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In Death
"...his death has gained national media attention. But do you know the names of the other seven people shot to death in the city of Oakland that weekend?"
By Pendarvis Harshaw, 20
August 19, 2007
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to this Commentary!
The murder of the Oakland Post reporter Chauncey Bailey has countless displays in the news. Youth Radio reporter Pendarvis Hardshaw sympathizes for the other number of residents killed that don’t receive national coverage. He say’s, "...Chauncy Bailey’s...homicide is just another rain drop in a river of senseless murders."
Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post News Paper, was assassinated in broad daylight on the morning of August the second. And I’m sure that you knew that because his death has gained national media attention. But do you know the names of the other seven people shot to death in the city of Oakland that weekend?
Chauncey Bailey’s assassination hit me. He demonstrated a commitment to reporting on the city of Oakland and the vital issues facing its communities and the fact that he died trying to improve the city he loved made his story all the more compelling.
But -- his homicide is just another rain drop in a river of senseless murders. As a young Black man reporting the news in Oakland- homicides have become a part of my life. During a press conference Mayor Ron Dellums said, “for those of you who report the news, we have to move beyond ‘if it bleeds it leads’ …fear and cynicism can destroy a community.”
With all of the problems Oakland is facing, fear is at the top of the list- and a community that lives in fear, is not a community at all.
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