Shameful Silence

In the 1970's comedy "Oh, God", there's a scene where John Denver's character finally realizes that George Burns is, in fact, the Almighty, and starts peppering Him with some of life's big questions.

"Why do you permit all the war, disease, and suffering in the world?", Denver asks.

"I don't," God replies, "you do."

This scene came to mind when I read about the funeral of Joshua Jackson in today's paper. Jackson is the 12-year-old shot outside a friend's 16th birthday party a week ago at the Rameses Temple on Beatties Ford Road. Police believe there are several, if not dozens, of witnesses who know the identity of the shooter, but so far, no one has come forward, and no arrests have been made. From the Charlotte Observer:

Several mourners at the funeral said they were frustrated over the silence by the lack of witnesses.

"Some of these kids saw something, but they're afraid," said Ron McDaniel, a commissioner of Joshua's youth football league. "They need to come forward. The next time, it could be them."

The newspaper never says it, but reasonable people might conclude from the context and pictures taken at the funeral that there are gang elements involved.

It doesn't matter. If someone killed a friend of mine, and I knew who did it, a field of land mines couldn't keep me from turning them in. I would rather be forced into hiding in Cheyenne, Wyoming than to live with the knowledge that I let a murderer remain free, likely to kill again.

So shame on anyone who knows the identity of Joshua's killer but remains silent. Shame on anyone who knows about violent gang activity in their area, but does nothing about it.

Why do we allow crime and suffering to infiltrate certain neighborhoods in Charlotte? We don't. You do.