|
Opinion
| 7/21/2010 3:21:00 PM Email this article • Print this article | |
Whose Fault is It?
Finger Lakes Community News Editorial
Being a cop is a dangerous job. The atmosphere at this month's Officer of the Month award was somber, with fellow officers' thoughts turning toward Bryan Bangs. Bangs suffered a house fire last week, and it appears to be arson; without proof of who did it or why, the only clue investigators have toward solving who did it is motive. And everyone knows why someone would try to burn down Bryan Bangs' house: The fire came on the heels of a Tompkins County grand jury's decision that the use of deadly force in the February shooting death of Shawn "CeCe" Greenwood was justified.
Thanks to an alert neighbor, Bangs climbed out a second floor window to safety. Thanks to other forces, Bangs' family was not present that night. It could have been much worse.
Officers present at the ceremony, this time honoring Eric Merlin, are among those pitching in to help Bangs rebuild.
Elsewhere in the county, another family is trying to rebuild: on June 23, Shawn Michael Greenwood Jr. was born in Cayuga Medical Center. Friends and family of CeCe Greenwood say that he was trying to rebuild his life, and that he was frustrated by the lack of opportunities available to young black men. Few jobs are open to black men in Tompkins County, and even fewer to those with criminal records. While an unfortunate focus of the community debate on Greenwood's death has been his character, and the nature of the relationship between him and Bangs, these issues obscure a valid point that Greenwood's family and friends tried to make after the funeral. He made bad choices, but the fact is he didn't have a whole lot of choices to pick from.
And one of those choices, dealing drugs, is a community issue. When any one dies in the drug wars people who justify the use of recreational drugs are implicated in that death. Ithaca now has six places within a few blocks downtown that sell drug paraphernalia; at the same time, downtown businesspeople would like to clear the riffraff from the Commons by redesigning it. The jobless, drifting teenagers, the people in scruffy clothes smoking where they shouldn't, the folks using foul language loudly- they come with the drug culture. And so did this death. You can't condone drug use for some people- you can't elect to public office a known cocaine user (not the present administration) and claim at the same time that a young black man dealing the same drug got what he deserved. Not when the ones smoking it, snorting it, or shooting it walk away free. Not when elaborate glass pipes that cost hundreds of dollars are exhibited as art to families that walk by.
Heartfelt condolences to the Greenwood family, although it comes late; may this child have a happier, more blessed future than his father. We'd also like to say that for the safety and happiness of Bryan Bangs' family and of all the other law enforcement officers in the county, if you're buying in those stores, or spending your money on the stuff that led Greenwood to his death, stop; because you're in it, too.
|  |
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
