No Snitchin,’ in Fresno

 
Delmesha Newsome, right, with cousin Maurice Simpson, holds a photo of her brother, Delmont Newsome, 21, who was shot and killed in broad daylight at 3:30 p.m. in front of Saint Rest Missionary Baptist Church on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010. They said he was found at the parking spot at left. (John Walker/The Fresno Bee)
 

By Nicholas Stix

People are complaining, and rightfully so, about the hypocrisy of blacks who demand en masse “justice” for Trayvon, but who never make such collective demands for justice, when a black kills another black. But blacks aren’t being inconsistent.
Whites are taking black calls for “justice” literally, as if blacks really meant justice. In black-talk, “justice” just means “Hurt whitey!” (or whitey-enough). But the overwhelming majority of blacks consistently support black killers. Trayvon Martin was a racist, aspiring black killer; the shooters in the cases below are also black killers. In all of the cases, “the community” supports them.

In many of these cases, the victim’s immediate family demands justice in the literal sense, but that is a narrowly self-interested call on behalf of their lost, loved one. They see no conflict between supporting black criminals the rest of the time, and demanding justice for their family members, and refuse to understand that there can be no justice or community among an aggregate of merely selfish individuals.

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A deadly silence means young men die and killers go free in southwest Fresno
By Bill McEwen
The Fresno Bee
Sunday, May 6, 2012, 12:26 a.m.; modified 12:52 a.m.
5 Comments

The goals his cousin put to paper a month before he was murdered are rarely far from Maurice Simpson's mind as he seeks justice for Delmon Newsome.

"I stay in a bad neighborhood, and I'm trying to overcome that because I want to be a successful young man," Newsome wrote in a letter accompanying an application to the California Conservation Corps. "I don't give up because I believe practice makes perfect."

Simpson often recalls these words, especially when he goes to Saint Rest Missionary Baptist Church, where his late father, the Rev. Chester Riggins, preached for 44 years in southwest Fresno.

The sidewalk in front of the church was where two men gunned down Newsome, 21, on a 100-degree September afternoon in 2010 before as many as 10 witnesses.

"If he was a gang-banger, I'd just write him off," Simpson says. "But he wasn't. He was a happy-go-lucky kid. If you had known Delmon, you would've liked him."

The Newsome homicide is among many frustrating Fresno police and victims' families in southwest Fresno. Unlike murders in which detectives struggle to figure out the perpetrators, police sometimes are virtually certain about the killers' identities.

Blocking justice: the refusal of witnesses to testify in court. In some instances, witnesses have fingered the culprits to investigators and relatives of the victims. But unless someone agrees to tell a jury, the case stalls.

"Part of the frustration is that you can have probable cause to arrest, but you can't make that jump to successful prosecution," says Paul Cervantes, lead homicide investigator on the Newsome case.

Woven into the Newsome killing are the dangers of living in an area where gangs rule by intimidation and criminals have easy access to guns. Even simple acts -- walking to the store or school, chatting on the front porch or playing in the front yard -- turn deadly in a split second.

And in a community that instills the importance of minding your own business, particularly when gunfire erupts, the cycle of violence is self-perpetuating.

"We have been brought up with this code of no snitching," says Brian King, chief executive officer of the Fresno Street Saints, a nonprofit anchored in southwest Fresno.

"We allow things to go as they are. We allow our kids to be murdered."

Simpson knew firsthand of Newsome's persistence, as his cousin worked alongside him in Simpson's landscaping business. Simpson was Newsome's mentor and tried to keep him on the straight and narrow. Simpson wasn't always successful, but he believes that Newsome had turned the corner.

The fact that numerous people could help police and the District Attorney's Office prosecute the killers haunts Simpson.

"Watching my cousin lay cold in his grave without justice is heartbreaking," Simpson says. "I pray to God that somebody will go on the witness stand and say that they saw them do it."

But will they?

The suspected killers are gang members, and witnesses are reluctant to help when gangs are involved, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says.

"We know who is involved in the shooting, but we don't have anyone willing to testify," Dyer says.

This is an old refrain in southwest Fresno, where police and relatives seeking closure are stymied by the code of silence. The Newsome murder is similar to other cold-case homicides in southwest Fresno. Among them:

-- Justin Kirsh, 16, was shot to death outside a graduation party at the Boys and Girls Club over Memorial Day weekend in 2010. A detective on that case, Brian Valles, says that even though 150 people were at the event, he has been unable to make an arrest.



• hikerdude1965

I'm glad this article ended with a comment about Trayvon's killing and the protests in regard to arresting his killer. I just wish it was a bigger part of the story.

When the protests began I wrote on DISQUS about how it would be nice if members of the black community were that passionate about bringing black killers to justice.

But I suppose it's easier to cry about racism and the injustices of the white judicial system when the offender isn't black. It was also easier because demanding justice and asking for a white man to be arrested comes with no consequences. It was easy to ask that Zimmerman be arrested. It took no intestinal fortitude, there was no danger to it, and there was no real effort in demanding it.

If only Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev Jesse Jackson would come to Fresno and demand justice for Delmon. But then again there wouldn't be any national media attention in demanding that the black community stand up for themselves because it doesn't promote conflict between the black community and the white community. It does however point out the hypocrisy of what is going on within the black community.The people who have direct knowledge of these unsolved murders need to look hard into the depths of their hearts and souls and make the decision to step forward. Delmon's family wants justice for his killing and I'm certain if it was a family member of one of the people who has the answer; they'd want justice too and they'd be screaming at the top of their lungs asking for it.

[Thanks to reader-researcher RC for this article.]