The hallmark foundation of Modern Progressivism is a filtering of facts (if not downright reconstruction or fabrication of facts) mixed with a backwards, emotional reasoning. Determine how you feel about a subject, and then rationalize a framework for supporting your conclusion. Never investigate and be led to a conclusory opinion you didn’t already have.
Thus, the firing of two local sanitation workers by the Town of Chapel Hill must be based on “racism” Better yet, let’s throw in a charge of “anti-unionism”. It’s a shame the fired workers aren’t Muslims, then you could throw in “religious intolerance”. Accept any standard Progressive screed, other than the fact that some people break the rules of conduct for employment. Don't accept that those rule breakers should be allowed to be fired for misconduct.
To see how far such Progessive thinking can go, read the latest editorial by a true Progressive thinker, Ms. Stephanie Gaskill, a first year, Religious Studies doctoral student at UNC. Ms. Gaskill, a member of the UNC SDS movement, claims to be a historian. As such, “One of the most basic lessons I've learned as a historian is that the conditions in which we live rarely result from vague, inexplicable forces beyond our control.” (Really? Explain that ivory tower thinking to the citizens of Japan and the tsunami that devastated their country.) In other words, according to Ms. Gaskill, you can always find someone else to blame for your condition in life.
Ms. Gaskill doesn't blame those commiting the crime and corruption in Detroit for the crime and corruption in Detroit. Oh no, they are not to blame for their conduct. So who’s to blame?
“Rather, deliberate decisions to deny African Americans in particular fair access to decent housing and jobs, along with the federal government's decision to allow corporations to flee the unionized working force of the North for the 'right to work' South, made Detroit what it is. Wealthy whites could flee the dying city, leaving blacks behind with low-paying jobs, a fast-increasing need for services and even faster shrinking tax base.
Racism and corporate greed at their finest.”
What? Did only Caucasians flee Detroit? No. In fact, thousands upon thousands of African Americans with good paying automotive jobs fled Detroit. Let’s just forget that fact. Let's also forget that those good paying jobs allowing them to flee came from the greedy corporations Ms. Gaskill denounces. (What were those African Americans fleeing?)
But did the Detroit Three really flee Michigan for the “right to work” South? Let’s look at the facts again, no matter how inconvenient they may be.
Let’s look at Ford Motor Company. Ford has 17 assembly/stamping plants in North America producing almost 4,000,000 vehicles with about 55,000 workers who are unionized and paid well. Are most of those plants in the nasty rascist South? No. Here’s the list: Georgia – Atlanta; Illinois – Chicago; Kentucky – Louisville; Michigan - Flat Rock, Wayne (2), Wixom; Minnesota - St. Paul; Missouri - Kansas City, Hazelwood; Ohio - Avon Lake; Virginia – Norfolk; Canada - Oakville (2), St. Thomas; Mexico - Cuatitlan, Hermosillo. Only four plants are in the South. Ford still has four plants in Michigan alone.
So who did lead the way in building plants in the South since the 1980s? Don’t look to Detroit. Look overseas at the foreign car manufacturers like Toyota. (How much do you want to bet that Ms. Gaskill doesn’t drive a UAW-made car by the Detroit Three?)
Now let’s look at a decidedly
non-Progressive take on the Detroit implosion by a Mr. Falken, a published economist with over two decades of extensive experience. Progressives please stop reading. It will only ruin your day and blow a few neural circuits.
“Similarly, when Detroit recently announced they lost 25% of their populace over the past decade, the solutions sounded the same: double down. A friend of mine drove me by his childhood home in Flint Michigan and every corner strip mall highlighted two products: lottery tickets and alcohol. His old home now had security bars around its first floor windows.
There are two obvious features about American inner cities and neither are talked about very much (see the NYT discussion, no mention). First, most have long and deep Democratic political rule. That is, not only the mayor, but the police chief, school superindendent, and every other head bureaucrat is a Democrat. Five of the 10 cities with the highest poverty rates (Detroit, Buffalo, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Newark) have had a Democratic stranglehold since at least 1961, and most dangerous big US cities are strongly Democratic. Why isn't this relevant?
The other feature is these cities are predominantly black or Hispanic. Few can even mention this without being called a racist, and most important writers have legitimate reason to avoid even being accused of racism, which can cost you your career (meanwhile, Spencer Ackerman, who was caught red handed advocating the racist libel as a progressive strategy, has been unaffected, highlighting its potency). So, as a non-professional, I'll ask: Why are these minorities performing so poorly when concentrated?
