Thanks to reader-researcher "W," who sent this along, remarking:
This dopey white liberal refuses to connect the dots.
I posted a goodly number of comments, including the first five, most of them condemning columnist Danny Westneat (and for once, representative of the comments page), as well as several comments by leftists. Note that one lefty commenter, dawg days of summer, who identifies himself as a school teacher, lies about cuts to welfare programs, and about funding for black schools: "Significantly underfunded schools in poor areas…" [and] "Large cuts to food stamps and other safety net programs…," and then builds on his lies to justify black criminality and student misconduct.
Not only have food stamp programs not been cut, they have been supplemented in recent years, by schools offering ever more meals, while giving "poor" mothers at least as much in food stamps. And as Jason Richwine has shown, black and Hispanic schools are typically lavishly overfunded. It is white schools that are typically underfunded.
I posted two comments, #100 and 101, which follow below.
Drivin' up Grapevine Hill
6703 comments
June 2, 2013 at 7:02 PM
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Headstart ...LBJ.
100. Hotrod Lincoln: "Headstart ...LBJ." (As an example of a successful anti-poverty program.
HL, every few years, a new report is published that repeats the findings from the previous report: Head Start is a complete failure that has flushed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars down the toilet.
101. The source of all this is black racism. Blacks constantly teach other to hate whitey, are taught the same thing by white leftists, and walk around in a state of rage. Then, when no whites are available to murder, they kill other blacks, or induce other blacks to kill them, as Brandon Williams did, in his variation on "suicide by cop."
Whether the ST's censors permit both of my comments to stand, remains to be seen.
* * *
Originally published June 1, 2013 at 6:00 PM | Page modified June 1, 2013 at 7:50 PM
Our sad, ongoing tale of two cities
Shootings and gang violence are on the rise in a tale of two cities.
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Seattle Times
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A punk with an illegal gun got killed when he pulled that gun out and was shot by...
"He was 29 and had a long criminal history. Police say he got in an argument in...
I always suspected that the local Starbucks was a portal through a rift in the...
I'm standing in a Central Area parking lot, staring down at a death memorial spray-painted on the pavement — "RIP BRANDON," it reads — when a woman walks across the lettering, sees me and stops.
"You lose something?" she asks.
Her heels come to rest on the deceased's name. It's already one of the sadder memorials I've seen, because it's right next to a Dumpster and someone misspelled the name as BRANDAN, only to later write in an "O" in a different color.
"A guy was shot here," I say. "I'm trying to find out who he was."
The woman looks down. She steps off the dead man's name. After a moment she turns and goes in the 23rd and Jackson Starbucks to get a coffee.
A 50s-ish African-American man is nearby, watching me, so I ask him: Did you know him?
No, he says, then adds: "Another young black male."
This is said with great resignation, and it turns out to be true. The dead man's name was Brandon L. Williams. He was 29 and had a long criminal history. Police say he got in an argument in the crowded Starbucks parking lot and pulled a gun. He allegedly pointed the gun at a security guard, who shot him.
This happened at 7 p.m. at one of the Central Area's more bustling corners. Most afternoons it's packed with school kids because a middle school — my daughter's middle school — is a block away. At the time of the shooting, a crowd of bus riders was boarding 20 feet away and some dived onto the floor of the bus.
This was the sixth shooting, and the third homicide, in this neighborhood in the past two months. Several are suspected to be gang-related, part of an escalating war. Two of the shootings occurred across the street from the middle school. Another happened a few blocks distant, when a man wearing a ski mask killed 19-year-old K'Breyan Clark as he sat in a car in a driveway.
At the time of Clark's killing, my son's baseball team was practicing nearby at Judkins Park. In the commotion and hail of sirens, we wondered if we should pull the kids off the field and get out of there. We stayed. We learned later that someone had been executed, shot repeatedly at close range, while the boys shagged fly balls in the park.
We continue to practice there every week. Going on as if nothing remarkable happened.
I read a science-fiction book recently called "The City and The City," by China Miéville. It's about two cities that somehow occupy the same physical space. The residents of one are barred from interacting with residents of the other. So they learn to "unsee" one another, even as they walk the same streets or play in the same parks.
This is how the Central Area feels these days. There's the city of gang murders, and the city of Little League parents briefly fretting about it. There's the city of RIP BRANDON spray-painted on stained pavement, and the city of the woman walking across the name in heels to get some coffee.
The two cities can't see one another. Or won't see.
Last year, a bullet fired in one city crossed over and hit someone in the other — a dad of two, Justin Ferrari, who was killed at the wheel of his minivan.
