Tuesday, January 4, 2011

2010 Homicides: January

The South Kansas City Observer thinks that it is easy to dismiss the homicide rate when we consider it as a big aggregate--impersonal--106 people killed. It is a lot, but to really take it in, you need to see it in its smaller pieces--the names of the people that were killed. So to help get a perspective on it, The Observer is going to list a month's worth of names each day over the course of the next two weeks or so. This is the list of homicide victims for January, a total of seven for the month.

Latasha Prewitt, 25--Antwan Clark, 22--Cortez Wilson, 17--Randy L Wilson, 21--Winston Hughes, 18--Jamar Nevels, 16--Dion Pettis, 29

Some people here were on the wrong end of violent conflict, some may have been doing illegal things when they were killed, some may have been innocent victims. They may not have looked like you and me, but they were all someone's son or daughter, and all humans bearing God's image.

6 comments:

Ann T. said...

Dear The Observer,
This will be something I promise to follow here, even though I am not in South Kansas City.

My condolences to the families of Latasha, Antwan, Cortez, Randy, Winston, Jamar, and Dion.

Very sincerely,
Ann T.

The Observer said...

Ann T:
My main source of information for the roll was the KCPD Chief's blog, as much of the paper's archives hide behind a subscriber pay wall.

When the Chief can, he puts pictures of the victims on his blog. I definitely felt the impact of looking at 80 or so pictures of people whose lives ended due to homicide last night as I researched for the entries.

Those people are not here any more. They may have been productive, or criminal. Smart or dumb, lazy or busy. What ever they were they are not any more, and with that goes opportunity for growth and change.

A lot of wasted potential, I thought.

A thoughtful Observer

chuck said...

Were any of the people killed last year, involved with the kid who got all the coverage on Local Public Radio and teh Pitch?

I think his name was Markus Lee.

Just curious.

Groucho K. Marx said...

Another excellent and well-spoken piece T.O..

I HAVE to write this up and link your blog to these thoughtful musings...

"Groucho"

The Observer said...

chuck--

I'd have to check on it. I probably won't explore each case too much individually, as I don't want one or another to stand out too much.

I would not be surprised that some of these are connected. I also found a shared uncommon (there were two Wilsons in January but that is a fairly common last name) last name while writing out the list, so I wonder if one or more family lost members to homicide.

thanks for stopping by.

The Observer

The Observer said...

Groucho--

Thanks for the linkage...this has been a sobering exercise, from looking at the victim photos to realizing some months were truly awful to seeing that each month has homicide victims to name.

Must. Do. Something.

Mayoral candidates, what say you?

The observer