…This issue is not whether or not one group is more prone to organized nefariousness than any other. The issue is that if any group is exempted from criticism, the temptation for members of the group to do bad things increases. We all have urges that are worthy of criticism, but if we can arrange matters so nobody is allowed to criticize us, then the temptation to give in to those urges can be overpowering.
American minorities don't need money, pity, or special rights, they need temperance, diligence, thrift and other bourgeois virtues, exactly what their community leaders are telling them are orthogonal to their position. The last thing you should tell someone in really bad straights is that his problem is the indifference, if not cruelty, of others, because it doesn't help him.”
The Pulp understands that merely airing these words for debate will bring down a “racist” label on the Pulp by Progressives here in Orange County. They cannot see that exempting a group of individuals from criticism is a racist act. Sadly, truly ending racism is the last thing in the world wanted by Progressives. They need the charge of racism to continue blaming you for your behavior so as to control your behavior in ways that have nothing to do with true racism. By controlling your behavior in these ways, they control your lifestyle choices, and thus, your personal spending.
No word on why Ms. Gaskill came to the nasty, racist, anti-union South to pursue her education and did not go to, say, Detroit?
Just how far the NAACP has fallen from the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. can be found in the sad, reflexive acts of a North Carolina NAACP leader to the firing of two Chapel Hill sanitation workers. On 15 November 2010, Reverend William Barber, leader of the North Carolina NAACP, demanded that two fired Chapel Hill sanitation workers be rehired before Thanksgiving.
As reported by the local media, Messrs. Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark were fired by the town of Chapel Hill on October 29th, following more than a month of paid suspension and an internal investigation. The town had received complaints that rose ”to the level of serious incident,” according to a September letter from Lance Norris, Chapel Hill's public works director.
As Pulpsters can imagine, in order for Chapelboro Progressives to fire two people of color, something really bad must have happened, something way over the line and not even a close call. While town officials can’t reveal the details due to legal appeals by the two former workers, it has been revealed that the town contracted with Capitol Associates Industries (CAI), a Raleigh based human resources organization, to investigate the behavior of the former workers.
What behavior? According to Mr. Norris, Mr. Clark had received five written warnings and a suspension since 2000. The town also had received complaints from town residents who were ”afraid to leave their homes when solid waste was collected”. Mr. Bigelow had “engaged in several confrontational encounters with your supervisors, including assigned crew leaders over the past two years “Apparently, both Bigelow and Clark had been ”demonstrating hostility” towards residents and their neighbors for several months.
In May 2010, the town agreed to engage CAI for human resource related services of up to $60,000 through June 30, 2011. According to Catherine Lazorko, town spokeswoman, CAI has investigated three serious complaints and held two customer service training exercises for employees, at a price of $22,548. Unfortunately, Reverend Barber isn’t constrained by these facts. According to him, ”The city spent $60,000 of town money to hire a private investigator. That is … wrong.”
Reverend Barber goes further in supporting the use of intimidation and insubordination. ”This is wrong what the Town of Chapel Hill has done … What was done to these two men shows unilateral disrespect. It's wrong, it's egregious … We can't stand for it.” Apparently seeking independent review of allegations of misbehavior is showing disrespect. Making people afraid to leave their homes isn’t showing disrespect.
Buoyed by such Progressive support, last week, Messrs. Bigelow and Clark filed a charge of retaliation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a grievance with the town. The NAACP and UE 150 municipal workers union called for the town to rescind its CAI contract. No allegations were made of misconduct on the part of CAI in investigating the two fired workers..
Perhaps the flavor of the NAACP response is best captured by a recent letter to the Chapel Hill News by Ms. Miriam Thompson. She starts by characterizing CAI as “an anti-union biased rogue outfit.”. She continues saying, “Capital Associated Industries' (CAI) position on workers' rights are like the extremes of the Tea Party and challenge the town's historic support for the dignity its workforce, public workers' right to collectively bargain and its support for repeal of our regressive state law that denies public workers this right.”
Wow, that’s Progressive communication at its finest. The right to intimidate the public is tied to dignity in the workplace and the right of collective bargaining. Tea Party bashing is thrown in for good measure.
Would you like to know more about the allegedly evil CAI?
According to CAI, it’s “a membership organization emphasizing long-term relationships with North Carolina employers. It’s not about invoices, consulting models or long engagements.
