."
Cuellar was carjacked Monday in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
"As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, 3 armed assailants approached the congressman and stole his vehicle," Jacob Hochberg, Cuellar's chief of staff, said in a statement. "Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement. Thank you to Metro PD and Capitol Police for their swift action and for recovering the congressman’s vehicle."
In D.C., according to the city's former police chief, "the average homicide suspect has been arrested 11 times prior to them committing a homicide."
Published under: Crime , Karine Jean-Pierre
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A Majority Of D.C.’s Gun Violence Is Driven By Small Number Of People, Says A New Study
"Their violence is predictable and therefore it is preventable," it says.
Jenny Gathright
A Stop the Violence poster sits on a table at a Guns Down Friday pop-up event at Cedar Gardens.
Every year, about 500 identifiable people in D.C.
drive as much as 70% of the city’s gun
violence, according to a new report
commissioned by the city.
The study was authored by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which has been working with the District to come up with a strategic plan for reducing gun violence. It found that a relatively small group of people — likely as little as 200 people at any one point in time — are driving a majority of homicides and shootings in the city. And the study echoes an argument that community leaders in the neighborhoods most affected by violence have long put forward: If the government and community groups can come together to reach those high-risk people, invest in them, and make intensive intervention efforts, the city can reduce homicides and help save lives.
“In Washington, D.C., most gun violence is very
tightly concentrated on a small number of very
high risk young Black male adults that have a
shared set of common risk factors,” says David
Muhammad, the executive director of the National
Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. “This very
small number of high risk individuals are
identifiable. Their violence is predictable and
therefore it is preventable.”
Using interviews and data from the Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement and supervision agencies, researchers examined 341 homicides in 2019 and 2020, as well as nonfatal shootings that injured people in 2020. The study excluded police shootings, accidental self-inflictions, and “cases of justified self-defense.” Its goal was to establish a “common understanding of the local violence problem,” with the idea that once people can agree on why the shootings and killings are happening, leaders can tailor their solutions to the problem.
According to the study, there is significant overlap between victims of homicides and the suspects who commit them, in terms of life circumstances and risk factors. Many are involved in groups, which the study defined as a neighborhood crew, clique, or gang with varying levels of organization. Many have history with the criminal justice system, and a significant number have previously been the victim of a shooting or connected in some way to a recent shooting.
The study found that the vast majority – 85% – of homicides in 2019 and 2020 involved guns. And in at least 46% of the cases, the shooting had some connection to a group, whether through the victim, the suspect, or both. (The study noted that in another 26% of the homicides, group affiliation was unknown, meaning the number of group-connected shootings could be higher.)
More than 90% of homicide victims and homicide suspects in 2019 and 2020 were male, and about 96% were Black. Nearly half were formerly incarcerated, and about 86% of them were known to the criminal justice system in some way. And, the study found, victims in homicides and suspects in these cases were “remarkably similar” when it came to prior arrests. Most had been arrested for property crimes, drug crimes, and unarmed violent offenses prior to the shooting or homicide, and had on average been arrested approximately 11 times.
And a significant percentage of homicide victims and suspects had previously been victims of a violent incident. About 13% had previously been shot or stabbed, according to MPD police reports — but, the researchers add, that percentage is likely significantly higher, because that number does not include violent incidents that happened in another jurisdiction, or violent incidents that were not reported to the police.
The average age of homicide victims in 2019 and 2020 was 31, and the average age of a homicide suspect in those years was 27. Muhammad said this finding was unsurprising to him — but it might be surprising to some D.C. residents.
“I do think it’ll be quite surprising for the average D.C. resident to understand that the vast majority of shootings and homicides in the District are committed by adults, that there’s actually few shootings and homicides committed by juveniles,” said Muhammad, who has worked on juvenile justice issues, including as a top official at D.C.’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
By far, the most frequent known cause of homicides in recent years were personal disputes. According to the study, more than 20% of homicides in 2019 and 2020 came about because of a personal dispute — some kind of interpersonal conflict.
“What most of this is is a dispute of about two guys fighting over a young woman,” says Muhammad. “That is, I would say, the leading cause of violence in the country, to be honest.”
