Of course it does. Bring us peace and it will surely beget more peace. Some people I know wonder why I follow these deaths so closely. It seems unnatural. But I am a journalist, and after more than twenty-five years this has shaped my habits.
Journalists follow fire engines and go to shooting scenes.
Watching closely, I sense my community becoming ever more numbed, trying to push the reality of these deaths away. But the strategy doesn't work. This past June 4, Dennis Dolinger, a community activist and another friend, was murdered in his home, three blocks from mine. Initially they insisted that the murder was not drug-related, and they found no signs of forced entry. Mayor Anthony Williams, the former mayor Marion Barry, and other local dignitaries spoke at the memorial service for Dennis.