We all worry about our children when they are out of our sight — when we first put them on the bus to school, let them walk to a friend’s house on their own, or send them to the store for a gallon of milk. But wherever they’ve been all day, we can breathe a sigh of relief at night, knowing that, for a few hours at least, they are safely tucked in their beds.
For the family of little
Arianna Delane
, that sense of security shattered on New Year’s Eve when gunfire ripped into her family’s apartment in Houston. Bullets tore through her torso, puncturing her liver and a lung and breaking three ribs as she lay sleeping beside her grandmother.
Sadly, and outrageously, this assault was ignored. Not even the fact that Arianna was the
niece
of George Floyd earned her any national press coverage.
Why? Because the shooting doesn’t fit into the racial grievance narrative of politicians and social justice warriors. These people have no interest in black crime victims unless the criminal fits their preferred profile. To them, this little girl being shot as she slept in her family’s home just isn’t worth our attention.
Ironically, as Arianna struggles to recover, a few people have suddenly become concerned with the police response time to the scene of the crime. Is anyone really surprised that after over a year of “defund the police” campaigning by irresponsible politicians and so-called activists, that response time has suffered? Police recruitment has fallen sharply in many of the most crime-plagued cities throughout the country as these slogans and attitudes take hold of public opinion. Fewer recruits mean a less competitive selection process and ultimately less responsive police forces.
And fewer recruits aren’t the only effect of this reckless anti-law enforcement messaging. There has been a marked rise in lethal physical attacks on police as well.
A Houston officer was
brutally murdered
in late January during a traffic stop. Two NYPD officers were
fatally shot
while responding to a domestic violence incident. In 2021,
73
officers died in felonious killings in the line of duty — the highest number since the 9/11 attack over 20 years ago.
But despite a tragic and growing list of fatalities, demagogues who will never have to worry about their own children being shot in their beds continue to use their platforms to sign death warrants for other people’s children. New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg has
called
for an end to prosecution of even some serious crimes. NYC Councilwoman Kristin Jordan has spent her career attacking the NYPD and
called
them “thugs in blue” and a “racist, rogue military force.” She said flatly that the NYPD should be closed down.
Democratic New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is a resident of an expensive condo in a neighborhood with a
below-average
violent and property crime rate. He is also a prominent and vocal
advocate
for
policies
that undercut police, supposedly as part of a fight against
racism
.
None of these people will ever suffer the consequences of their own attacks on law enforcement. They return to their privately-secured or gated communities, leaving behind the low-income families whose interests they purport to represent. And these vulnerable families live and work unprotected amid the lawlessness, surging rates of crime, and homicides that anti-police campaigns have encouraged.
These homicides and shootings aren’t tragic numbers on a table or chart; they’re sons, daughters, cousins, and siblings — such as little Arianna. And their deaths and injuries bring agonizing grief to their loved ones and communities.
That’s why the Woodson Center got together with a powerful group of mothers and founded “Voices of Black Mothers United” in 2021. These mothers do more than help the survivors of homicide victims through their grief. They work with local law enforcement, not against it, to bring safety and security to their communities, so no other mother has to experience their pain.
Every member of VBMU has lost a child or loved one to street violence. They say what others are afraid to say and work in the communities where others are afraid to enter. They know, through their own pain, that good policing is a matter of life or death.
But if you listen to the voices of these mothers, you will understand that they are not victims. They are powerful women who have overcome unimaginable pain and loss because they know they have important work to do. And I am so proud of them every day that they have answered the call.
No one should have to fear for their children’s life when they tuck them into bed at night. Only when we listen to the people actually affected by the rhetoric around crime and law enforcement will we be able to make real progress toward ensuring that all our neighborhoods are safe for everyone.
Bob Woodson is the founder and president of The Woodson Center and the author of Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers.