But one piece that’s important to understand, Muhammad says, is that nearly half of those personal disputes involved people who were connected to a group. It’s not “what most people conjure gang-on-gang warfare,” he says. “It might be, ‘We’re fighting over a young woman. You’re now dating my ex-girlfriend and I’m upset about it. That’s what we’re fighting over, but a risk factor — as well as something that exacerbates the conflict — is that we’re also both in crews.’”
The other leading circumstances in D.C. homicides were group-related conflicts, “instant disputes” or arguments that quickly escalate into violence, and drug-related disputes.
A chart of the circumstances of homicides in D.C. identified by researchers, using case summaries and detective interviews.
NICJR
The insights from the study make a case for how to reduce gun violence: Identify the people most at risk, and focus resources and attention on them.
Muhammad adds that age is worth noting — because it has implications for how D.C. can tackle the gun violence problem happening in this current moment. While many point to programs for youth as a solution to violence, Muhammad says the city also needs to be extremely focused on reaching older young adults.
“It’s extremely difficult engaging a 25-year-old who has seven previous adult arrests, who is an avowed member of his neighborhood clique, who’s not currently interested in services, but that is the individual we have to serve. That’s the individual we have to pour resources into,” he says.
And pouring resources into the highest-risk people will take more coordination among the District’s various violence prevention agencies and programs, says Muhammad, who was part of a team that at one point reduced homicides in Oakland by half. He says successful violence prevention involves regular meetings where leaders of various agencies and programs get specific about certain individuals they’re worried about — and then assign that person a life coach who can check in with them every single day and connect them with the resources and interventions they need.
This is what violence interrupters and credible messengers are already doing with individuals in some neighborhoods, but Muhammad says a better coordinated and better focused city-wide strategy could make that work even more effective.
“When you do that with enough of the people who rise that level of highest risk, which we’re saying in the course of a year, is about 500 people in D.C. – in one sense, that’s a large number in terms of services. In another sense, it’s extremely small,” says Muhammad. “And so to say we’re going to focus intensely on 500 of them is very doable, and if we did it right, could really drive down shootings and homicides.”
The findings of the study also make the case, perhaps, for an approach to gun violence prevention that takes gender into account. While domestic violence — the type of violence most often viewed through a gendered lens — comprises a relatively small portion of homicides, Muhammad said that in Oakland his team found that there was overlap between people at high-risk for being involved in gun violence and people who had been involved in some sort of domestic violence incident — even if the incident did not involve physical violence. Women are also significantly affected by the trauma of gun violence. And, as researchers found in D.C., the conflicts that lead to murders can often involve them.
“The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of shooting and homicide victims and suspects are males, and that leads many people, sometimes myself, to say you should focus intervention efforts on males,” says Muhammad. “But even if you think this woman’s not going to be the shooter, there’s many women at the center of shooting who could use intervention efforts.”
VIDEO: Suspected Serial Attacker in Custody After Laundromat Beating
The Black Lives Matter movement has only focused on how law enforcement treats blacks. The movement has taken no responsibility for the victims of black criminals, and this is despite the fact that the vast majority of victims at the hands of black criminals are black. Yet the BLM movement never uses the billions of dollars donated by corporations to care for the victims of black criminals. Not a word, not an apology, not a regret, not a dollar.
Victims of black crime matter, too
Two black teenagers brutally attacked an Asian mother of three, causing severe physical damage. Once the news finally picked up on her story, generous Americans donated more than $300,000 to a fund for her medical care. However, most victims of black crime are blacks, and few benefit from a GoFundMe. Worse, none benefit from the tens of millions of dollars that Black Lives Matter collected. That needs to change.
Nhung Truong, 44, mother of three, has had a tough go in the United States. Seven years ago, she lost her husband to liver cancer. She accepted the responsibility of raising her three children and caring for her mother, too, as the sole wage earner. On February 13th, 2023, she stopped at a Bank of America ATM in Houston, Texas, withdrawing $4,300 she intended to use to pay for a trip to visit Vietnam with her family. Then she drove to a shopping mall 24 miles away.
