Mark Maynard | 2010 | July

The perception of crime in Ypsilanti – is it warranted, and, if so, what should we do about it?

By Mark | July 26, 2010

Ypsilanti figures prominently on AnnArbor.com today.

I count four stories about Ypsilanti on the front page. Three are about violent crime, and one is about the mayoral debate I recently hosted at the Dreamland Theater in puppet form.

First, there was the murder in the Township yesterday. It took place at 4:00 PM, in front of the Washtenaw Avenue Kmart. A 20-year-old by the name of Michael Deshawn Crockett, according to witnesses, shot and killed 20-year-old Chris King. It would appear as though the two were engaged in an argument, when Crockett pulled a gun. Crockett was arrested this afternoon. The victim, Chris King, was apparently once a well known athlete at Saline High School.

The second story involves an attempted robbery in Riverside Park. According to the victim, he went to the park at 7:15 PM on Saturday to sell a video game that he’d put up for sale on Craigslist. It’s unclear as to whether he was set-up, or was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the seller was soon approached by two men, one of whom showed a gun. Instead of handing over his belongings, the man says that he pretended to be an undercover cop, which caused his would-be assailants to run off.

The third story pertained to an earlier crime committed by a man named Jermain Shropshire, who had recently been released from jail on probation, after a number of theft convictions. Shropshire, according to the AnnArbor.com update, agreed to a plea deal in the case of a June 14 break-in on West Cross that culminated in the sexual assault of an EMU student at knifepoint.

So, with all that as background, is it any wonder that we’re seeing comments like this left on the AnnArbor.com site?

I know that some will take the opportunity to criticize AnnArbor.com for covering so much of the violence we see here, while covering so little of what’s going well. And I’d agree to some extent. I, however, understand that they’re resource constrained. And I understand that they need to cover crime, whereas positive stories about our community are perceived as “nice to have,” but not necessarily essential. I’d love to see that change, but I don’t blame them for what’s happening. The truth is, we’ve got a problem, and it’s not just one of perception. My hope is that someone with the statistics can prove me wrong, but my sense is that crime of this nature is on the rise, due in part to the economy, our clearly under-performing high school system, and the decreased police presence that comes along with severe budget cuts… Like I said, I hope the crime statistics prove me wrong, but I can’t recall another time when two handgun-related crimes took place in broad daylight, in a single weekend. (And, as if this weekend’s incidents weren’t enough, there was also an attempted armed robbery in the Township last Wednesday.)

One more thing… At the risk of being called either an ageist or a racist, I’d like to point out that the suspected perpetrators in each of these three crimes are African American males in their early 20s. And, no, I’m not suggesting that all violent crime is committed by young African American males. And I’m not suggesting that violence is in some way part of their genetic makeup. What I am saying, however, is that we’re fooling ourselves if we refuse to acknowledge that this is an issue and deal with the root causes.

I’m not much of one for task forces – as they rarely, in my experience, seem to result in real, substantive change – but I think we have an opportunity here to bring together the City and the Township, along with our historically black churches, the school districts, and any number of social service organizations, and at least acknowledge that this is a problem that demands our attention. I don’t know for certain that anything would come of it, but it sure as hell couldn’t hurt to initiate a respectful, thoughtful and sincere conversation on the subject.

And one last, quick aside on Sunday’s shooting…. The following comment, left by someone on the AnnArbor.com site calling himself Newsboy1, suggests that yesterday’s homicide victim, Chris King, had been mistreated by the Saline school system. My hope is that someone in the press follows up on it:

And, if the sorry coaches at Saline High School would have cared more about Chris King as a human being, and less about Chris King as an athlete, he may not have been near the “street thug hood” in the first place. But, after he was done helping them win on the football field and the track, they threw him in their alternative ed program at Union so he wouldn’t negatively contribute to their graduation rate. Way to go SHS. Yes, it does take a village.

