Our nation’s capital closed out the year with 105 homicides, up one over 2013 . But violence and the fear it brings won’t end with a flip of the calendar or the last gunshot of 2014.
The nightmarish scene of a body found bleeding on the street, the sounds of wailing, the lurking dread that it could — no, that it will — all happen again are not things left behind at midnight Dec. 31. Community insecurity is a byproduct of violence. It carries over into the new year.
That is how hundreds of D.C. children are entering 2015: haunted by the fear of something bad happening, not feeling safe even where they live and sleep.
This is also what’s missing in the stories you read about violence in our community. The thought that a family member, or a neighbor, or a classmate, could be next. The horror that took place down the street or around the corner or just outside the front door. It all gets seared in the recesses of the mind.
To read the rest of this op-ed by Colbert King, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...0214d4cd7_story.html
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