| NEWS Not just in Baltimore Washington, D.C. is a city that also struggles with crime problems. In August city officials declared a crime emergency and called for more aggressive policing. As of Sept. 12, city reports indicate, the homicide rate in the district was at 177, up more than 5 percent from last year. Between 800 and 900 adults are arrested in the city each week. D.C. Police chief Charles H. Ramsey, in the Washington Post, attributed the rise in crime to the economy, an influx of offenders returning from prison and the availability of automatic weapons in the city. | City builds on tragic legacy By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff  Has Baltimore changed? Its a question church leaders, city officials and the residents of the city are considering as the first anniversary of the arson-murder of the Dawson family approaches.
On Oct. 16, 2002,Willie Armstrong, a former United Methodist pastor, brought dinner to the Dawson family from Eastern UMCs food pantry in Baltimore. Hours later the five children and their mother were gone burned to death at the hand of an arsonist who wanted to stop Angela Dawson from reporting the activities of drug dealers in her community. The Rev. Connie Smith, pastor of Eastern UMC, was on the scene at 3 a.m. when five small body bags were carried from a still burning house. The Rev. Armstrong, who now works as a police chaplain, served them their last supper, Smith said. You grieve beyond grief and then have to get back to the battle. We lay the family on the altar. The death of Angela Dawson and her five children was hailed as one of the most heinous crimes in a city known in past years as the nations murder capital. Baltimores mayor, it is reported, keeps the childrens photos on his desk. I dont know if anything has so caught my heart and my soul, said Bishop Felton Edwin May at a prayer vigil on the street in front of the Dawson house days after the murder. Bishop May spoke of holy grief, which he described as not merely sorrow, but also the expression of love, compassion and active concern for the sacred lives of human beings as an affirmation of our faith and obedience to God. But how has this holy grief been expressed? What is the legacy of Angela Dawson, her husband Carnell and her children Keith and Kevin Dawson, 8; Carnell Dawson Jr., 10; Juan Ortiz, 12; and LaWanda Ortiz, 14? Has Baltimore changed since we stood and prayed together last year in front of the Dawson house? No, said Associate Council on Ministries Director Tim Warner. Its a tough nut to crack. As a church were doing less than we should. Were there (in the city). Were present, but weve only made little baby steps. Warner cites the opening of the Baltimore-Washington Conferences Hesed House, a home for addicts awaiting treatment that recently opened in east Baltimore. A new minister is being hired to start a new faith community at Milton Avenue and Oliver Street, blocks away from the Dawson house. Last winter, Mayor Martin OMalley likened the crisis facing Baltimore as our citys greatest time of challenge since the War of 1812. Three years ago, according to city reports, Baltimore was Americas most violent city. For the past six years, it was the nations most addicted city. It has also led what the New York Times dubbed the list of per-capita misery statistics, that in addition to crime and drug addiction included most cases of high school dropouts, and cases of HIV and syphilis. For OMalley it became a matter of spiritual warfare, and he implemented a Believe Campaign, that has created results. The word Believe, set in white against a black background, is part of a large advertising campaign designed by the city. Believe shows up on thousands of bumper stickers, billboards and garbage cans throughout the city. In the past three years, the mayor said, violent crime has been reduced by 26 percent; five new drug treatment centers were opened, the first in 30 years; and other indicators also seem to point to a reversal of the citys fortunes. Smith, laboring in the local church, is leery of the public-relations campaign. For her, believing is an action too big to ever be contained on a bumper sticker, or even 250,000 bumper stickers. She notes that drug activity around the Dawson house has decreased. Recently the city cut the funding for Eastern UMCs Family Fun Night, which draws 30 to 35 youth, many of them teenage boys, off the street and into the church one evening a week. However, Smith notices a trend among the United Methodist churches in the city. They are coming off their walls more, she said. That is a sign of hope. Embracing hope will be critical if the memory of the Dawson family is to be honored, Warner said. Recently in the city, he was approached by a 14-year-old girl. The girl, who was filthy from the street, offered to sell herself to him to get money for a ride across town. I saw my daughter in her and wanted to die, Warner said. There was hopelessness in that situation, he continued. That girl was one in a thousand and I didnt change her. But there was hope too. I was there with her and she heard about God that day. Im still deeply saddened about the Dawsons, Warner said. But they remind me of countless others in almost equally horrible situations. There are many people we havent met yet. |
Login/Register to leave comment