These young people whose names show up as victims in Post Metro briefs and Crime and Justice columns are lost to us forever. So are our chances of sharing the benefit of whatever they might have had to offer. They died full of unrealized potential. Kids such as Rowland Ford, Doniell Smith and Beverly Fletcher stood to gain the most from the level playing field made possible by the historic College Access Act, which became law last week. But as they approached that unprecedented educational opportunity, their lives were brutally taken.
Young people are the key to bringing back the city.
And so many of them are being killed off. Let a ragtag bunch of neo-Nazis obtain a parade permit to march along Pennsylvania Avenue and this city goes beserk. Streets are closed, barricades manned, politicians get all in a twitter and the police chief starts running around downtown in a helmet and flak jacket. Murder elicits none of the passion of hate. In this town, there's nothing like the prospect of a racial dust-up to get the juices flowing and the oratory booming.