 |
Let me tell you the true story about a woman whom we'll call Linda. Many years ago, Linda worked in uptown Charlotte. Instead of taking public transportation, which she didn't feel safe on, Linda drove to and from work every day during the time she worked for the uptown business, making sure to park in such a way that would allow her to walk to her destination with groups of other people who were headed in the same direction, so she wouldn't have to walk alone. One day, some friends of Linda's who also worked uptown but for a different company several blocks away invited her to meet them for lunch. Though Linda didn't mind walking, it would have taken a considerable amount of time to walk from Point A to Point B. So her friends suggested she take the trolley, which had a short-lived run before the light rail system's rise to prominence in Charlotte transportation. So Linda grabbed her bag, where she of course kept her cell phone, wallet, keys, and other essential items, and hopped on the trolley for the first time ever, looking forward to the new experience and thinking it would be a piece of cake. It wasn't. Soon after Linda boarded the trolley, a group of four guys hopped on, too. And they made a beeline for Linda. While three of them sat in nearby seats, one of them sat right next to Linda, eyeing her and her bag. She said he bumped her in the side several times and talked about how "rich" she must be with such a nice bag and clothes. This went on for several minutes, and Linda was terrified. She looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention, but they were buried in their cellphones or books. She didn't know if the man next to her was carrying a weapon, like a knife, and because of that, she was afraid to speak up and ask for help, scared that she could provoke the man into using the weapon she feared he might have. When the trolley made it to Linda's stop, she clutched her bag close and headed off the car. The guys followed her. But fortunately, several police officers were standing on the corner next to where the trolley stopped, and Linda immediately walked up to one of them and told them that she felt unsafe. When the officer asked her who made her feel unsafe, Linda just told him it was some guys on the trolley who had walked away the closer she got to the officer. She wanted the incident behind her and didn't want to have to see them again. There are many more "almost-victims" like Linda whose stories never make it into the crime stats either because a crime wasn't technically committed or, for one reason or another, they were too fearful to report it. We heard many of them after the August stabbing murder of Iryna Zarutska, with the floodgates opening with people who stepped forth to share their scary experiences on the Charlotte transit system. This is one big reason why when I hear stories of crime allegedly being "down" in blue cities like Charlotte, I'm not so quick to believe it. I worry about massaged or fudged numbers, and also consider the undeniable presence of fear in communities, the feeling of being unsafe, because of the things you've heard about on places like NextDoor or that you've seen with your own eyes with your Ring cameras. RELATED: Report Quoting Residents on D.C. Crime Accidentally Underscores Why People Feel So Unsafe The left doesn't want to hear the voices of the almost-victims because, perhaps much like actual hard data crime stats, they would help completely destroy the narratives the Usual Suspects try to push about blue cities being safer than they are made out to be. The voices of near-victims like Linda matter, and should always be factored into debates about crime, safety, and restoring law and order. |
No comments:
Post a Comment