美国国家公共电台 NPR Baltimore Residents Blame Record-High Murder Rate On Lower Police Presence

Baltimore Residents Blame Record-High Murder Rate On Lower Police Presence

LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:

This year, Baltimore has had well over 300 murders for the third year in a row. Some activists² say the high murder rate is because police have backed off and relaxed patrols³ in neighborhoods like the one where Freddie Gray was arrested. Gray was a black man who died while he was in the back of a Baltimore police van in 2015. Reverend Kenji Scott lives in Baltimore. He's held positions in local city government and is a pastor⁴ and community activist¹.

KINJI SCOTT: When you think about young people who are out here facing these economic challenges and are homeless and live in places that are uncertain and you're a parent, you're scared, not just for yourself really but for your children. I mean, the average age of a homicide victim in Baltimore City right now is 31 years old. We had a young man who attended one of the prime high schools, Poly. His name was Jonathan Tobash, and he was 19 years old, was a Morgan student. And he was killed on his way to the store. That's the state of Baltimore right now.

FRAYER: What do you see? Is this something that happens in the middle of the night, or is this something that when you live there you see this?

SCOTT: You see this all the time. You're talking about homicides in the middle of the night. No. The average homicide in Baltimore happens during the day. We have broad daylight shootings all over the city. You've had shootings and people have been shot, gunned down and killed in front of the police station.

FRAYER: After the death of Freddie Gray, yourself, families of victims, didn't you want police to back off?

SCOTT: No. That represented our progressive, our activists, our liberal journalists, our politicians. But it did not represent the overall community because we know for a fact that around the time that Freddie Gray was killed, we start to see homicides increase. We had five homicides in that neighborhood while we were protesting. What I wanted to see happen was that people would build a trust relationship with our police department so that they would feel more comfortable with having conversations with the police about crime in their neighborhood because they would feel safer. So we wanted the police there. We wanted them engaging the community. We didn't want them there beating the hell out of us. We didn't want that.

FRAYER: Do you think your experience with high murder rate in Baltimore is unique?

SCOTT: No, it's not. It's not. I lost my brother in St. Louis in 2004. I just lost my cousin in Chicago. No, it's not unique, and that's the horrible thing.

FRAYER: It's been three and a half years since Ferguson, Mo., since the killing⁵ of Michael Brown, since the Black Lives Matter movement was born to demand reforms to policing. What did they put on the table, and has it worked?

SCOTT: The primary thrust nationwide is what President Obama wanted to do - focus on building relationships with police departments in major cities where there has been a history of conflict. That hasn't happened. We don't see that. I don't know a city that I've heard of - Baltimore for certain. We've not seen any changes in those relationships. What we have seen was that the police has distanced themselves, and the community has distanced themselves even further. So there is - the divide has really intensified⁶. It hasn't decreased. And of course, we want to delineate the whole concept of the culture of bad policing that exists. Nobody denies that. But as a result of this, we don't see the policing - the level of policing we need in our community to keep the crime down in these cities that we're seeing bleed to death.

FRAYER: Are you optimistic for 2018?

SCOTT: I'm not because as I look at the conclusion of 2017, these same cities - St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans and Chicago - these same chocolate (ph), these same black cities are still bleeding to death, and we're still burying young men in these cities. I want to be hopeful. I'm a preacher. I want to be hopeful. But as it stands, no, not until we really have a real conversation with our frontline officers in the heart of our black communities that does not involve people who are, quote, unquote, "leaders." We need the frontline police officers, and we need the heart of the black community to step to the forefront of this discussion. That's what's important. And that's when we're going to see a decrease in crime.

FRAYER: Reverend Kinji Scott in Baltimore, thank you very much.

SCOTT: Thank you.

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 patrols   

n.巡逻( patrol的名词复数 )；巡查；巡逻队；童子军小队

参考例句：

• There was a brush between patrols that night. 那天夜里巡逻队之间发生了一场冲突。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The scouts are watching out for enemy patrols. 侦察员提防着敌人的巡逻队。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》