May Flowers (DC Homicide rate for children up over 100% in 2004)
Mark Fenster
The homocide rate for children in Washington DC is up over 100% from
last year.
Picture of Chelsea Cromartie's grave at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30179-2004May15.html
Fenster
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May Flowers (DC Homicide rate for children up in 2004)
We're Just 4½ Months Into 2004, and Already 13 Children Have Fallen to
Homicide in the District
By Lonnae O'Neal Parker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 16, 2004; Page D01
There is still life in the flowers that ring 8-year-old Chelsea
Cromartie's freshly turned grave. Almost two dozen loving
arrangements. Hers is the 13th child's grave dug in Washington so far
this year -- one more child homicide than in all of 2003. Maybe in
life, only their mommas or daddies or neighborhoods cared about these
children. Except when they didn't. But we all love them so when they
are gone. We bring roses and orchids and bright, sturdy carnations to
honor the dead.
You straighten the flowers as a gesture of respect, but the wind blows
them over. You arrange them carefully to show that you believe this
life had meaning, but the wind knocks them down. You press the flowers
firmly in their pots, twisting their stems and squeezing the leaves so
that all can bear witness to your resolve. You prop them up as best
you can, even if deep down you know that when you leave, they will
fall again.
But they fall before you even step away.
Now there is a decision to be made.
The flowers are going to blow over, but you have to go, because you
have so many other things you have to do.
That's the grave of the little girl on TV, says a woman in the parking
lot nearby.
So sad, says another woman. You're not safe anyplace anymore.
Suddenly you decide: The flowers will not fall.
You put yourself between the flowers and all the things that blow the
flowers down. You anchor their petals behind stronger, more
wind-resistant vines. And you scratch at the ground, fixing their
stands deep in the earth. The dirty work covers your skin and gets
underneath your nails and all across your shirt, forcing you to cancel
your plans and stay longer than you meant. Still, there are things
that must be done. This time the flowers hold -- at least long enough
for you to leave.
So begins a most determined new campaign.
Save the flowers!
Because in Washington, the children are dying.