We want to help you create the best workplace for your employees and we’ll do that any way you want. It may simply be telephone advice from our HR experts to prevent or minimize an employee problem. It could be training at one of our scheduled sessions on a wide-range of management and HR skills. It could be a site visit from one of our HR pros to accomplish a long-needed project or pay plan. Or you may just need the data we collect in nearly a dozen annual surveys of area employer pay practices, benefits policies and health care costs. We are here to play the role that is right for your company right now.
CAI members have online access to critical news, information, research and advice. You’ll find much of that here. You’ll also find additional details on services that will help you maximize the benefits of membership within your organization.“
Sounds pretty evil. CAI talks about making the best workplace for employees.
What did CAI do to earn the hateful wrath of Progressives? CAI's President, Mr. Bruce Clarke, along with many other organizations in the state, opposed General Assembly legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
The problem? Essentially, the EFCA would do three things. It would require employers to recognize a union if a majority of employees sign cards requesting that union – a process known as “card check.” Under current law, card check alone isn’t enough to form a union. Rather, if enough employees sign the petition cards, employers must call for a secret ballot election that’s overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency. Employees can then vote in that election to join a union. It would require binding federal arbitration to settle disputes between a new union and an employer. It would make penalties for labor violations more severe.
According to Mr. Clarke, if secret balloting is optimal for every other election in America, why not union elections? “Union organizers and businesses are both able to make their cases in those elections. If a decent employer has time to do that, they’re going to win the election Clarke Unions want to circumvent secret ballots because they don’t want to lose the elections.”
How evil of Mr. Clarke to want secret balloting. Doesn’t he know that intimidation in the name of a Progressive value is acceptable behavior? Why not throw in a little insubordination as well?
On 16 April 2010, around 10:45 a.m. a gunshot rang out on a Chapel Hill High School bus.
Within hours of the arrest, the non-Progressive, regional broadcast media reported that the arrrested culprit was bringing a gun to school to get revenge for a lost fight with an “ABP” gang member. Friends of the arrested student said, ”The suspect had kind of lost the fight. So he came back to school with his own weapon and decided to get revenge and shoot back at the student. We didn't know when he was going to do it, but he said he was going to do it…That he was going to get revenge.” (See TV11 Broadcast.)
Gang member? What gangs are infiltrating city school? According to a city school spokeperson, they aren't aware of any gang members operating in their schools. Ignorance is bliss.
Here's a Pulp hint for the city school board members. Read the two most recent 2008 and 2009 reports from the Governor's Commission on gangs in North Carolina. Even for Progressives, sometimes ignorance isn't bliss.
For most Orange County residents, a filed police incident report is a public matter. It is not withheld from public release. However, the failed trailer park run at the presidency of Mr. John Edwards isn’t about ordinary Orange County residents.
Turns out that on 10 October 2008, Ms. Elisabeth Edwards, now estranged wife of Mr. John Edwards, reported that the no-good whoring bum (aka Mr. Edwards) came to eat dinner with their children after a sports event. Ms. Edwards told him they were dining with the babysitter, and he had no business being there. Mr. Edwards challenged her saying it was his house as well. Then Ms. Edwards claimed Mr. Edwards took her wallet, which contained $320, credit cards and a cell phone. As Mr. Edwards left the Edwards Carrboro trailer park compound, he was asked to give the wallet back. He said he didn’t have it.
That report wasn’t released to the public by Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass until February 2010, almost 15 months later. (See N&O Blog Story.) Coincidentally, “The Politician”, a “tell all” book by former Edwards campaign stooge, Mr. Andrew Young, was released just prior to that Orange County Sheriff’s release.
According to Sheriff Pendergrass, an NC state statute allows incident reports to be kept confidential temporarily in cases where the documents’ release could endanger the victim’s physical or mental well-being. However, Sheriff Pendergrass gave no evidence as to why he believed there was any such endangerment for a national figure such as Ms. Edwards, and why the need persisted for 15 months.
Now you don’t see gangs. Now you do.
Pulp readers are familiar with the past inability of Chapel Hill politicians and officials to recognize publicly the presence of gangs and gang members in southern Orange. (See Gangs in Southern Orange Stories.) “Facts optional” behavior is acceptable in southern Orange governance, particularly if it's in furtherance of local business interests. Gang presence has not been wanted… until now. Thus, gangs have not been present, despite warnings from outside southern Orange.
