It will take a multipronged effort to tackle the rising rate of black-on-black killings among males in large cities across the nation, Annette John-Hall writes in her Philadelphia Inquirer column. The killings are tearing at the social fabric of African-American communities around the country.
Those gunshots that had you dropping to the floor on New Year's Eve? You know, the ones that traditionally ring in the new year?
They've become nothing more than an S.O.S., warning us that yes, domestic terrorism is alive and well in a city where brothers kill brothers - Philadelphia.
Talk about black-on-black crime: According to stats from the Philadelphia Police Department, 75 percent of 324 victims killed last year were African American men, while 80 percent of those doing the killing were - you guessed it - black males.
…Too many guns, too many slights, and not enough hope are wiping out an entire generation of African American men. It's an epidemic happening in big cities all over the country, one Mayor [Michael] Nutter is determined to tackle in his second term..
Read Annette John-Hall's entire column at the Philadelphia Inquirer.