Neighborhood Debates Controversial Response to Crime
Update: We've gotten information that Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) will be hosting Friday night potlucks in Potomac Gardens starting on May 30 to discuss issues related to neighborhood safety. He's indicated that he'll ask the police department's top brass to attend, as well as community leaders.
As the District continues grappling with a stubborn and constantly shifting crime problem, residents in one Capitol Hill neighborhood are debating a controversial response -- marching on a housing project.
Residents of the Hill East section of Capitol Hill (generically thought to encompass much of the Hill from 11th Street to RFK) have in the past days discussed and debated crime in their neighborhood, focusing primarily on incidents involving teenagers. In one posting to a neighborhood email list, a resident proposed organizing a march on Potomac Gardens, a housing project located south of Pennsylvania Avenue where many alleged assailants have fled or are thought to live. (Full disclosure: I used to live two blocks from Potomac Gardens, and last year was robbed by four teens who dispersed into the large project.) A resident who identified themselves as "S & P" wrote in their posting:
Seriously, it just occurred to me, why not march through Potomac Gardens to protest and call attention to at least the following: the consistently awful management of PG and places like it in the city; the inherent unfairness of the disproportionate number of calls for police and ambluance service to -- or as a result of -- residents residing, on the dole, at PG; the childish absurdity and paucity of the "no-snitch" code embraced and perpetuated by PG residents; the ineffectual lip-service paid to those of us who fund, through our taxes, places throughout the city like PG, but who are constantly victimized by its residents and particularly by the children of its lease-holders; the absurdity of DC's juvenile shield laws that seem to fly in the face of the 1st Ammendment when it comes to sharing information, even as a victim, about extremely violent juvenile offenders; and finally, the simplest, we're just all sick of the crap we have been force-fed by our civic leaders, PC pundits, and apologists alike, that living in an economically, racially, and demographically diverse urban environment entails accepting that we should expect to be assaulted, stolen from, and abused by those among us who are deemed "less fortunate?"Predictably, the idea provoked a heated debate that has continued over the last three days. While many residents applauded the idea, other expressed concern that it would only serve to marginalize residents in the project.
Image of Potomac Gardens taken from the D.C. Housing Authority website.
Marika Rosen wrote back:
I must also say that I am alarmed by the idea of an angry mob storming Potomac Gardens and other public housing developments...I do not in any way underestimate the severity of the problem and the frustration and anger over these incidents, but a mass demonstration makes no distinction between the "good" parents and delinquent parents, the good kids and the bad. It comes across as an us/them confrontation, "we" the homeowners and "you" the "welfare beneficiairies of tax dollars." I don't like the sound of it and I don't see it as a way to promote any kind of dialogue or meaningful improvement.The original proponent of the march fired back a response defending the idea, writing:
I disagree with you. There needs to be a firmer and clearer establishment of "us" versus "them", specifically in the area of violent crime and victimization. We need to send a message that among "us," regardless of race and demographics, we do not tolerate being victimized by "them," consisting of people who directly and indirectly contribute to the violence against "us" and our victimization. I'm not suggesting writing off this generation of kids residing in places like PG, but I am stating emphatically that the time has come to forcefully send the message to them, their parents and their apologists that we, as a civilized and peace-loving segment of the greater community have had enough. That it is unacceptable for anybody living among us to violently and brutally assault and rob us.The debate has continued, with various residents promising to organize the march while others decrying the idea as inappropriate and inflammatory. One resident named Manda wrote in an email titled "this is very disturbing":
Did it occur to you that many of these kids are pissed off because their families have been displaced by the crazy prices of homes around here? The houses that they knew as their Grandma's, Aunties, counsin's are now yours. Yes, their anger is displaced but just think about it for a second. Then there is the fact that many of these kids are kids that have had to leave the neighborhood because their families couldn't afford the houses anymore and they come back to hang with their friends they grew up with.....which again means they didn't come from the projects or section 8 housing.With the predictable summer crime spike coming, discussions like these are likely to continue. But is such a march the strong statement against crime that its proponents seem to think it is? Or is it closer to what the opponents claim, a divisive tool that ignores the more complicated social tensions in the District's transitioning neighborhoods?I hope that you don't look at my daughter and just assume because she's black that she's in the projects. I mean really, we black people can and do amount to more than that.
This whole discussion has taken on an elitist, racist, angry mob slant. Isn't the whole idea to find a productive way to stop this? Can't something be done without making it look like this list is saying "hey all you poor black people, we don't want your kind around here?"
I suddenly don't feel so welcome in this neighborhood anymore.
I side with the latter. While I don't fondly remember being robbed by four teens who then fled into the project -- one was caught but could not be charged because he was not the one holding the gun -- the experience doesn't make me think that a march of this sort would prove useful. The area is torn between poverty and newfound affluence -- the city's newest Harris Teeter is two blocks from Potomac Gardens, on the ground floor of a ritzy new condo development -- and stemming crime will require addressing social issues and talking honestly to all members of the community. What Hill East needs is to find a solution that all residents can buy into, not one that marginalizes one group because of where they live.