It was a long time coming, but last week Congressman Elijah Cummings(MD) introduced legislation titled The Dawson Family Protection Act to protect those who witness neighborhood crimes or help police get drugs out of their neighborhood.
A lot of people claim not to understand why our people in certain neighborhoods pretend not to see, hear or know about crimes being committed right in front of their faces. They believe it's because people hate the cops so much that they'd rather let criminals get away with destroying their community than help the police. That's not true. They're scared to death not just for their own lives but for the lives of their children and it's a real fear.
We learned that in the most sickening and heartbreaking way in 2002 when the Dawsons, a family a five (kids were 9 to 14) were all killed when their home was firebombed in retaliation for the family's continued complaints to police about drug trafficking in their neighborhood. The Dawsons lived in Baltimore, Congressman Cummings district, which has a higher murder rate than Los Angeles and New York. Another woman's home in Baltimore was firebombed six months ago for the same reason.
What message is the law leaving that speaks louder than burning down a family of five? Nothing that I know of. So when people complain, "Why aren't they doing anything to clean up their own neighborhood?" here's your answer. If we are going to be serious about the war on drug, we need the people in the neighborhoods being poisoned to stand up and lead the fight. They can't do it if we aren't supporting them and just commending them for their bravery is clearly not enough. Neither is lighter sentences for those on the Dawson's block buying and selling drugs. Non-violent crime my ass.
Article comments
1 - RJ
Why not just legalize the drugs? I doubt RJ Reynolds is going to firebomb anyone's house...
2 - Eric Olsen
very important AW: and brave people such as the Dawsons do vital work for all Americans. Thanks and welcome!
3 - DrPat
I'm not sure that moving witnesses to a new neighborhood (a la witness protection) is the answer to witness intimidation. Short of that, well, it's already illegal to fire-bomb a house assault a witness.
BTW, motivation to commit the crime of intimidating witnesses against you disappears if the behavior they witnessed wasn't a crime.
4 - Margaret Romao Toigo
The threat of retaliation is not the only reason why some people pretend to not see the black market drug business in their neighborhoods.
The people who have lived in those neighborhoods for many years know from experience that after a black market drug dealer is arrested and sent to jail that he will be replaced the very next day. This is because there is no end to the number of people who will take advantage of low-risk, tax-free, high profit, virtually labor-free business opportunities.
The WOD, in one form or another, is an almost 100 year-old failure because the laws of supply and demand are laws of nature, not man. Legislation banning certain drugs is like legislation banning earthquakes and tornadoes, it's futile.
We've always been behind in the WOD because it was those selfsame prohibitionist policies that created lucrative black market opportunities in the first place. Banning a thing does not make that thing go away, but rather sends the business of it into the underground economy, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
If you want to eradicate the black market and the violence associated with it, then push for the regulation of the manufacture and sale of these certain drugs, not legislation designed to encourage people to continue to risk their lives on an exercise in futility.