Shakur: “… they’ve been arresting our children …”
NEWBURGH – Concerned city officials and members of the community are looking for answers to the growing gun violence in Newburgh.
At Monday night’s city council meeting, mixed opinions were shared on the issue of why, despite community and police action, the violence continues to grow.
One position is residents are either afraid to talk to the police, inhibiting their ability to solve these cases, or, are employing a belief that “snitching” is wrong.
Councilman Torrance Harvey said if the stigma of “snitching” being a part of the culture in Newburgh is a contributor, he doesn’t understand why.
“In the City of Newburgh, there’s a different culture here and I don’t quite understand that culture because as a law abiding citizen, if I’m not a part of criminal activity and police officers question me, I have nothing to hide,” Harvey said. “If I know something, I’m going to say something. And so, I think that is something that really has to be examined.”
Local city activist Omari Shakur had a different opinion on why the violence is continuing to grow, criticizing the priorities of city police.
“Ok, well, they’ve been arresting our children, they’ve been convicting them, they’ve been incarcerating; so, why is there a problem now of protecting our children,” said Shakur. “So, that is the problem to me, right, because when it comes to protecting our problem, you seem like your hands are tied; you can’t save our children from getting shot but, you can catch our kids everyday doing other things. So, there seems to be a disconnect with the priorities because you and I know, if this was 150 white kids shot… problem over.”
Shakur is referring to the estimated 150 shootings in Newburgh within the last 18 months, including one the day before on Liberty Street.
The city’s community, officials and police are continuing to try and find effective ways to deal with the gun violence that is, now, becoming an epidemic.
