The image of Detroit as a dangerous place got another boost this week. First, during a 24-hour period over Monday and Tuesday seven people were shot in three separate incidents resulting in two wounded and five dead. Then on Thursday, a 51-year-old mother and her 22-year-old daughter were killed on the city's east side. That's seven dead and two wounded as we head into the Christmas weekend.
The shooting of the mother and daughter brings the city's total number of homicides to 410 for the year, compared to 359 for the same period in 2005 -- a 14 percent increase.
It appears that in all the cases the victims knew their assailants, although police do not yet know the circumstances of each shooting.
Shootings in Detroit are so common now that people do not even talk about them around the water cooler or over lunch anymore. Some of this silence is out of embarassment, shame or pain. One reason is that Detroiters (city as well as suburban dwellers) are so accustomed to the homicides that they are not really news any more. We have become inured to them.
The vast majority of homicides and non-fatal shootings and stabbings are situations where the assailants know the victims, and often the attacks involve the sale of drugs or other criminal activity. So most Metro Detroiters do not feel threatened by these crimes.
People who actually live in these neighborhoods, however, are being terrorized by these shootings. Because the city is 90 percent African-American, this crime affects low and middle income blacks who live in the city. While most of the victims know their assailant, not all victims are guilty of engaging in criminal behavior. Many -- and many are children and seniors -- might have been living with the wrong person or been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The region's leadership is working on several major projects to improve Metro Detroit's economy and burnish its image as an attractive place to live and work. These shootings aren't helping any.
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