Sean Taylor's Murder Reveals a Bigger Problem of Black-on-Black Crime

Sean Taylor's Murder Reveals a Bigger Problem of Black-on-Black Crime

It is a sad commentary in America that black-on-black crime is worsening daily. It is very sad to see that we have made strides since the days of Jim Crow and the race riots in America, but we have not found a way, as blacks, in America to fight the escalating problem of black-on-black crime. Some have said that we have overcome white racism; therefore, we can overcome black-on-black crime. Many have blamed the enormously high crime rates, low education level, low socioeconomic standards on the fact that 400 years of racism has held us back. In a new study by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, it has once again confirmed that almost half the people murdered in the United States each year were black and 93 percent of black homicide victims were killed by someone of their own race. For white homicide victims, the figure was 85 percent. Of the estimated 8,000 blacks murdered in 2005, more than 7,400 were murdered by other African Americans. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has said that blacks were six times more likely than white to be victimized by homicides and seven times more likely to commit homicide, even though African Americans account for just one-eighth of the U.S. population. I believe fervently that the collapse of the black family life will mean rising chaos and crime in the black community, as we are seeing today. Approximately 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock and 60 percent are raised in fatherless households. Research has also shown that children raised without married parents and intact, stable families are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior.