Yesterday evening, I received the following text message from my best friend, Zam:
“- Fwd: Daud got robbed at gun point again. Took his jacket, 200$ iPod, 100$headphones, cell phone and 85$ in cash. Happened on the corner of his block too. Niggas”
People, times are hard. Unemployment figures nationally exceed ten percent, and in my hometown of Philadelphia, it’s nearly twelve percent, with Mayor Nutter projecting it to increase in the coming year. It’s cold outside, we’re in the midst of the Holiday Season, and when brothas can’t find work and things look bleak, they can and will resort to the Skimask Way.
Philly is one of the nation’s biggest stickup cities; there are even organized crews of stickup boys. I knew of one outfit, composed largely of Puerto Rican fellas, who referred to themselves as, ready for this-the Robin Hood Niggas.
There’s a lot to be said for crime and the acts of the neer do wells of the world in certain corners of the Internet; from where I sit, it all just looks like glorified scapegoating to me.
Because, this isn’t an academic, quote/unquote, discussion for me-it’s a real, flesh and blood, life and death thing for me. The vast majority of the people who whine, bitch and moan about “NAMs” have never had to deal with what my buddy Daud had to deal with last night. They really don’t care about good Nigras like him either, guys and gals who played by the rules and are subject to this sort of thing.
But if you think you’re exempt from the Skimask Way, think again-here in Philly, one of thee hardest hit spots crimewise, has been Chestnut Hill. Historically one of the most affluent areas of the entire city, in more recent years it’s been hit with more bank robberies and just more crime than a little bit. In fact, back in Jan of this year, the Philadelphia Daily News ran as its cover story: “29 Bank Robberies in 28 Days”. That’s right, you heard me-there was a bank robbery nearly every day in the month of Jan, 2009. And to add insult to injury, two of those banks were the firemen’s and cop’s credit unions(!). Quite a few of those banks? Yup you guessed it, in Chestnut Hill.
Prior to that, this time last year, one of the city’s biggest Wal-Marts got hit by the Skimask Way. It was all in the news.
All of this went down as Wall Street fell. And my friends, trust me when I tell you, we’re only seeing the beginning.
Please, please, please, be careful out there this Holiday Season. Do not get it twisted and think, because you’re White, upper middle class, educated or suburban, that such things cannot possibly happen to you-they can, and will, if you get caught “lunching’”. Try to get yourself in the crib by sundown; use the Buddy System, especially if you’re Female; don’t go to places with which you are unfamiliar; and try not to make yourself a target. Stickups can and do happen in the darnest of places, and within seconds. And a false move can cost you a lot more than just your personal belongings. It can cost you your life.
There will be some who will take a hardline on all thi, suggesting that getting tough(er) on crime is what’s called for. Believe me, I’m no apologist for criminality. But the handwriting is on the wall here. This is directly linked to the absolutely abyssmal situation the socalled best and brightest has put us all in, and until we get that fixed, the Skimask Way can and will only get worse, because we can’t arrest our way out of the problem.
Besides, the jails are already overflowing as it is.
Merry Xmas.
The Obsidian
