A shooting stemming from an argument in the middle of the day in the secure surroundings of the Xavier University Campus in New Orleans following a graduation has once again brought the acceptability of gun violence in the city to the forefront.
Following the Morris Jeff Community School graduation Tuesday on the Xavier Campus, 3 people were shot. 2 males were injured by gunfire, and 80-year-old Augustine Greenwood died after being shot shortly after watching her grandson graduate from high school.
The casual instinct of using a gun to settle an argument seems to be growing in popularity with nothing to stop this trend.
And how do we react to a senseless shooting death? We get a statement from Governor Edwards and a statement from Mayor Cantrell, but both statements are void of a passionate resolve to even give the impression that something will change.
Within days of Tuesday’s fatal shooting there was a brawl at another graduation on the Xavier Campus. The increasing lawlessness ravaging our city and our country has a disproportionate center of gravity in the Black community.
Over the course of decades, liberal tendencies including showing more empathy to the young thugs than the victims - many are part of the Black Community - have created an atmosphere of permissiveness of violent behavior on the streets of our city.
Young people - who have been trained to be thugs by parents, or not having parents or neighborhood leaders and peers - are conditioned to sense no fear of law enforcement or jail time. Gun violence is worth committing in New Orleans because there are no significant consequences for a behavior that continues to terrorize our city.
Where is the outrage from Mayor Cantrell and her administration and Gov.
Edwards and the state that should lead to action? Where is the measured strategy when it comes to fighting violent crime in New Orleans?
Cantrell is a lame duck mayor. Is the challenge too great, or is the damage to her political base threatened by dealing honestly with violent crime in New Orleans?
Teen thugs recently carjacked and dragged a grandmother to her death. The outrage subsided. But that was just a grandmother. The shooting following the graduation on the Xavier Campus took the life of another grandmother.
The cold truth is that the city of New Orleans has escaped the “wrong” person being killed by senseless gun violence. When I mention the “wrong” person has yet to be a victim - I am not implying that every life is not valuable, but what will happen when gun violence takes the life of a family member of the mayor or the city council’s families? What happens when several people visiting New Orleans during a high-profile convention get shot and killed?
Sure every life of every citizen is valuable - but the city has mostly escaped a tragedy that hits the heart of the New Orleans economy - conventions and tourism. Violence in our city has caused a few conventions to cancel - but we are fortunate that a high-profile shooting of tourists has yet to defame the image of New Orleans as an acceptable destination.
Are those in power waiting for the “wrong” person to be killed by our rampant gun violence? If that does happen - it may be too late to change the course that we all know could instantly change the image and the lifeblood of New Orleans.
What will it take to force change?
