Number Three

Today, Morgan Quino Press released its annual list of the ten most dangerous cities. Among the listing, Saint Louis was listed as the third most dangerous city in the United States, falling behind Camden, New Jersey and Detroit, Michigan. Flint, Michigan, Richmond, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, Atlanta, Georgia, New Orleans, Lousiana, Gary, Indiana, and Birmingham, Alabama fill in spots four through ten respectively. At first glance, many of these cities are suffering blight and large populations of unemployed/underemployed people of color (one day I'll write a rant that deals specifically with the term "people of color"). So how do I feel about living in a city that is the third most dangerous city? Similar to my feeling about living in the country that has murdered so many human beings since its inception - I feel bad, real bad. The United States has fought more wars in the name of democracy than any other independent country in the contemporary context. Going to war in the name of demoncracy seems as contradictory as it is contentious.

As I sat back to ponder my safety and just how I would walk from the buildings of one of the city's wealthiest campuses to my car without getting mugged, my mind wondered to the number of violent crimes in the city as recorded over the past year. There were almost 6,900 violent crimes in the City of St. Louis. Of those crimes, 113 were labeled as murder and non-negligent manslaughter. My mind immediately went to Larry Griffin, executed by lethal injection in 1995. Griffin was convicted of the drive-by shooting death of Quinton Moss in 1981. Mr. Griffin maintained his innocence until his murder in 1995. Murder, you ask? Yes. In June of 2005, ten years after his execution murder, Griffin was proven innocent of the crime. What's worse, Griffin wasn't even present at the time of Moss's murder. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund published the report on Quinton Moss's murder. In the report, the NAACP establishes that Larry Griffin did not commit this murder. Since Griffin was murdered nearly ten years earlier, I wondered if they included him in the number of people murdered in 2005. Or, did the state of Missouri increase the number of people murdered in 1995 by one?

It truly doesn't matter your views about the death penalty. I believe that we can all agree that one life taken in vain is one too many. But when another entity - person or state - chooses to take another life regardless of innocence or guilt, legally sanctioned or not, are any of us really safe?