Unknown to her, a young black man and woman had been watching her at the ATM. They followed her for 24 miles to China Town, where the young man, Joseph Harrell, 17, brutally attacked her. He body slammed the small Asian woman so violently that she is now partially paralyzed with spinal cord damage, unable to move her left leg. Harrell made his getaway in a car driven by Zy’Nika Ayesha Woods, 19. They have just recently been arrested. After a month in the hospital, Nhung was released to home care. She will be under care for two years. A GoFundMe campaign has already raised $300,000 for her care.
Image: The attack on Nhung Truong. YouTube screen grab.
The attack only gained attention after Andy Ngo, working with other Asians, brought the crime to public attention about a week ago. The local media had not given the crime attention until the New York Post ran an article.
The Black Lives Matter movement has only focused on how law enforcement treats blacks. The movement has taken no responsibility for the victims of black criminals, and this is despite the fact that the vast majority of victims at the hands of black criminals are black. Yet the BLM movement never uses the billions of dollars donated by corporations to care for the victims of black criminals. Not a word, not an apology, not a regret, not a dollar.
I prayed about this situation at my peaceful and beautiful prayer place in rural Texas. I could not shake my sadness about Nhung Truong’s brutal assault and horrific injuries, and the desperate financial situation her family finds themselves in. Nor could I forget the desperate plight in which many black Americans find themselves trapped, their voices unheard, their sufferings unnoted, their murders ignored. In Chicago, 71 black victims have been shot and killed since January 1, 2023. Since these 71 people were victims of black criminals, BLM has not a tear to shed or dollar to give them.
I asked God why do you permit this to happen? And I realized that God is in anguish over the situation his children find themselves in. He could change the situation in a second, yet that is not the way He works. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He has depended upon us to do our part to solve the problems that we face in the world. For him to stand back and permit these atrocities by evil persons is the most exasperating challenge he faces. Yet only that way can we, His beloved children, fulfill our responsibility and fully become the Children of God.
So what can we do to deal with the terrible situations that Nhung Trung and many others like her face? The billions donated to Black Lives Matter need to be shifted from defending criminals (or buying houses) to black philanthropic organizations run by churches, which are closest to members of black communities. This is not a partisan issue but a grand humanitarian endeavor. The vast majority of funds would go to black families who have suffered from black-on-black crime. People could model these initiatives on George H. W. Bush’s idea of a thousand points of light, which inspired an organization dedicated to volunteerism.
Who could head up such a grand endeavor? A few suggestions include Dr. Bernice A. King, Martin Luther King’s daughter; Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard professor; Dr. Ben Carson, a brain surgeon; or Hak Ja Han (Moon), the wife of the founder of the Washington Times.
It’s time to remember that, among the lives that matter in America are those who find themselves victimized by the people who Black Lives Matter funds. We have a moral obligation to help them.
WATCH: Soros-Backed Philadelphia DA Reassures 'Fundamentally Law-Abiding' Looters
Soft-on-crime Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner (D.), who is overseeing a murder wave in the city, said he will find out whether violent looters who were caught on video are "fundamentally law-abiding people."
"We'll look carefully to see whether this is a one-off situation and they're fundamentally law-abiding people, hold them accountable one way," Krasner told Fox 29 late last month, "or whether they are criminals."
Looters in late September hit stores throughout Philadelphia, which "stretched the resources of the Philadelphia Police Department" to the limit, according to Fox 29. The lootings came as Philadelphia faces an unprecedented crime spike under Krasner.
The D.A., who in 2017 received millions of dollars from left-wing megadonor George Soros, campaigned as a progressive prosecutor who would overhaul Philadelphia's criminal justice system. During the 2020 George Floyd riots, he called for "policing" to be "defunded in favor of things that work better." Since then, murders throughout the city have skyrocketed to their highest numbers in decades, with more than 500 Philadelphians killed last year, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The Pennsylvania legislature last year moved to impeach Krasner, saying he "failed to prosecute violent offenders, withheld relevant facts in cases, and violated victims' rights," the Free Beacon reported. The move failed after a Democratic judge intervened to halt proceedings.
While Krasner this month said he would "very, very vigorously" prosecute a motorcyclist whom cameras caught stomping in the back window of a car, he has not abandoned his "criminal justice reform" priorities.
"We're going to prosecute people in an even-handed way," Krasner said last month, bemoaning "any judge" who "thinks there is a caste system and some people get better treatment than others."
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