For a time after that, there was talk about how to try to be more like one city. Meetings were held. When the shooting died down in the second half of the year, there was a sense of relief and of progress.
But the shooting is back. The Seattle Times asked a gang specialist what is going on, and he described a parallel world of power alliances, grievances and generational feuding that, among other things, led one friend to shoot another in broad daylight at a busy Central Area intersection as part of a gang loyalty test.
None of this has gotten much attention. Unlike last year, the bullets have all stayed in the other city.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com
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Poconos
340 comments
June 1, 2013 at 6:35 PM
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"He was 29 and had a long criminal history. Police say he got in an argument in the crowded Starbucks parking lot and pulled a gun. He allegedly pointed the gun at a security guard, who shot him."
Good riddance
Seattle
3734 comments
June 1, 2013 at 6:42 PM
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"Progressives" are a curious lot.
They create and promote the conditions that lead to this sort of violence. Single mothers, with a victim mentality, getting food stamps. They attack the concept of personal responsibility. They attack the family structure, which has its worst effects on the poor, where family structure is the most vulnerable.
Then they write silly columns about "two cities."
Of course, their only "solution" is free abortions.
Aside from that, they try to make themselves feel better by having "community meetings." Progressives think that if they "talk" to poor people, some of their progressive glory will rub off on them. Then they go home to their Belltown condos feeling so magnanimous and good about themselves. It really is all about them anyway.
I'm not against abortion. But seems like a rather slipshod solution and it's not working anyway, obviously.
Seattle, WA
467 comments
June 1, 2013 at 6:46 PM
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The second city, the rich one, only sees the problem because they came back.
If they stayed away we would have a different article.
Seattle, WA
3551 comments
June 1, 2013 at 7:03 PM
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Danny can't afford to live in a better part of town than that?
What's the deal, Danny? You trying to prove some point, or you just don't care if someone in your family gets hit by a bullet?
Base
76 comments
June 1, 2013 at 7:10 PM
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I always suspected that the local Starbucks was a portal through a rift in the space-time continuum. Thanks for clearing that up for us Danny. Next time I go there I'm going to wear my Kevlar backpack and my Google-glasses.
Tacoma, WA
1143 comments
June 2, 2013 at 8:41 AM
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I know.
Let's have a society where low achiever-types are provided incentives for engaging in slothful and destructive lifestyles. Then if anything goes wrong we can blame the high achievers for being insufficiently sympathetic. Then we can have some newspaper types weep and gnash their teeth because it all seems so hopeless.
Good grief Danny, don't you have any self respect?
woodinville
3158 comments
June 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM
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A punk with an illegal gun got killed when he pulled that gun out and was shot by someone hired to provide security....WHICH HE DID...
All Tears are misplaced .....He pulled the gun...And He ended up getting shot.....A story about the trauma that the Security guy has gone through would be a story....Not the story of the acknowledged Gunman who was shot..
Tacoma, WA
1143 comments
June 2, 2013 at 8:54 AM
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"It's much easier to blame people then work towards a solution." dawg days
Ironically, although you applaud folks who "work towards a solution" neither you nor Mr. Westneat actually suggested any solution. Rhetoric unaccompanied by an action plan is just rhetoric.
Bellevue
6428 comments
June 2, 2013 at 10:00 AM
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"I'm standing in a Central Area parking lot, staring down at a death memorial spray-painted on the pavement — "RIP BRANDON,"
That's not a memorial, Danny. It's gang graffiti.
At least it's not Chicago. 6 dead, 11 wounded over Memorial Day weekend. Must be those strict gun control laws.
Want to minimize gang violence? Stop giving people with long rap sheets slaps on the wrist. Mandatory minimum 10 years in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm. Mandatory minimum 20 years for a crime committed with a firearm. But the anti-gun crowd doesn't want that. They just want to appearance of doing something about it like with expanded background checks and assault rifle bans. Neither of which would have any measurable impact.
seattle, WA
510 comments
June 2, 2013 at 10:26 AM
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Looks like we better speed up the gentrification! Get to work hipsters and gay community! With any luck, they'll be Renton's problem soon.
Kirkland, WA
1024 comments
June 2, 2013 at 10:35 AM
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@fredo:
I am working toward a solution. I'm a public school teacher. I work with these "low achieving" 17 and 18 year olds every day.
If you read my comment, I actually pointed out that there is no easy or readily apparent solution.
My point was simply that we can't get overwhelmed by a situation and shutdown (ignoring it or blaming the victims). Yes, these situations are complex. I work with the street community and there is absolutely a portion of the blame that falls onto people who live on the streets. A portion.