Gang presence now serves a governance purpose as a Halloween “devil inside the party” threatening public safety. Thus, gang members in Chapel Hill (at least as Halloween party visitors) now can be acknowledged.
Mayor Foy created the need for a scary bogeyman by declaring in August 2008. “I think the first thing is to make it clear to people that they're not invited. It's a local party. The trend is toward larger and larger crowds; the trend is toward longer and longer nights, and that's a trend that we need to reverse. We want Halloween to be an event that students and people in Chapel Hill can continue to enjoy, but we want to stop it from being regional or statewide.” See Pulp Foy Halloween Story.
In response, Police Chief Brian Curran and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah deliver the gang bogeyman on schedule. ”As the years have gone by we have observed fewer people in costume and more people who come for the sheer spectacle of the crowd. Many people come from out of town. Binge drinking prior to arriving on Franklin Street is common. Included in this crowd, unfortunately, are those who would look to take advantage of this situation in a mean, violent or criminal manner. We have observed over the past several years the addition of criminal street gang members mingling through the crowd.” See Herald Sun Halloween Story.
Town expenditures of $221,000 to subsidize a UNC student street party are complemented by a survey of local businesses indicating that money is lost by businesses during the Halloween event.
No word on whether or not the sighted gang members are just wearing gangster Halloween costumes.
What a difference a violent, high-profile murder of a local archetypal progressive can make. Orange County municipal officials were in denial as to the existence of gangs in Orange County prior to the Eve Carson murder. During 2005 municipal elections, incumbents ridiculed challengers mentioning the “G” word. Southern Orange “didn’t have a crime problem”, much less a “G” problem.
Four years later, with the help of the Pulp's incessant drumbeat of reality, local officials are kicking off a Bush administration initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program to reduce gun and gang violence. The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of North Carolina is partnering with Orange law enforcement agencies countywide to participate in this program.
As part of the local participation, a program has been developed called “Project SAFE Orange”. Repeat criminal offenders have been identified. Law enforcement agencies will notify such offenders with a strict no-tolerance message and the promise of swift and strong prosecution if they reoffend. Those notified will be closely monitored. The faith, resident, and agency community members of Project SAFE Orange will notify the offenders that they can take advantage of supportive opportunities to lead a crime-free life if they choose. (See NBC 17 News Story.)
The Pulp has squeezed the juice until the “gang” word has broken free from political correctness. The “G” word is back in our vocabulary.
In January 2009, the U.S Department of Justice held Project Safe Neighborhoods “Anti-Gang Training” in Chapel Hill. More than 550 attendees addressed the criminal gang issue affectting communities throughout the nation. The executive session of such training focused on the development of a strategic plan to address their local criminal justice issues and challenges. In the words of Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig S. Morford, “This anti-gang training will play a critical role in assisting our state and local criminal justice partners in eradicating gangs and gang violence from our communities. It will allow them to more effectively combat the problem and provide for safer neighborhoods across the country.” (See DOJ Press Release.)
Last week the Daily Tar Heel ran an editorial saying what local progressives refused to acknowledge for years, “Gang violence has a definite presence in Orange County, whether we choose to see it or not.”
Noting that Orange County comes late to the party, the editorial also observes that, “In the participating counties of Durham, Forsyth, Rowan and Guilford, violent crime decreased significantly after the program was implemented. Our neighbor, Durham County, saw violent crime decrease by nearly 35 percent between 2000 and 2004.”
According to US District Attorney Jim Woodall, witness intimidation in gang-related prosecutions in Orange County is on the rise. He called Interstate 40 a “hotbed” of gang activity and violence. (See Daily Tar Heel Editorial.)
Sometimes the truth doesn’t feel good.
Almost one year after Mr. Kevin Foy, Chapel Hill mayor, made an official statement at the 10 March 2008 town meeting regarding the senseless killing of Ms. Eve Carson, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, prior to the arrest of the above-pictured alleged killer(s), a federal grand jury indictment has been amended to include a
special finding of fact. Ms. Carson’s senseless murder involved “torture and serious physical abuse” and was carried out in “an especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner.” These special findings are needed in order to seek the death penalty.
As the Pulp noted almost a year ago, Mr. Foy has made no public mention of a key element of closure necessary in any senseless killing – that of society seeking justice. The question remains, will town officials support the seeking of the most severe penalty against any person convicted of Ms. Carson’s murder? This question takes on
increased importance as the federal indictment now enables the invoking of the death penalty if a conviction is made against one of those indicted.
Now you don’t see gangs. Now you do.