Posted in Dreamland Tonight, Ypsilanti | Tagged Chris King, Craigslist, crime, EMU, guns, Jermain Shropshire, Kmart, mayoral debate, Michael Deshawn Crockett, murder, perceptions of violence, Riverside Park, Saline, Saline High School, Ypsilanti Township | 64 Comments

Andrew Breitbart admits, “I heart Al-Qaeda”

By Mark | July 26, 2010

The folks at MoveOn have done a nice job of editing a speech given by right wing propagandist Andrew Breitbart so that it appears as though he is deeply in love with the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda… Breitbart, for those of you who don’t know, recently made the news for selectively editing a speech given by Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod so it appeared as though she looked for ways around helping white farmers in need. He’s also the fellow who, along with his douchey young protege, James O’Keefe, edited footage of ACORN workers in order to give the false impression that they actively assisted a young man seeking to establish brothels for underaged illegal immigrants. In both cases, the unedited footage has vindicated those individuals caught on tape, but only after days of frothy-mouthed media apoplexy… Anyway, this is just a silly instance of someone getting back what he so rightly deserves. The only difference is, this won’t lead the network news for weeks.

Posted in Media, Politics | Tagged ACORN, al Qaeda, Andrew Breitbart, asshole Republicans, FOX News, James O'Keefe, Media, MoveOn, pranks, propaganda, race baiting, Shirley Sherrod, the press, the shameful state of the American press | 1 Comment

‘Tis the season for malicious political attacks

By Mark | July 26, 2010

We’ve got about a week or so to go before the August 3 Michigan primary, and, as is the custom, all the anonymous, innuendo-filled bullshit is starting to fill the mailbox. I got two pieces of interest today. The first was about Rebekah Warren, Democratic candidate for the State Senate in the 18th District. According to the piece I received today, I shouldn’t vote for her because she allegedly missed 54 votes while serving as our state Representative. (It doesn’t say, but I imagine that’s over her entire career and not just over the past legislative session.) Among other things, she apparently didn’t vote to require that public restrooms be made available to pregnant women. She also didn’t vote to impose harsher financial burdens on rapists. The piece is paid for by a group calling itself The Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). The organization’s website has been recently sanitized, and doesn’t provide much in the way of content, but thanks to the Wayback Machine we know that the organization has a pronounced right wing agenda. We also know, thanks to some internet sleuthing by my friend Jim, that they’re associated with the pro-school voucher Education Action Group (EAG), and funded by the DeVos family. I can only surmise that Warren is too much an advocate of the public school system for their liking, which is likely reason enough for me to vote for her, even if she does hate pregnant women who need to pee and look out for the interests of rapists. (Warren must be quite the threat if they’re coming after her now, and not waiting for the general election.)

The second piece I received today was a retina-burning yellow flyer about Ypsilanti mayoral candidate Pete Murdock, and, if you can believe it, his resemblance to Richard Nixon. (Talk about your timely analogies.) Here’s a quote, “We believe everything about Richard Nixon: his political history; career; strategies; tactics; etc. apply equally to Pete Murdock. In fact, they apply perfectly.” The piece claims to be the work of the Ypsilanti Populist Caucus. I’ve read it over a few times now, and I’m still not quite sure what to make of it. If you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them. My guess is they’re tailoring this particular attack to aging hippies among us, but, given our town’s current demographics, it seems a bit misguided. If I were in the business of rat fucking – which, by the way is a real term in politics – I’d be more inclined to draw comparisons to someone more timely, like Mohammed Atta, or, even worse, Mel Gibson. Seriously, I think you’d have better luck with if you went with a, “Pete Murdock, is the same height as Mohammed Atta, and he too enjoys falafel” campaign.

So, to end on a positive note, I’m curious as to who you’ll be voting for come August 3, not just in these races, but all of them.

Posted in Michigan, Politics, Ypsilanti | Tagged attack ads, August 3, candidates who are against pregnant women and for rapists, democratic primary, Dick DeVos, EAG, Education Action Group, elections, falafel, GLEP, Mel Gibson, Mohammed Atta, Nixon, Pete Murdock, primary, primary elections, rat fucking, The Great Lakes Education Project, Ypsilanti Populist Caucus | 63 Comments

Something in my ASS!!!