There is also a portion of the blame that falls on us as society for creating a system that pushes people into poverty and then blames them for doing the very things that they must to survive.
All I'm saying is that we need to acknowledge that they situation is far more complicated than "those lazy welfare collectors" or "oh those poor, innocent victims". The truth is stranger than fiction.
seattle, WA
160 comments
June 2, 2013 at 10:50 AM
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It is what it is - nothing much can be done about it outside of how the person is raised.
At 29 it's too late - sad.
Seattle, WA
3551 comments
June 2, 2013 at 10:50 AM
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It's obvious that what the Central Area needs is more light rail.
Look what that $2.6 billion spent on Central Link light rail has done to transform that neighborhood! Now, that was money well-spent.
Snohomish, WA
72 comments
June 2, 2013 at 11:09 AM
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Danny: "We continue to practice there every week. Going on as if nothing remarkable happened."
Well, it's clear you're the problem, Danny. You continue to go about your day as if nothing is happening right there in your neighborhood. You need to gather a group of your liberal, "compassionate" buddies who are part of the "other" city that won't "see" and stand on street corners telling these people they're doing it all wrong. You know, lecture them the same way you lecture the rest of us. Because, after all, it works so well when you lecture us. I felt so chastened after reading your article, imagine how the perps will feel.
I bet you'd last about five minutes before you got robbed or shot or both. And then your little group would be memorialized as someone who "at least tried".
Sheesh.
Seattle, WA
349 comments
June 2, 2013 at 11:18 AM
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I bet every shooter and most of their targets don't have a dad.
Snohomish, WA
72 comments
June 2, 2013 at 11:21 AM
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luckydog777: "Who chooses to live near that, and why would you put children of yours near it?"
Because, as a card carrying progressive, Danny thinks he has a "duty" to expose his children to diverse living conditions that will enrich their lives and broaden their minds. Then he and his fellow progressives pat themselves on the back for being soooooo "progressive". Nicole Brodeur moved to Columbia City for the same reason.
Of course, it's a naive and stupid worldview but that's never stopped anyone before.
Bellevue, WA
245 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:01 PM
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@2times
And where are we going to put all these people once we start handing down mandatory 10 year prison terms?
Our prisons are overcrowded and underfunded as it is, and heaven knows Jay Inslee can't tell his head from his a$$, much less balance a budget.
Seattle, WA
281 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:06 PM
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Today's column is one of the finest Danny has written this year.
Instead of taking the common "white privilege" position -- ignore the Central District's growing violence -- he tackled the situation with open eyes and personal understanding.
It was a thoughtful and sobering piece. And judging by so many comments here, it was right on the money.
So easy to condemn, criticize and discount, isn't it? None of which illuminates or improves the situation.
No wonder so many African-Americans feel undervalued by society in general.
And if society doesn't want you, what's the point in behaving? Think about it.
Shoreline, WA
930 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:07 PM
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What was the point of this column?
To evoke some sympathy from the reader? Not gonna happen.
To evoke guilt from the white population? Again, not gonna happen.
To illustrate that racial boundaries still exist? Duh.... But who is responsible for that???
I'm not buying whatever it is that Danny is trying to sell. Black people killing black people is a black people problem. You want to evoke some guilt? Put some of the blood on the black community leaders who keep making excuses instead of forcing individuals to take responsibility for their actions.
I have no need to go into the ghetto. I have no desire to go into the ghetto. And I frankly don't care how many of them kill each other. Hell, if you believe in social evolution, you could argue these shooters are doing us a favor.
Bellevue
6428 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:22 PM
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"Put some of the blood on the black community leaders who keep making excuses instead of forcing individuals to take responsibility for their actions."
Worse than that, many promote victimhood and hate. Al Sharpton and of course the chosen one's spiritual advisor Jeremiah "US of KKK A" Wright to name just a couple.
Mukilteo, WA
308 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:44 PM
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Another "young black male" didn't just die. He was a criminal who pulled a gun on another man and got the worst of it.
There are plenty of other people worthy of more sympathy than this man. There should be no sympathy or support for gangsters of any race. As a society, we should collectively do our best to wipe them out. Likewise we should do what we can to deglamorize "gangster culture", music, etc. It is a true blight on our society.
Seattle
232 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:45 PM
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Whenever a white liberal brings up the subject of race, the conversation focuses exclusively on the legacy of slavery, segregation and historical discrimination. However, the welfare state has done more to destroy the black family than all other causes combined. Until the white liberals who run this city start having honest discussions, nothing will change for the better.
eastside
735 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:46 PM
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And if society doesn't want you, what's the point in behaving?