Pulp readers are familiar with the past inability of Chapel Hill politicians and officials to recognize publicly the presence of gangs and gang members in southern Orange. (See Gangs in Southern Orange Stories.) “Facts optional” behavior is acceptable in southern Orange governance, particularly if it's in furtherance of local business interests. Gang presence has not been wanted… until now. Thus, gangs have not been present, despite warnings from outside southern Orange.
Gang presence now serves a governance purpose as a Halloween “devil inside the party” threatening public safety. Thus, gang members in Chapel Hill (at least as Halloween party visitors) now can be acknowledged.
Mayor Foy created the need for a scary bogeyman by declaring in August 2008. “I think the first thing is to make it clear to people that they're not invited. It's a local party. The trend is toward larger and larger crowds; the trend is toward longer and longer nights, and that's a trend that we need to reverse. We want Halloween to be an event that students and people in Chapel Hill can continue to enjoy, but we want to stop it from being regional or statewide.” See Pulp Foy Halloween Story.
In response, Police Chief Brian Curran and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah deliver the gang bogeyman on schedule. ”As the years have gone by we have observed fewer people in costume and more people who come for the sheer spectacle of the crowd. Many people come from out of town. Binge drinking prior to arriving on Franklin Street is common. Included in this crowd, unfortunately, are those who would look to take advantage of this situation in a mean, violent or criminal manner. We have observed over the past several years the addition of criminal street gang members mingling through the crowd.” See Herald Sun Halloween Story.
Town expenditures of $221,000 to subsidize a UNC student street party are complemented by a survey of local businesses indicating that money is lost by businesses during the Halloween event.
No word on whether or not the sighted gang members are just wearing gangster Halloween costumes.
UNC ‘s waterless urinals, symbol of sustainability, turn out to create foul smells.
UNC will substitute ultra-low-flush devices for the odoriferous wonders installed in 2002. Deposits inside the waterless urinals have been blocking the plumbing system at times, leading to foul smells. Apparently other sustainability advocates have been discovering the same thing.
In addition, after installing the toilets, UNC modeled the maintenance costs for the urinals, which require expensive disposable maintenance cartridges. (See Daily Tar Heel Urinal Story.)
Meanwhile, the fact based negative experiences of UNC haven’t deterred the Carrboro Boa from calling for waterless urinals in all commercial construction projects in Carrboro. See Pulp Waterless Toilet Story.
No word on whether or not Alderman Jacquie Gist will take a recycled bike over to the UNC surplus yard to recycle the flushed waterless urinals.
In response to a bonehead statement by Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell about Hispanic immigrant procreation habits, Orange Progressives declare that anyone questioning the role of criminal gangs in Hispanic culture is a racist.
Former Carrboro Alderman, former head of the local ACLU, “Hell” bar owner, and non-profit UNC Center for Civil Rights lawyer Marc Dorosin charges that the characterization of Hispanic immigrants as prone to crime is reminiscent of the marginalization of African Americans during segregation. “That image of the Latino community as being dangerous criminals really foments a backlash. That fear is even more powerful when it's fomented by law enforcement.” UNC law professor Deborah Weissman says, ”Much of the immigration controversy is driven by fear and prejudice.” Irene Godinez, advocacy director for the statewide Hispanic group El Pueblo, places the color card saying, ”Suddenly, if you're brown, you're dehumanized. North Carolina was one of the states that led in the civil rights movement. … It's really shocking and saddening to me to see that now, we're not taking to the streets.”
While raising the thoughtful level of public discourse with cries of racism and prejudice, none of the speakers at a Chapel Hill conference on 19 September 2008 offered the possibility that perception is based on reality. That perception is not the rhetorical exaggeration that all Hispanic immigrants are criminals or dangerous, but the perception that Hispanic immigrant culture contains dangerous seeds of a propensity for including a criminal gang culture.
Noticeably absent from the intellectual discussions at UNC is any reference to the work done in 2005 by the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center. There's no mention of a thoughtful published report on Hispanic gang activity in the state. The local media provides no context in their reporting as well. (See the N&O Hispanic backlash story.)
Growth in Hispanic gangs
Between 1999 and 2004, gangs in North Carolina grew 68% in size (up to 387 groups with 8517 members). The greatest rate of growth in North Carolina’s youth gang population has occurred within the Hispanic communities, which now have 22.5% of the recognized youth gangs.
