JOHN E. SETTLE JR. EDITOR FOCUS SB NEWS
Shreveport Councilman Jerry Bowman Jr. rarely speaks at council meetings.
When he does speak, he is very thoughtful and incisive.
This was the case at the last meeting of the Shreveport Council on Tuesday, May 25.
Bowman again addressed Shreveport crime and the increasing deadly violence in our community.
Bowman wants a real conversation with constituents including youth, both black and white. “We can say Black Lives Matter in one instance, but in another instance it does
“We can say Black Lives Matter in one instance, but in another instance it does not. So they either matter or they don’t matter. When we as a black race are shooting and killing each other, then black lives don’t matter.
“We’ll march if a white officer did something to somebody black, but while we’re shooting and killing each other, we don’t march for that.
When a 5-year-old baby gets killed in my district, we don’t march for that and that concerns me, and that’s why I say we need to have tough conversations.”
Bowman’s concerns are very real. And they are especially important because he is an African-American. Through the end of May there have been 40 homicides since the start of the
Through the end of May there have been 40 homicides since the start of the year. Of these three were black females and 34 were black males.
Many commentators have privately said that it’s now time for the Black Lives Matter movement to address the increasing black-on-black crime that takes far more lives than law enforcement officials.
All lives should matter to all people.
Bowman is to be commended for making his points, which many others have been reluctant to address.
Marching gets press, and it is often fueled by allegations not factually based.
Doing the hard work to reduce crime is not that “sexy,” and it certainly is more elusive.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE June 4 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.