Jennifer Bishop “We Must Stop Killing Each Other” 9/12/19

In response to the lovely lyricism of David Moore’s Urban Forest, I offer an urban landscape with a dark and somber tone. The signs speak to Baltimore’s high murder rate, which has risen to over 300 deaths a year since the rioting after Freddie Gray’s death and subsequent changes in policing. Some statistics from our local newspaper: 88% of the murders were from gunfire. Most of the victims were black males, shot multiple times on the street. About two thirds of the victims had prior drug arrests and a third did not.  An increasing percentage – now 57% – of all shootings are fatal due to a shot in the head. Motives are harder to fathom, but drugs and gangs are often involved.