Despite the statements of local Orange politicians, gangs are present in southern Orange, as they are in 29.4% of the municipal jurisdictions in North Carolina. Over half of those jurisdictions having Hispanic gangs acknowledge that they have a “significant problem”. On average, Hispanic gangs accounted for about 10% of reported crimes, but in some areas it was up to 50%.
Part of gang activity relates to turf battles and drug market control disputes among gangs. Territoriality or disputes arising from turf related issues accounted for 24.5% of the gang conflicts. Drug related disputes account for 29.6% of gang disputes. Consistent with existing gang literature, these gang related disputes remain typically within the Hispanic community and almost exclusively involve Hispanic gang members.
Source of Gang Member Influx
On average, 73.7% of their gang members migrated into their jurisdictions from either another city in the state, another state or another country. California and Texas were cited as
the largest feeder states, followed by Virginia, Georgia, New York and Florida. Mexico and El Salvador were cited as the largest feeder countries, followed by Honduras and Nicaragua.
Gangs in School
Orange County school systems have been noticeably silent about gang activity in schools, despite student acknowledgement of the presence of such gangs even at the elementary school level. Eighty percent of the gang reporting jurisdictions found gangs and gang members in their public school systems.
National Gang Affiliation
Of the 118 Hispanic gangs in North Carolina, 91 were reputed to be nationally affiliated. Some even have connection outside the country. At least 3,420 Hispanic gangmembers were identified of which 276 were female members (8.1%). Surenos, or Sur-13, was the most prevalent gang. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs were reported to exist in at least 18 counties with a
minimum number of 430 members being recognized. Vatos Locos gangs also indicates known national ties for 16 of these gangs. Each of the reported Mexican Mafia gangs and five of the 18th Street sets were described as national in scope.
Nationally affiliated Hispanic gangs were described as “somewhat visible, mobile, violent, profit-oriented and involved in drug-related activities.”
Most Dangerous Threat
Gangs residing in the central, or Piedmont, region of the state “may be the most problematic, or have the greatest potential, for becoming more of a threat. These gangs were consistently rated as being more visible, slightly more violent, more profit-oriented and more organized than either the local gangs in the eastern or western portions of the state.”
See Governor’s Hispanic Gang Report.
More details of the Eve Carson murder were released with the court ordered opening of a search warrant in the case. The Pulp has no wish to go into all of the details. Readers can go elsewhere. (See Herald Sun Eve Carson Warrant Story).
One fact is of interest to the issue of the vigilance of the Chapel Hill Police with respect to gangs in the southern Orange area. When the Carson murder occurred, the Chapel Hill police Chief Curran and Mayor Foy took pains to disavow any hint of gang involvement. Turns out they have known since March 12th, one week after the murder (if not almost immediately) that Ms. Carson was murdered with two weapons, each suspect using a different weapon.
Two questions remain unanswered. Did Chief Curran issue the statement last week, “You can't just bury your head in the sand and hope that gang problems are going to pass you by, because they're here.” due to the warrant being unsealed by court order about one week later on 27 June 2008? (See Pulp Bogus Police Gang Vigilance Story.) Also, why did the Chapel Hill Police not suspect gang involvement when they knew on 12 March 2008 that the murder involved two suspects, each with a separate weapon used in the murder?
The Pulp has reported for several years on the growing presence of gangs in Orange County. See Pulp Gangsta Story. The Orange Progressive response of Chapelboro leaders and their political surrogates has been denial. When confronted with confirmation of local gang existence by word from local Federal Bureau of Investigation officials, the response has been silence and inaction. See Pulp Gang Presence Stymied Story.
The local media (aka “steno pool”) has climbed into the lap of local leaders echoing the recent official position of “Gangs? What gangs??” These incredible statements were parroted by all local leaders, despite shootings that shut down the Visions nightclub in Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Apple Chill street fair, and the Avalon nightclub in Chapel Hill.
The problem for local officials and the media is that the gang presence has become so visible that local police have finally said, with certainty, that an arrested suspect in Hillsborough was a gang member.
Suspected Eight Trey Gangster Crips (aka 83 Crips, aka ETGC, aka ETG) gang members have been arrested in Mebane and Durham showing the jurisdictional disdain of gangs. Suspected ETGC gang member Hakeem Kyri Hubbard, 18, is being held on $500,000 bail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He is charged with being one of five who pulled up alongside Lakendrick Watts, 31, in the Fairview neighborhood of Hillsborough late Thursday night. Hubbard allegedly shot Watts in the abdomen with a semi-automatic rifle in a random act of violence. See N&O Police Vigilance Story.