Less chance of getting killed? Maybe being alive is an opportunity to get one's lazy ass back to school to learn how to do something productive......something that does not involve gang activity and drugs. THEN maybe society will want AND respect you. But as long as you shuffle around with your pants around your knees, with spikes and studs in every piece of expose flesh, speaking that unintelligible gansta boy crap......why WOULD society "value you"?????
eastside
735 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:50 PM
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the welfare state has done more to destroy the black family than all other causes combined.
I totally agree. And the welfare state has eliminated the need for 2-parent families. Single parent households are extraordinarily prevalent in black communities. Welfare hos and their babies.....absentee and/or incarcerated daddies.
eastside
735 comments
June 2, 2013 at 2:59 PM
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as a card carrying progressive, Danny thinks he has a "duty" to expose his children to diverse living conditions that will enrich their lives and broaden their minds
I wonder if Danny ALSO exposes his kids to anthrax, swine flu, meningitis, tuberculosis, and other dangerous diseases in order to build up their immune systems?
Kirkland, WA
1024 comments
June 2, 2013 at 4:23 PM
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@m alexander:
I'm assuming that you are genuinely wanting an answer to your question.
First, if you read what I wrote, I said we have blame "as a society". I was not calling you out personally. I also said that there is share of blame for the individual in poverty / crime as well.
As far as what "we" have done, I'll explain. I've taught at Rainier Beach, Garfield, Nelson MS in Renton, and Newport HS in Bellevue (Top 100 school in the USA). I've had a wide range of experience in dealing with young people and opportunity for the future. When I say that as a society we force some into poverty, what I am referring to is:
1) Significantly underfunded schools in poor areas: poorly funded schools like Rainier Beach create low morale and low expectations for students. They attract lower quality teachers or those with a big heart and have high turnover. Students are visually reminded that society has forgotten them and have low expectations of the future. Newport is one of the nicest schools I have ever seen and not surprisingly, 97% of the students go to college.
2) Massively underfunded and poorly maintained parks and urban recreation areas: When children do not have safe, stimulating places to play, there are significant consequences. Research shows that attachment styles, emotional regulation, and self-esteem are directly tied to the environment. The city / local politicians choose to fund and maintain parks in wealthier neighborhoods because it is in their own economic interest.
Large cuts to food stamps and other safety net programs: When families cannot afford to provide for their families legally, they turn to illegal means. This shouldn't surprise anyone. If it came down to providing for my daughter or breaking the law, I know which I would choose.
5) Low investment into infrastructure: When infrastructure is poor, businesses do not want to invest in those parts of town. That leaves less economic opportunities. That is also on us as a society.
We could change these things if we wanted. Individuals do make poor choices and should be responsible for those. That does not, however, change the reality that we as a society have created an environment for people to have less opportunity for success. Once people start being born into poverty, the cycle is difficult to break.
Drivin' up Grapevine Hill
6703 comments
June 2, 2013 at 4:50 PM
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Eustacian blathers :
"Black people killing black people is a black people problem."
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So when we incarcerate a black person for killing a black person in a prison that ALL taxpayers help to pay for is it still just a "black people" problem ?
Snohomish, WA
72 comments
June 2, 2013 at 5:29 PM
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dawg days of summer: "Large cuts to food stamps..."
There hasn't been any cuts to food stamps except maybe in your mind to support your agenda. There will be a cut but not until November 2013. This kind of deliberate misstatement makes it difficult to take anything you type seriously.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/recovery/memos/SNAP_ARRA-Plan.pd
However, you do admit a portion of the blame belongs to the individual however you conveniently leave out a number - one wonders how much you blame the individual vs society because based on your comments, it would appear you blame society a lot more than the individual which makes your thoughts on the matter rather laughable because, in effect, you're blaming yourself and your fellow progressives. There are few cities more "liberal" than Seattle yet this stuff is happening right here in good ole Seattle. If there are really "two cities" as Danny boy claims, it's because liberals allow it. You'all have done a smash up job "helping" the poor and downtrodden...way to go dawg days of summer! Clap, clap clap!
somewhere
368 comments
June 2, 2013 at 5:41 PM
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dawg-
I am sure that inner city schools could attract a better quality of teacher if the students showed some respect. You cannot expect a teacher to go to work every day worried that they may be assaulted by their students. I am sure in Newport, teachers dont have that worry. If you have a culture in that second city that showed respect to teachers, and promoted education- you will get better teachers.
Urban areas that dont have parks- they could move out of the urban areas with a high cost of living to a more suburban lifestyle. It is an urban area- they usually have buildings- not trees.
