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That's how Newsweek magazine described Wilmington in the headline of a story published on its website Tuesday about violent crime in Delaware's largest city.
Drawing on stories in The News Journal that have chronicled Wilmington's record shootings and homicides in recent years as well as its near-worst ranking for violence among American cities, the national newsmagazine expressed surprised that Wilmington only this fall formed a homicide unit.
"For a city mired in violence, the most stunning fact of all may be that Wilmington just got its first homicide unit,'' senior writer Abigail Jones observed in her 5,000 word piece on Newsweek.com.
Jones wrote that during the four days she spent in Wilmington in November, four people were shot and that the day after she left, one person was killed and another shot.
To date in 2014, there have been a record-tying 27 homicides in Wilmington, including 22 by gunfire, News Journal records show.
When Jones told police spokeswoman Andrea Janvier the location for one interview, she wrote that Janvier warned: "I wouldn't go to that block without a gun."
Newsweek also pointed out the FBI statistics released last month showed that Wilmington's rate of violence was 1,625 per 100,000 residents, more than quadruple the national average.
A News Journal analysis showed that Wilmington ranked third for violence among cities of 50,000 to 100,000 people, and sixth highest -- up from eighth a year earlier -- for 750 cities with 50,000 or more residents. Wilmington has 71,000 residents.
Jones' piece includes a array of voice, including politicians, police, community activists and this reporter. She summed up people's explanation about why Wilmington had so many shootings, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults with this sentence:
"When you ask people in Wilmington about the root causes of the city's crime epidemic, their answers read like the devil's Christmas list: poverty, racism, lack of economic opportunities, drug and alcohol abuse, gun violence, high dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, stressed families and more."
Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams was quoted telling Jones education was a key problem.
"We have a 60 percent dropout rate.'' Williams told the magazine. "It should have never got to that point—and the state has been running the school districts here since 1975."
Williams' office did not immediately comment the Newsweek article, in which Jones explored different initiatives that have been implemented without success and other efforts now being tired to stem the wave of violence that has enveloped Wilmington.
Jones said she decided to tackle a story on Wilmington violence because she was struck that the birthplace of the du Pont chemical dynasty in a state that's home to most public U.S. corporations was approaching a record number of homicides yet had just formed a homicide unit.
"The juxtaposition was stunning,'' she said Tuesday.
"I wanted to understand how Wilmington's crime-ridden neighborhoods got to where they are today. Who lives there? What are the root causes of all the crime? Why has it been so hard to contain? What's being done, what can be done differently, and what's working in other cities across the country that hasn't been tried in Wilmington yet?"
That's how Newsweek magazine described Wilmington in the headline of a story published on its website Tuesday about violent crime in Delaware's largest city.
Drawing on stories in The News Journal that have chronicled Wilmington's record shootings and homicides in recent years as well as its near-worst ranking for violence among American cities, the national newsmagazine expressed surprised that Wilmington only this fall formed a homicide unit.
"For a city mired in violence, the most stunning fact of all may be that Wilmington just got its first homicide unit,'' senior writer Abigail Jones observed in her 5,000 word piece on Newsweek.com.
Jones wrote that during the four days she spent in Wilmington in November, four people were shot and that the day after she left, one person was killed and another shot.
To date in 2014, there have been a record-tying 27 homicides in Wilmington, including 22 by gunfire, News Journal records show.
When Jones told police spokeswoman Andrea Janvier the location for one interview, she wrote that Janvier warned: "I wouldn't go to that block without a gun."
Newsweek also pointed out the FBI statistics released last month showed that Wilmington's rate of violence was 1,625 per 100,000 residents, more than quadruple the national average.
A News Journal analysis showed that Wilmington ranked third for violence among cities of 50,000 to 100,000 people, and sixth highest -- up from eighth a year earlier -- for 750 cities with 50,000 or more residents. Wilmington has 71,000 residents.
Jones' piece includes a array of voice, including politicians, police, community activists and this reporter. She summed up people's explanation about why Wilmington had so many shootings, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults with this sentence:
"When you ask people in Wilmington about the root causes of the city's crime epidemic, their answers read like the devil's Christmas list: poverty, racism, lack of economic opportunities, drug and alcohol abuse, gun violence, high dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, stressed families and more."
Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams was quoted telling Jones education was a key problem.
"We have a 60 percent dropout rate.'' Williams told the magazine. "It should have never got to that point—and the state has been running the school districts here since 1975."
Williams' office did not immediately comment the Newsweek article, in which Jones explored different initiatives that have been implemented without success and other efforts now being tired to stem the wave of violence that has enveloped Wilmington.
Jones said she decided to tackle a story on Wilmington violence because she was struck that the birthplace of the du Pont chemical dynasty in a state that's home to most public U.S. corporations was approaching a record number of homicides yet had just formed a homicide unit.
"The juxtaposition was stunning,'' she said Tuesday.
"I wanted to understand how Wilmington's crime-ridden neighborhoods got to where they are today. Who lives there? What are the root causes of all the crime? Why has it been so hard to contain? What's being done, what can be done differently, and what's working in other cities across the country that hasn't been tried in Wilmington yet?"