By Mark | July 23, 2010

I rarely make great internet finds. Sure, I’ve done some pretty interesting myself over the years, but I’m rarely the first to discover something truly great that isn’t of my own doing. But, a few days ago, I stumbled across a little piece of video while cruising around YouTube, and knew instantly that I’d found something special… Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, “Something in my ASS!”

It starts going downhill at about the three-minute mark, but I’d put the first few minutes up against anything in the recorded history of American popular culture… So, I’m spending my evening tonight trying to track down the people responsible for this work of brilliance, so that I can option it, for either a television series, an after school special, or a feature film… I just love the idea of a show where, every week, another drunk person in the woods screams about something being stuck in his or her ass. This is the project I was put here on Earth for. I just know it.

Posted in Art and Culture, Mark's Life, Special Projects | Tagged ass, Blair Witch, drunk kids in the woods, funny injuries, girls doing silly stuff, hepatitas, hepatitis abcdefg hijklmnop qrstuv wxyz, injuries, something in my ass | 26 Comments

Watching the Republican primary for Governor

By Mark | July 22, 2010

This morning, while at the gym, I saw the following attack ad against Republican candidate for Governor, Pete Hoekstra. I particularly liked the part about that “tax funded abortions” that Hoekstra seems to be in favor of. According to the small print, the ad was “paid for by Michigan Business United.” Furthermore, it says it’s “not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”

But, the third man in the Republican race for the nomination, Rick Snyder, came out this afternoon suggesting that Cox might be coordinating these attacks. The following video, according to the Snyder campaign, shows one of their volunteers seeking to question Mr. Gust Ghanam, the man behind Michigan Business United. (Ghanam is the Superintendent of Sanitation for Warren, Michigan.) I know that video can be misleading, as we saw earlier this week with Shirley Sherrod, but it certainly looks as though this fellow has something to hide. Snyder is asking for an investigation, but it seems unlikely as candidate Cox is presently Michigan’s Attorney General.

According to the polling data, it’s a three person race at this point, with Cox in the lead by less than one percentage point. Here’s a graphic from the Detroit News showing the breakdown. The accompanying article also contains the following, which may go toward explaining why the above Cox ad plays up abortion so heavily. (I love it when it comes down to a competition as to who wants to kill babies less.)

…Though Cox has the Right to Life of Michigan endorsement, Hoekstra has a slight advantage over him among voters who are anti-abortion advocates. Cox trails Hoekstra among anti-abortion voters 29.1 percent to 26.5 percent, but he leads Hoekstra 28.7 percent to 17.9 percent among Republican voters who favor abortion rights…

Seems like a big gamble, though, if I’m reading this right. Cox, it would seem, wants to come out as more pro-life than Hoekstra, in hopes of picking up some of those anti-abortion voters currently in the other camp. But, if this is correct, Cox might have a lot more to lose than he does to gain by doing so, as he currently leads Hoekstra by over ten points when it comes to Republicans who favor abortion rights. Of course, that population might be quite a bit smaller. (I wonder how many pro-abortion rights Republicans there are in Michigan, percentage-wise.) Still, it seems as though coming out as the “real” pro-life candidate might cost him some votes too. At any rate, I think it’s interesting.

And, to further complicate things, it looks as though Hoekstra just joined the lunatics of the Tea Party Caucus.

And, it’s because of all this, that a number of progressive friends are planning to cross the line come August 3, to vote for Snyder in the Republican primary. As most people seem to think that a Republican Governor is a given come November, due to the less than stellar performance of Jennifer Granholm these past eight years, I can see the logic in it. I’m concerned, however, that there might be an adverse affect on the Democratic primaries further down the ticket. For instance, in Ann Arbor, might more people opting out to vote for Snyder, help Democratic mayoral challenger Pat Lesko in her run against incumbent John Hieftje? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.