There has been no cuts to food stamps, and the schools are providing breakfast and lunch. Therefore, parents get food stamps and only have to provide one meal per day on school days.
Businesses do not want to go to areas in which they could be robbed or killed. I would never want to open a business in a poor area with a lot of crime.
It is not societies fault that there is a second city of disaffected people. It is the culture that spawned them. Instead of leaders like Jesse Jackson talking the truth to these people, they blame others for their failures. I , for one, am sick of hearing it.
seattle, WA
157 comments
June 2, 2013 at 5:42 PM
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Sounds like he got more of a memorial than he deserved. Maybe Danny should write an article on the security guard who was forced to defend his life.
Now, that would be an article worth reading.
Drivin' up Grapevine Hill
6703 comments
June 2, 2013 at 5:46 PM
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because liberals allow it.
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Name one program proposed by conservatives that has been proven to mitigate poverty and the associated bad that goes with it.
"Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get a job / education" ..........Doesn't count.
Washington
2298 comments
June 2, 2013 at 5:57 PM
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Im thinking Eric Holder will probably outlaw security at Starbucks next. The black community has created the two cities, not the other way around. Because there is so much acriomony between races in Seattle, its a dangerous place.
Snohomish, WA
72 comments
June 2, 2013 at 6:26 PM
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hotrod lincoln spewed: "Name one program proposed by conservatives that has been proven to mitigate poverty and the associated bad that goes with it. "
Name one program proposed and implemented by liberals that's mitigated poverty and the associated bad that goes with it. The liberals started a "war on poverty" 55 years ago and it's still going and it hasn't done a darn thing to change anything and all the liberals have to say about it is their standard, tired line of how we just haven't spent enough. LOL.
1 comment:
Many interesting comments.
Firstly, "The Tale of Two Cities" is a fitting, title. It is still a place of segregation and separatism (most of which is based on unfounded fears and misunderstanding). A place where the local kids can't attend their neighborhood schools, such as, Washington Middle School and Garfield High School.
Secondly, for the ill-informed, the central area is far from a ghetto and is by-far a white collar neighborhood. AND predominately white, which is why the title is even more fitting.
Thirdly, his point is that there is a problem that is being ignored. It is statistically proven that white people usually kill white people, black people usually kill black people, mexican people usually kill mexican people and so on...
The question is at what point does it become a social responsibility to strategize to decrease gang-violence, drug use, and juvenile delinquency.
Lastly, the central district is a beautiful place that many of these people would or have called home:
Linda Emery
Jimi Hendrix
Quincy Jones
Kyle Townsend
Bruce Lee
Rose McGowan
Brandon Roy
Isaiah Stanback
Sir Mix-a-Lot
NoClue
Butterfly from Digable Planets
Garfield High School Alumni:
Ernestine Anderson, jazz & blues singer
Debbie Armstrong, alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist
Jack Benaroya, real-estate mogul and philanthropist
Will Braden, creator of Henri, le Chat Noir
Linda Lee Cadwell, author and widow of martial arts master and actor Bruce Lee
Irwin Caplan, creator of the cartoon Famous Last Words
Will Conroy, NBA and NBADL player
Emma Dumont, actress
Homer Harris, pioneering University of Iowa football player
Jeff Heath, Former MLB player (Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, Boston Braves)
Jimi Hendrix, rock musician (expelled in his junior year)
Quincy Jones, music producer
Dave Lewis, rock musician
Miko Lim, fashion photographer[39]
Macklemore (Ben Haggerty), Seattle hip hop artist[40][41][42]
Billy North, Former MLB player (Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants)
Irvine Robbins, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain
Brandon Roy, NBA All-Star for the Minnesota Timberwolves
Yasser Seirawan, chess grandmaster
Chester Simmons, professional basketball player
Isaiah Stanback, NFL player
Eric Wilkins, Former MLB player (Cleveland Indians)
Joyce Walker, the third woman to join the Harlem Globetrotters
Tony Wroten, NBA player for the Memphis Grizzlies
Minoru Yamasaki, World Trade Center architect
DON'T LET A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF A MINORITY GROUP SWAY YOUR OPINION OF AN ENTIRE GROUP. THE CENTRAL DISTRICT IS A THRIVING BEAUTIFUL COMMUNITY WITH A RICH HISTORY OF JAZZ, PERFORMING ARTISTS, AS WELL AS BEAUTIFUL PARKS AND BEAUTIFUL VIEWS OF LAKE WASHINGTON, MT. RAINIER, THE CASCADES AND THE OLYMPICS.
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