Day 501: The Anti-Crime March That Was

Loki, Alexis, Adrastos, Jack, Sherry, Kat, D and I marched with many others from the foot of the World Trade Center up Canal Street, left on Tchoupitoulas, right onto Poydras, right on Loyola and left to City Hall at 1300 Perdido St. Pictures forthcoming. If you were there and missed me, I was the one with the big yellow sign that read Cops Walking The Beat Keeps Crime Off The Street (thanks, D!) and made for some good Sharpie huffing.

The Great: The immense turnout, number and variety of signs and Editor B‘s stirring speech in front of City Hall. I hope he posts it online He has posted it online: read it, be inspired and act on his suggestions. Jason Berry was there with his camera, Morwen hoisting a picket sign, Ashley Morris a part of the drum circle, Schroeder probably with his audio equipment and dangerblond with her signs and usual energy. Seeing high school students and other youngsters there was also heartening.

The Bad: Lack of crowd enthusiasm in being loud and/or speaking up, onlookers watching us as if we were a Mardi Gras parade and one of the Silence Is Violence organizers stating between speeches that “this is just the beginning of a dialogue.” While I heartily laud them for organizing such a large march so quickly, the time for dialogue and words is past. It’s time for action and answers, not another hippy peacenik one-time brouhaha.
As my sign declared, we need officers to walk the neighborhood beat, make unscheduled stops at hotspots and converse with neighborhood residents about how things are going. This is how citizens learn to take responsibility and ownership of preventing crime in their neighborhoods instead of fearfully staying inside (while fixing their houses), or worse, being killed. Why not give it a shot here? What do we have to lose?

Collaboration with ineffective leaders implies trying. As a wise leader once said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” If you cannot do, forget collaboration, we want resignations. So, Riley, get cracking or be gone. Nagin, start hunting for a new police chief. As for Eddie Jordan, you’d better get that 7% felony conviction rate into the double digits with a quickness.

EDIT: Another on-the-nose post from Mark

If I could push that big red Easy Button and bloodlessly strike all your worthless asses down and get back Dinerral Shavers, you sorry mo-fo’s would be dead. That includes everybody who decided to hold hands and dance around No C ‘Em singing la-la-la everything is going to be all right. Yes, you, Shelley and Stacey. Didn’t you wonder why they didn’t let you speak? And you too, Mr. Perry.