Dear Editor:
Statistics indicate more than 55 homicides yearly, more than 80 percent of the city’s homicides in the past 10 years were Black on Black killings. Where is the outrage from the Black civic leaders, the Black churches, the entire Black community?
Where are all the condemnations of the senseless, unjustifiable taking the life of another member of your own Steeler nation and a member of your own race? Hardly a day goes by that local media isn’t covering another demonic incident “in the hood.” Throughout literature the upturned hood carries a negative image and connotation. Conjuring up images of Satan and his demons, witches, the Grim Reaper or a stealthy, dark shadowy figure in the moonlight or daylight.
I grieve with and for all the families that have suffered the loss of child that was intentionally or mistakenly gunned down. I also grieve for the city that would not demonstrate it’s zero tolerance stop the violence message on a 24-7 basis and not only when a member of the opposite race pulls the trigger of a handgun.
Recently we eagerly awaited and watched the unveiling of the statue of the late Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington D.C. He had a dream for his people to one day be free from violence and oppression. He had a dream, we have nightmare, Pittsburgh long known for it’s sports teams, and three rivers can now boast of the additional river of blood and the river of tears that flow from the hood. We long to see a new day when evil is overcome and wrong cannot prevail.
Bill Osborne
Shadyside
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