About a half mile from our retirement community on Annapolis Neck, a hate slaying occurred in early July in a pleasantly modest neighborhood. The victims were Hispanic. The accused killer was a Caucasian male.
A long simmering feud between the perpetrator’s mother and the next-door Latino family became deadly when the former was angry about the neighbor’s car parked in front of her driveway. Her son, a military veteran, channeled his mother’s pique, prompting him to be charged with killing three people and wounding three others enjoying a birthday party at the neighbor’s home.
The shooter, Charles R. Smith, 43, faces 42 charges related to the murders, as well as hate crimes. His weapon bore a deadly poison that has brought grief and insecurity to the community.
Hate is a common denominator in mass shootings. It is a contagious pandemic in our violent country.
It is vile and vicious. Deep suffering and emotional trauma are byproducts that afflict families and friends. Nothing good results. Just troubling misery.
An easy answer to thwarting mass shooting is gun control. It seems impossible to achieve. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is too strong, its political power unstoppable. I will waste few words advocating gun control in light of scant political will on Capitol Hill.
One of the shooting victim’s sisters criticized law enforcement for failing to react to a litany of complaints about the chronic disputes between neighbors by issuing a peace or restraining order. She may be right. In today’s gun-infested times; the police cannot assume that neighborhood fights will be peacefully resolved in time—or at all.
Personal destruction is a common default. Fruitful lives disappear at the pull of a trigger.
Bigotry is an incendiary ingredient. It too seems unquenchable. Protected from deletion by the sometimes-horrific human condition, unlike a click on an inhuman laptop.
Recent census data shows that 20 percent of Annapolis’ population of 40,600 is Hispanic/Latino. Such a presence may be bothersome to people like the shooter, who probably feels threatened by people whom he considers as “other.” An argument over parking, involving his mother, triggered the deadly outburst of his fury and weapon.
Smith achieved little. His future will likely be in a prison. His mother will lose a son imprisoned, possibly for the rest of his life. Neighbors will be unforgiving. Mourning will be endless.
In our cloistered world at the BayWoods retirement community, facing the placid Chesapeake Bay, my wife and engage daily with Latinos. They work in every phase of our senior village. We treasure our relationships. We commend their work ethic and value their souls.
Still not yet adjudicated, the mass shooting seems as equally senseless as the murder of five journalists at the Annapolis Capital Gazette on June 25, 2018. Uncontrollable, unapologetic hostility underscored the shootings. As usual, guns provided the means of expression.
I do not characterize Annapolis as a dangerous area. While its urbanized environment hardly compares with the peace and tranquility of Easton, Md.—forever loved by my wife and me—I believe its flaws differ little from cities of its size. Readers may consider me too charitable.
Communal harmony is tough to achieve. Sadly so, violence-free living conditions often seem unattainable. I wish these words were unnecessary.
Just as I wish that live-shooter exercises were not a part of my grandchildren’s academic reality.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. After 44 years in Easton, Howard and his wife, Liz, moved in November 2020 to Annapolis, where they live with Toby, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who has no regal bearing, just a mellow, enticing disposition.
Reed Fawell 3 says
Mr. Friedlander
Have you ever seen hate and evil in the world outside your lens so tightly focused on white bigots?
For example, these figures from the Federal Department of Justice:
“Today homicide is the leading cause of death among young Black men, and contributes significantly to the shortened life-span of the Black male. In about 80-90% of the cases, the Black victim was killed by another Black, and about 52% of the murder victims were acquainted with their assailant.”
http://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/black-black-homicide-psychological-political-perspective
You think, Mr. Friedlander, that their may be any hate involved in these crimes? Or when a black man kills a white man or woman. Any hate there? Or when an Hispanic man kills a white man or woman? Or a black man or woman?
Indeed, your fixation on race is so pervasive, I fear your constant cataloguing and judging and calling out specific people and groups by race is part of the problem in our nation, as it appears to me to obsessively demonize, devalue and accuse people on the basis of the along race. Who is the bigot here?
And there is a flip side here, seemingly always have to point out for praise someone’s achievement by noting they are black. Is that not bigotry too?
Karen Simpson says
By amending the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 the Obmama administration effectively allowed the US Govt to propagandize its own citizens. In 2014 the effort to swap class warfare to control the public to race warfare began in earnest. The American people need to wake up and start agreeing on some actual facts.
Wilson Dean says
Mr Fawell is correct that there are many evils in this world beside white bigotry. Yet that truth does not negate Mr. Friedlander’s contention that white racial hatred—-and the willingness to act on it—-is a growing problem.
I would submit that a major reason for this trend was the actions of former President Trump who purposefully legitimized the perspective of white supremacists. Those who ignore this reality may wish to move to Florida where the Governor sidesteps the issue of slavery (and it’s aftermath) by blissfully characterizing it as a jobs creation program.
Karen Simpson says
How exactly did President Trump purposefully legitimize the perspective of white supremacists?
Wilson Dean says
Ms Simpson, your question certainly deserves a reply. Mr. Trump’s promotion of white supremacy was widespread both before and during his time as President (beginning as early as the 1970’s when his real estate firm was found guilty of discriminating against blacks). As President, one example includes his characterization of the “many fine people” among the neo-Nazis protesting in Charlottesville after a person opposed to the Nazis was killed. Another was his complaint that the US was allowing immigrants from too many (non-white) African countries to come to this country and that we should look to countries like (white) Norway instead. It doesn’t take much research to find that his promotion of white supremacy as President was both frequent and intense. A final note in this regard should include the significant increase found from FBI data in white initiated hate crimes after 2016 in counties where President Trump was elected by a significant margin. Hate speech leads to hate crimes.
Barbara Denton says
There should have been a restraining order. However, we do not know what all the circumstances were that caused the ongoing disagreements. From the tone of the one of the victim’s statement the visitors to the Latino house for the party knew there was a problem with the neighbor. When you know that you do not block someone’s driveway. A large part of the problem is a lack of knowledge of the norms of behavior in our culture. Language is also an issue because many times when it is convenient claims of not understanding English are made. If you move here legally or illegally learn our language. Learn how to live in a neighborhood. This would solve a lot of these issues. Who knows what set this man off. It is a shame but it is certainly not a reason to call for gun control. It is a reason to stop illegal immigration.