What a stupid comment. Racism? Who is doing the shooting and who is getting shot?
Define racism- rac·ism
ˈrāˌsizəm/Submit
noun
the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
I am willing to bet a nickle that the majority of murders are among one race. To BLAME racism for the violence is just bulls$it.
The same is true when you blame "gun violence". A gun is the tool a murderer uses. How can you blame "gun violence" for murder?
Wake up. You have too many people that do not value human life in the city. You have mental defectives that believe they can murder others.
Must be done by the population but seriously, the crime is getting ridiculous in that small city, besides the fact thousands have been spent on cameras which don't work, importing other ideas which worked elsewhere but not in Wilmington, jump out squads, whatever.
I think what so perplexing is nothing to curb the violence has worked and nationally violent crime is dropping, but not in Wilmington.
Hype, that's how they do it to get more clicks. Would the title, Wilmington see's 27th murder, do the same thing?
Still with over 100 people shot, a very high robbery rate, and coming in 3rd only to Saginaw and Flint for rates of violence out of 450 cities of similar size, there is cause for continued alarm in a city with only 71,000 people. The "Devil's Christmas list" is certainly nothing new or different than other cities experiencing high crime. I see no mention of their past homicide clearance rate.
Spokesman Alexandra Coppadge issued a written statement that the FBI discourages the media from publishing crime rankings because they often "lack insight into the various factors that influence the crime in a particular city or region" and "often offer a very limited perspective of the crime occurring in those specific communities". Funny how they want people to pay little attention to the FBI crime figures when it's bad, when it's good, city leaders are happy to talk about the numbers. I hope things get better there.
To BLAME racism for the violence is just bulls$it.
Racism is the easy "one size fits all" excuse and/or reason for all urban problems.
Political correctness is part of the problem too. It's time to be blunt about why these thugs shoot; it's NOT because of lack of jobs or desperation about extreme poverty. It's about power, intimidation, vengeance and commanding "respect" (which is incorrectly defined by thug culture). How many fatal shooting victims are robbed of their personal belongings before being being shot? Hardly any unless it's reclaiming drug deal money. How many of these supposedly impoverished shooters do it for money to buy food for their hungry family or medicine for their gravely ill mother? NONE
It's easier and more fun to be a gun toting, drug dealing thug than to work hard to complete school/college or trade school and make an honest living with a starting wage. Why work a 40 hours a week making $15-20 per hour when you can make $500 a day in an hour (on your own schedule) selling heroin or crack? Any effective prevention i.e. real prison time for first offenders, no plea deals, stop & frisk, etc would be condemned as racist and the ACLU would do everything to try to block it.
I work at an office where we have a couple of "ghetto moms", and they've both had at least 1 family member gunned down and no joke, had at least 6 family friends shot & killed over the past 5 years. They cry, go on "stop the violence" marches and candlelight vigils. It's become a way of life and they expect the police to prevent these crimes, instead of owning up to the poor parenting that cultivates and glorifies thug lifestyle. They believe more cops on the street will solve the shootings, but in reality more cops will just result in a police officer eventually getting shot too. These problems start and end AT HOME! A stable, loving, nurturing, compassionate, empathetic, non-abusive home.
As for education, the 1978 Wilmington Deseg/busing order was supposed to end inner city poverty by providing those children access to superior quality suburban schools, particularly the schools in north Wilmington. They were then expected to use that "superior" education to get a good paying career and break the cycle of dependence and poverty. Several years ago it was publicly admitted to be a failure.
You can lead a horse to water...
Actually, maybe this sort of publicity will sufficiently dismay the PTB to take more assertive steps to get a handle on crime in Wilmington. Well, one can always dream, no?
the way to deal with violent crime in places like wilmington, DE and my home, Birmingham, AL, is to stop burying our heads in the sand as to who and why crimes are being committed. Yes, in both of these places it's predominantly black on black crime, but the reason usually ties to drugs, and the drugs tie-in often ties in to Poverty.
America as a whole has the market cornered on letting the poor stay poor, and doing enough business in those areas to make sure they stay that way. Poor=uneducated, which turns out to be easy pickings for greedy, blood-sucking business types.
Time to own the facts about it and stop being afraid to name names.
the way to deal with violent crime in places like wilmington, DE and my home, Birmingham, AL, is to stop burying our heads in the sand as to who and why crimes are being committed. Yes, in both of these places it's predominantly black on black crime, but the reason usually ties to drugs, and the drugs tie-in often ties in to Poverty.
America as a whole has the market cornered on letting the poor stay poor, and doing enough business in those areas to make sure they stay that way. Poor=uneducated, which turns out to be easy pickings for greedy, blood-sucking business types.
Time to own the facts about it and stop being afraid to name names.
End the war on drugs. Treat drug use as an illness. What happened to the murder rate when prohibition was repealed?
Last edited by toobusytoday; 12-15-2014 at 10:27 AM..
Reason: please post links for graphics that are not your own, it's a copyright issue to just post with no attribution.
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