Normally, this rapid change in position would require an explanation in the media. Not in Orange County. The local steno pool simply reports that “Orange vigilant against gangs”. “Presto-changeo” there are gangs here. “Presto-changeo”, officials have been on top of the situation all along, even while denying local gangs exist. This amazing statement is made in the context of the fact that no local Orange municipality or Orange school system runs a gang awareness program for local citizens and students.
The media compounds the mythology of local police vigilance by reporting that “The slaying of UNC-Chapel Hill student leader Eve Carson intensified concerns about gangs. One of the suspects showed up in a bank security photo using Carson's ATM card and wearing a vintage Houston Astros hat that police said might be a gang symbol. ” Unfortunately, the Chapel Hill police actively denied gang involvement in the Carson murder. Police officials OUTSIDE of Orange County brought up a possible gang angle that they felt should be investigated.
Suddenly, Chapel Hill Police Chief Curran echoes the concerns of the Pulp for the past few years - “You can't just bury your head in the sand and hope that gang problems are going to pass you by, because they're here.” As reported in the N&O, Mitch McKinney, (Chapel Hill's only part-time gang related crime police officer) says ”We're doing the best we can with the resources we have available. Until we can determine what the problem is, we can't deal with it.” The local stenographers provide no context for the diametrically opposite position of local officials from statements in recent elections.
No explanation as to why local institutional memory has Alzheimer's Syndrome.
No word as to why for the past three years the Chapel Hill police department hasn’t pushed for gang related prevention and arrest support
No word on whether or not any local official has read the 2008 Governor’s Commission Report on gangs and gang-related crime in North Carolina (A Comprehensive Assessment of Gangs in North Carolina: A Report to the General Assembly - North Carolina Department of Crime Control & Public Safety Governor's Crime Commission).
Since the arrest of the Eve Carson murder suspects, local officials have said nary a word as to whether or not the two suspects arrested have any association with the taboo “G” word… gangs.
Local officials have been in public denial about gangs in southern Orange for years despite official public state information that gangs do thrive here. They have ignored repeated exposure by Squeeze the Pulp over the past few years of official statements by the state and the federal government talking about Orange County gangs.
Local officials in the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill have refused to initiate public information programs educating citizens about gangs and identifying marks, such as clothing or neck tattoos. Local schools will educate about the ills of tobacco smoking but not gangs. The town of Chapel Hill canceled an annual festival rather than face down criminal elements taking over the crowds. Do anything but face the issues.
In the wake of a recent spree of crimes, Carrboro police have charged four young men and a teenage girl in a series of African-American on Hispanic muggings in Durham and Orange County. They’re also investigating at least three additional suspects in a recent Carrboro robbery spree. According to police, all of the suspects may belong to a gang.
In the words of Police Captain Booker, ”When this thing keeps growing in numbers, it's hard not to look at it that way. It has grown to eight people that we're looking at. It is a very strong likelihood that additional charges will be lodged, and some of those charges may be on brand new suspects.”
No word from Alderman Joel Hall Broun who two years ago ridiculed then candidate Ms. Katrina Ryan for suggesting that Carrboro had a crime problem.
No word from obedient Carrboro peevish pet food purveyors who yapped about warnings of gang presence in support of Ms. Ryan.
No word on the police investigation into the trafficking of Orange Progressive Cool-Aid by the Boa and the Councilors.
See N&O Crime Spree Story.
Kevin Foy, Chapel Hill mayor, made an official statement at the 10 March 2008 town meeting regarding the senseless killing of Eve Carson, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, prior to the arrest of the above-pictured alleged killer(s). (See statement below.)
Mayor Foy waxed eloquently on the sense of loss in the community, a loss shared by Pulpsters, no matter where they live.
Noticeably absent from Mr. Foy’s statement is any mention of a key element of closure necessary in any senseless killing. He makes no mention of bringing to the courts in a judicious fashion the killer(s) of Eve Carson on the strongest criminal charges possible. He makes no mention of seeking and assisting in getting the strongest penalties possible under the law for a brutal, violent, and deliberate senseless killing. He makes no mention of delivering justice.
Already rumblings of the killers being cast in the role of society’s victim(s) are starting to surface in local southern Orange political blogs.
No word on whether or not Mr. Foy, a lawyer, will speak up about justice as passionately and directly as he did loss.
