Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-23
LETTERS TO THE STAR
Crime in Our Capital: Its Causes and Cures


young gangsters apparently
responsible for the attack on
a bus driver at 18th and U
streets NV. With more
facts available it seems i'm
portant that in retrospect
an analytical review be made
Of the crime. common in any
area and in any city, which
has been unduly publicized
and used to malign a race
and a community.
It should again be made
cryStal-clear that the great
majority Of Negroes in
Washington are law-abiding
and condemn crime in any
form, perpetuated by and
against any person of any
race. It should be recognized
that the same statistics which
show that crime by Negroes
is far out of proportion to
their population also indicate
(by substracting colored
criminals from the total COL
ored population that the
percentage of law-abiding
Negroes is in excess of 900
of the colored population.
While we have urged and
will continue to urge that all
citizens, white and colored,
be keenly aware of a civic
duty to aid law enforcement
agencies by testifying to a
crime, success in this direc-
ton is and has been a most
difficult problem, not con-
fined to Negro citizens but it
is widespread among all
citizens.
The immediate reaction of
colored citizens to this crime
was one of condemnation of
the perpetrators of the brutal
beating; the second reaction
was a puzzlement at the re-
ported fact that not one Of the
passengers aided the victim
or gave their names as wit
nesses; and the third reaction
and the most intense was
indignation that the race
issue was injected to the
detriment of a majority
segment Of our population.
The facts which conspired
to SANDER a community are:
Cd a newspaper report in
which the victim was quoted
as being amazed that even
though he was white Negroes
did not help him; (2) the
newspaper reports that a
high police official expressed
shock" at the incident and
allegedly said I'VE cannot
provide enforcement in the
community unless the citizens
want it" and added that in
this case it seemed they
didn't.
The surprise of the bus
driver might be lessened if
he understood a deep though
unreasoning resentment of
many Negroes against bus
drivers of a company whose
Negro busmen number less
than 80 Of it's 1900 drivers
in a city whose Negro
population is $50. This pref
udice has produced resent
ment (uncondoned) against
all white drivers because
many are discourteous even
to obviously reputable citizens
of color.
The "shock" of a Deputy
Chief Of Police is in itself
shocking since we missed re-
ports of shock when a little
colored lady was raped. A
policeman sworn to enforce
the law and paid by tax
payers should have no time
for emotion and certainly
should not in this fit Of
emotion suggest that his de-
partment cannot and will not
protect citizens when and if
they fail in their civic duty.
Chief Murray should
swiftly act to disabuse the
public mind of any impli-
cation that our area is a
jungle-land of anti-social
citizens, thereby rebuking his
Deputy Chief for his express
SLOT OF SHOCK ana MS SANDER
of a community.
The irony of this whole
situation is that almost a
week before the 18th and U
Streets incident and the
TRADE Of the Deputy Chief,
the president of Central
Northwest Citizens Associ-
alton initiated a conference
with Chief Murray on how
police and citizens could
better co operate against
crime. Out of this conference
on this subject alone Chief
Murray accepted an invita-
ton to speak before the
citizens association.
s~-,~ davidson,
President, Central Northwest
Citizens Association.