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By Shavana Abruzzo
Brooklyn Daily
Any excuse is game for lawless louts to go on a wilding jamboree — and for apologists to jump on the bandwagon.
Folk rioting in East Flatbush, trashing public property, looting stores, randomly attacking people, and hurling bricks and bottles at cops disgraced the memory of slain Brooklyn teen Kimani “Kiki” Gray, 16, the reputed Bloods gang member with a lengthy rap sheet whom cops killed last week for allegedly pointing a gun at them, later recovering a loaded revolver at the scene.
Gray’s short life was celebrated with a vigil that swiftly descended into anarchy, indicating that the “mourners” had intended that all along.
The yarn is familiar: the law is dissed, the law bears down, the self-disenfranchised rise in revenge, the misguided shoot from the lip, the larger community suffers.
It’s hard to muster any sympathy.
Gray, despite his tender years, had a long rap sheet. He was arrested four times on charges including possession of stolen property, rioting, and grand larceny. No small matter.
Yet his criminal nerve didn’t roust black leaders, including Councilman Jumaane Williams (D–East Flatbush), whose district lies along the riot belt, into any substantive action beyond a bellyache about racist cops, and vacuous claims like, “There’s a lot of anger here.” No argument there.
Williams should have seized the moment to reclaim us from thugs — upholding the law is the first point of civilian duty, and the only way to transcend those espoused racial barriers.
The councilman instead sought refuge in demagoguery, giving lawbreakers a pass and assailing the cops who risk their lives to safeguard our communities.
The mayhem blighted East Flatbush, whose law-abiding residents have toiled alongside authorities to reduce crime in their area by 76 percent since 1993, according to DNAinfo.com. But clearly vest-pockets of crime still rage on.
Credit that to the wolf-criers who continue to ignore the hot-button issue of black crime in the face of undeniable facts.
Blacks comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, but make up www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet">nearly one million of the 2.3 million people in jail, according to the NAACP. One in 21 African American men are behind bars, it states.
The figures are as astounding as the black leadership’s abysmal grasp on valuable teaching moments. It hasn’t done nearly enough to address black crime, an emergency exacerbated by President Obama who avidly supports black “role models” like ex-drug-dealer and misogynist rapper Jay-Z, invigorating young blacks to materialize the stereotype.
No society is perfect, but New York’s people-friendly laws are some of the finest around because most people are decent enough to uphold them.
Count among those exemplary ranks the heartbroken families of slain cops like NYPD Officer Peter Figoski, whose killer dodged life without parole last month while the getaway driver ducked a murder rap. Both defendants were black. But cop mourners didn’t resort to public rage orgies. They know an officer’s end — no matter how unbearable — comes with the territory.
Ditto for Kiki Gray who will be remembered most for courting the misfortunes that ended his life. The real tragedy is that he fell in a free society that grants us all the opportunity to get ahead. The rest is up to the individual.
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Read Shavana Abruzzo's column every Friday on BrooklynDaily.com. E-mail here at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com.