Statement by Mayor Kevin Foy on behalf of the Chapel Hill Town Council:
“We begin this evening's meeting by acknowledging the grief and pain that we are suffering at the loss of our colleague and friend, Eve Carson.
Eve was the president of Carolina's student body, which is how many of us came to know her. But the more we got to know her, the more we understood what an extraordinary person she was, and how broadly and deeply she touched the lives of people in Chapel Hill and beyond.
Eve's death represents for us a terrible, incomprehensible loss. She was a person who embodied what is beautiful in this world, and it was a joy to know her. Her having been taken from us rips from us our greatest hopes and our greatest dreams and our greatest aspirations for what the world might become someday.
We are diminished by the loss of Eve, and we know it.
We mourn this day, but we will carry on. We will soldier on. We have Eve's memory and spirit to help us carry on. But we will always remember Eve; we will always cherish Eve; and Eve will always be with us in Chapel Hill, to challenge us with her beauty and grace, her intelligence and charm, her compassion and idealism.
Eve's spirit will challenge us to be a place where youth can flourish and hope can endure and evil will be forever banished. And although we cannot replace Eve, we do know that she was a person who mattered in this world by the work she did, and she was destined to do great things. Rather than have those things remain undone, each of us can look to pick up a piece of the work that Eve did, and to do the work she would have done, the way she would have done it.
My colleagues on the council and I have been a part of the sorrow of our community, and we have reached out to Eve's family and to our colleagues on campus and beyond. We have extended to Chancellor Moeser our deepest sympathy to the campus community, and we have sought to comfort everyone in our town. Each of us has suffered, individually and collectively, a harm that is deep and piercing.
Yesterday, my wife Nancy and I attended Eve's memorial service at her hometown in Athens, Georgia. We had the opportunity to meet Eve's mother, Teresa, her father, Bob, and her brother, Andrew. We told them how much Chapel Hill valued Eve and how heartsick all of us are.
Eve's family was very gracious, and even under the burden of such surpassing grief thanked us, and all of you for your thoughts and your support.
Athens and Chapel Hill are now forever bound. We are bound by the thread of the life of a lovely young woman who touched us as she graced this world.
Please join me in a moment of silence to remember Eve; but I hope that this moment will resonate around the world, and that our moment will awaken this world with our cry of grief at this senseless death.
I would also like to call attention this evening to the assistance that is available to everyone in our community who is coping with this tragedy and who needs assistance. Our town has a crisis unit, housed in our police department, that is ready to help, and I ask you please to call them to seek that help if you need it. Contact information is available on the town website or by calling Town Hall.
In addition, the university has counseling available and people ready to assist members of the campus community during this difficult time.”
Ostriches with their head in the ground may not see trouble coming, but it comes nevertheless.
In a foreign terrorist age when people allow themselves to be searched without probable cause in order to fly, domestic terrorism remains the dirty little secret to be ignored. For years the Pulp has talked about gangs in southern Orange. The Orange Progressive response of Chapelboro leaders and their political surrogates has been denial. When confronted with confirmation of local gang existence by word from local Federal Bureau of Investigation officials, the response has been silence and no action.
Now Chapelboro faces the (in the words of the Chapel Hill police) a “random” shooting of a beautiful, young woman (Eve Carson) attending UNC- Chapel Hill. (The term “random” refers to the selection of the victim, and not the reason behind the killing.)
But was the crime truly “random” with respect to purpose? Or was it a killing with a very non-random, a very deliberate purpose?
To answer these questions, perhaps Chapelboro rulers should speak to their children. Show the above picture to a knowledgeable Chapelboro or Durham high schooler, and they’ll tell you what most likely happened. Ms. Carson was most likely killed as part of a gang initiation. To get into a gang, the wannabee has to pick out, at random, a young, beautiful woman and kill her Mafioso style, like placing a shot to the right temple at point blank range. He has to steal her car and drive it past some of his future gangsta bros as “proof of death”. He’s then in the gang.
One look at the above picture released by the Chapel Hill police, and that high schooler recognizes a “5950” hat, a gangsta hat favorite.
So why no official word from Chapelboro rulers on the existence of domestic terrorists, in this case, local African-American gangstas, as well as local Hispanic gangstas, here in southern Orange and adjacent Durham County? Why no official word and plan of action from these rulers to take on the scourge of gangstas who use the robe of social victimization to victimize society?
See N&O Carson Killing Story.
See Baltimore Sun Gang Story.
