urbanSTL

NYTimes.com - In Places Like North St. Louis, Gunfire Still Rules the Night

Even as St. Louis and many other cities celebrate significant decreases in crime over the past two decades, concentrated pockets of violence remain, and sometimes grow, a cruel imbalance that criminologists and police departments nationwide are struggling to correct.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/us/in ... night.html

I check both Huffington Post and Drudge daily to see what they are spoon-feeding their respective low-info idealogue readers. Drudge is going HARD after the unprovoked, race-based violent attacks that the media sometimes calls a "game". Headline last two days with links to DC, Philly and NYC. Even Huffington Post covered it and usually they avoid too much mention of crime in the black community. Can you even FATHOM the reaction if it was the other way around as far as race were concerned? The hypocrisy is gross.

At any rate, pretty much everything sucks nowadays. The culture and climate seems nasty and negative. Oh, for the 90s again.

The "Knockout Game" stories are now spreading on right wing websites and Facebook pages like wildfire. While I'm certainly glad this is being brought to light and I hope police will deal with these criminals severely the way these stories are being presented makes me cringe. They are exploiting racial fears for ratings. Most of the people who are on these sites or listen to these shows aren't in urban areas or around minorities, yet they are convinced they are going to be the next victim of the knockout game and are now going to arm themselves to the hilt and "shoot first" (if you believe what they are posting in the comments--I know, take with sodium) if they do happen to be in the city.

In short I hope we can have a serious discussion about this and what can be done to prevent it, but I don't trust Drudge or Glenn Beck to give us that. Just as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can't be trusted to give us a serious discussion of what went down in the Treyvon Martin case.

Funny how it takes incidents in DC and NYC to get big media attention. Better late than never.

CBS News - Deadly "knockout game": what it is and why teens are playing it

There have been seven recent cases in New York City alone. And the game has turned fatal in at least four documented attacks -- in Syracuse, N.Y.; St. Louis; Chicago; and Hoboken, N.J., site of the latest fatal attack.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deadly-knoc ... hat-it-is/

The knockout game isn't new and didn't start in St. Louis.

In season 7 of CSI, which aired back in 2007 when it was the most popular show on TV, had an ongoing storyline about kids roaming Las Vegas beating people up. Kevin Federline guest starred as the ring leader.

The writers certainly based this storyline on current events.

I don't think it's necessarily the news media that is stoking racial fears with their reporting. I think the fact that the vast majority of these incidents are committed by minorities against white people is doing a good enough job of that in itself. What I'm most worried about is that the victims who fight back in self-defense are going to be portrayed as the bad guys by the PC Police.

I grew up in a small metro east town (95% white, <10,000) and the the knockout game was alive and well there during my high school years, the mid 1990s. This is not new, but it is disgusting and extremely dangerous.

As a long term city dweller the media's sensationalism of crime does not bother me. I know the reality is very different. However, I believe random violent crime against the innocent touches all of our worst fears.

Al Sharpton on "Knockout"

"We would not be silent if it were the other way around, and we will not be silent now. This behavior is racist, period. And we will not tolerate it"

I may be liberal but I'm not usually a fan of Sharpton and was pleasantly surprised that he addressed this problem honestly.

gone corporate wrote:^There have been a series of smash & grab robberies along South Grand. As well, during the Joint Task Force tactical raids last summer between the STLPD, ATF, and various other Federal agencies, parts of South City (I believe Dutchtown) were part of the raids, as well as four North Side neighborhoods and various cities on the near East Side.

Meanwhile, someone was killed in Soulard over the last few days, too. Body found in the victim's apartment today, stabbed to death sometime since before Thanksgiving. Because the building is accessible only by a secured courtyard, STL's Finest believe the victim knew his attacker.
Source: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... c9a30.html

For as calm as Soulard is, this is pretty creepy, knowing that the vast majority of the neighborhood was enjoying Thanksgiving and a great warm weekend, parks well attended and restaurants full of people, all the while some dude was dead in a pool of his own blood a couple blocks over. Life in the Big City...

In the mid 90's it seemed like there was about 1 to 2 murders a year in Soulard - including a couple of shooting deaths at Mardi Gras - I would say that overall there has been a drop in violent crime there, which magnifies things like this.

It is easy to forget how far some of these neighborhoods have come - In 1994-96 I had several friends robbed at gun point in Lafayette Sq. when leaving Killabrews, on 2 separate occasions - I have a hard time imagining that today

Tower Grove South might be more about the neighborhood gentrifying rather than an increase in crime - new arrivals probably have a lower tolerance for random larceny and smash and grabs that were the rule a few years ago

gone corporate wrote:^There have been a series of smash & grab robberies along South Grand. As well, during the Joint Task Force tactical raids last summer between the STLPD, ATF, and various other Federal agencies, parts of South City (I believe Dutchtown) were part of the raids, as well as four North Side neighborhoods and various cities on the near East Side.

Meanwhile, someone was killed in Soulard over the last few days, too. Body found in the victim's apartment today, stabbed to death sometime since before Thanksgiving. Because the building is accessible only by a secured courtyard, STL's Finest believe the victim knew his attacker.
Source: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... c9a30.html

For as calm as Soulard is, this is pretty creepy, knowing that the vast majority of the neighborhood was enjoying Thanksgiving and a great warm weekend, parks well attended and restaurants full of people, all the while some dude was dead in a pool of his own blood a couple blocks over. Life in the Big City...

I am sure he would be missed by the people that know him. Not to sound cold to the victim but the media made a big deal of it cause it is out of the norm for the area The neighborhood is not going downhill or becoming any less safe. You just have to have good judgment of people you know and hang around with. With tower grove south and the hot spot policing, I believe crime is down in the TGS ,TGE and shaw area about 30 to 40 compared to last year. The last week or two there was a jump in crime so the police are just nipping it in the bud.

And even with the 1-2 murders that Soulard used to see back then it was still called "the island"--because it was surrounded by neighborhoods perceived to be a sea of crime.

These days you are hard pressed to find someone who thinks Benton Park and Lafayette Square are cesspools of criminal activity.

Sad to see another couple of murders in North City the past 24 hours. A man shot in Fairground Park area today and a young man shot in Baden last night. At one point I was hopeful that we would see fewer than 100 homicides in the City, but an uptick in the second half of the year has pushed us past the century mark. We're around 104 now and depending upon how things go we may still fall shy of the 113 homicides the past two years and the lowest in several decades. I do think if we can sustain below 100 for a few years that could have a sizeable psychic effect in addition of course to the lower human toll.

I'll be curious to know if this was in the Shell station parking lot.

Tef Poe/FootKlan @TefPoe

Gunshots at Delmar and Skinker tonight y'all ..dont go driving through U-City you will be flagged..10 shots atleast...someone def got hit

Not the shooters that are the fools?

Tef Poe/FootKlan @TefPoe

in other words stay in the house we all know county cops and UCPD is about to act a damn fool. City cops gonna get in the mix too

What St. Louis @wtfstlouis

@TefPoe Trying to protect is "acting a damn fool"?

Tef Poe/FootKlan @TefPoe

@wtfstlouis pulling over innocent minorities that didn't do anything wrong is what I was referring to..just me casting my American opinion.

Tef Poe/FootKlan @TefPoe

it's right at the City and County divide so the City cops will prob be flagging random ppl as well..

This getting kinda crazy what is causing this string of violence today?