Killing fields in poor communities encouraged by government laxity,availability of guns

“Satan himself lives here in San Pedro. People here kill people like they're nothing more than chickens." San Pedro Sula's continuous tragedy are the murders there, but even more than that are the financially and socially poor communities all over the world who live and die in those killing fields, a pattern in the world that increases violence in those areas where people are more vulnerable.



In 2013 San Pedro was listed as the most dangerous city in the world. It continues to have that distinction, and as the mortician quoted above in The Guardian maintains, it is a place of great tragedy with the numbers of people killed numbering about 173 out of every 100,000 persons annually, a consequence of government laxity.



What makes this Honduras city so dangerous? Drug trafficking, gang violence and political corruption are said to be the chief ingredients in a mix that has made the city a place where every day there are stories in the newspapers about gangland killings, drug deals gone bad and revenge murder everywhere.



Honduras is just one among a number of cities in Central and South America that has a high rate of homicide. The problem continues to be the trafficking of drugs, but it is also the politics where local officials are often close to the drug lords or afraid of the kings of the trade and therefore are ineffective in combating the violence that has engulfed many cities.



Indeed, as The Guardian says, the same problems that have made San Pedro a dangerous city are those that impact much of the rest of Latin America. According to reports the 20 cities with the highest homicide rate are in Latin America, with the sole exception of New Orleans.



In the United States Camden, New Jersey is said to be the most dangerous city in America with Portland, Oregon one of the least dangerous. Experts tell us there is also a high correlation between percentage of African American residents and crime, so New Orleans, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta are among those places.



The Grio, an African American newspaper, examines the problem of crime in the black community, by examining the statistics of Nebraska that has the highest rate of black murders. It has a murder rate higher than either Pennsylvania or Michigan. In general murder rates are increasing in the African American communities of the Midwest.



Violence is said to be tied to high poverty levels in these areas. That is especially true of Omaha. Nebraska is that exception in the sense it does not have a high African American population. But Omaha have many in the black community who are socially and financially deprived. And it is Omaha where the African American community is concentrated. Much of the violence is gang-related, just like the problems of Latin America, where the cities that have the highest rate of murder have gang wars and violence that makes certain areas particularly dangerous.



African Americans are four times more likely than other ethnic groups in the United States to be murdered, and most of the killings are done with guns, according to research discussed by the Grio. Guns remain the favored tool for violence of all kinds.



But even as black men are more likely to be killed by guns than white men, the National Rifle Association has been targeting the group for greater inclusion in its gun advocacy. A campaign last year focused on associating the Civil Rights struggle with the need to have guns to protect oneself from the government. The following is a related quote offered by Colion Noir, a YouTube celebrity:

“No one wants to fight for their protection, they want the government to do it. The same government who at one point hosed us down with water, attacked us with dogs, wouldn’t allow us to eat at their restaurants and told us we couldn’t own guns. [...] The only person responsible for your safety is you. Cops can’t always be there. Obama definitely can’t be there. Guy telling me to get rid of my guns when I need them the most, isn’t my friend, isn’t looking out for my best interests and doesn’t speak for me or the community that I’m part of. “

In Latin America corrupt officials in government turn a blind eye to drug trafficking and the crime associated with it. Government is considered part of the problem. In the United States, however, the FBI has been hard at work trying to undo the damage caused by gangs and drugs, yet the gun trade continues to flourish, especially in the poor communities populated by minorities, most especially African Americans.



And while the government itself may not have the type of corruption found in Latin America, it does have one thing that keeps the guns and gun sellers busy, the former with killing and the latter with making money, and that's gun advocacy and the message that it is every man's right, and need, to have a gun.



Don't trust the government is often the message of gun advocates, as underlined by the advertising seducing the poor and encouraging them to buy guns. The mantra of “don't trust the government” is repeated in conversations, in social media and by ordinary folk, even in those cultures, like the United States, that has a democratically elected government. The Gallup Poll found out, for example, that 72% of those polled either don't trust their government or only have a fair amount of trust in it.



Police are an arm of the government, and if that is the message of gun advocates that one must arm himself or herself against the government, that would include arming people against the police as well. The suspicion of authority continues to be encouraged by the political right, according to experts; and it is that suspicion that authorities and researchers tell us helps facilitate distrust even as the communities heavily populated with the poor continue to be the killing fields.