“It takes a village to raise a child” thrives as a African saying that means an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those youth to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.”
The Village of Trenton remains immersed in indifference regarding violence that rips through communities.
Someone noted that Shemiah Davis died Saturday because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Davis, 15, closed her eyes permanently during the early evening hours when a gunman shot the teen and two others on Bellevue Ave.
Let’s be clear. Davis perished because some person settled a score or relieved his anger with a pop-off of several bullets and a devil-be-damned attitude about who ended up on the wrong side of his weapon.
“Snitches get stitches,” a woman responded while waiting for her order yesterday at Italian Peoples Bakery in Chambersburg. She had just heard about the latest city killing, No. 22 in 2021 following last year’s record-breaking 40 homicides.
Another person said previously in this morning klatch that he believed that “a hundred people know” the assailant.
That’s likely, although those same one hundred people will stay silent as church mice wearing bedroom slippers.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora delivered a familiar lament about another disastrous deadly day in the capital city.
“Acting Police Director Steve Wilson and I are outraged following the senseless shooting of four Trentonians. We stand with these families in their hour of unspeakable pain,” Gusciora said in a statement.
“I ask residents of that neighborhood, including North 25 Housing and the public, to come forward with any information that might help us identify the perpetrators of these shootings and bring them to justice,” Gusciora added.
Don’t expect North 25 Village members to offer any information. Murder and violence have morphed into customary events in many tight-lipped neighborhoods as fear grips those people who have information.
Davis’ death will cause a customary wringing of hands and familiar responses from government, law enforcement, clergy and community leaders. Concerns will fade as no effective strategies surface.
Sure, guns kill people and buying a weapon represents an easy challenge in both urban and rural environments. An end of the day reality about Davis is that The Village raised another really bad apple, a rotten to the core killer.
“The scourge of gun violence in cities across America is profoundly impacting our communities,” Gusciora noted, although that insight supports an idea that Trenton should not be any different than other locales experiencing gun violence.
A personal belief espouses Trenton should be better, could be better if we had an honest conversation about issues in this city.
Gusciora called it “terrifying” and “unsettling” to feel the weight of this issue so close to our home and our hearts.”
The first-term mayor delivered heartfelt emotions, appropriate for such matters, then kept writing until his thoughts reached campaign stump levels.
“Since January 2021, Trenton PD has taken more than 150 guns off our streets, and a new task force established by (Acting Director Wilson) is poised to do more.”
“We have reduced gun violence in our city by 20% compared to the same period last year. Together, we can bring the offenders of this shocking crime before the law’s full force and begin the process of healing for our entire city.”
Statistics, numbers and percentages rarely find the real heart of matters. Many people holding sharp pencils can make figures perform amazing acts of chicanery.
Bottom line, Davis’s death deserves more reasoning and explanation than being in the wrong place on Saturday evening.
If citizens in the Village of Trenton want a better city then let’s have an honest talk about what’s going on.
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.