Pubdate: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2004 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall RESIDENTS, POLICE MUST BUILD TRUST TO STOP VIOLENCE The community of Brownsville may finally be getting some long-deserved attention from Miami-Dade County leaders. The sad part is that it took another senseless death of a young child to get it. This time a stray bullet of suspected drug dealers took the life of 10-year-old Jarobe Brooks. A family mourns its loss, and a community is reminded just how unsafe their neighborhoods are. Two weeks after the shooting, suspects have been arrested. However, Brownsville residents have been blamed for a lack of willingness to speak out as witnesses to the crime. Why do residents not feel a need to speak up? Are they not outraged by this type of violence? Do they not understand that they are sending a signal that crime will be tolerated? Of course they are outraged and fed up with all the crime and drugs in their community. But the fear and distrust of the police along with a prejudice against a justice system that has failed them repeatedly may be the underlining reason for the closed lips of witnesses. Residents will not come forward in this or similar cases until they feel assured that they will not be the next victim of violence. Payback for snitching is real and alive. It does not help that one of the shooters in the 1997 killing of Rickia Issac, a case that mirrors the Brooks case, is already back living somewhere in Miami. Is that the kind of justice that the Brooks family and this community can expect? It is going to take genuine and persistent hard work by police, politicians, pastors, agencies and institutions -- along with Brownsville residents -- to build an atmosphere where this type of violence is not permitted. The purpose is clear. The "how" will have to come out of open and honest communication. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, State Representative, Miami - --- MAP posted-by: Derek