Thread by @VolkanTopalli

🧵

So, for those of you who were expecting an update after I got shot last month, here it is...

First, I want to thank Dr. Mara Schenker (@maraschenker) and her staff at @GradyHealth for repairing my shattered ulna and inserting the metal brace that is getting it healed up.

@maraschenker @GradyHealth She’s done 3,000+ surgeries at the incredible Grady Hospital, many of which involved shootings. Somehow, she maintains this very sunny disposition. Here she is showing off her handiwork (I won't show the original wound...too gross). I'll be showing it off at the next ASC meeting.

Here’s a report of the shooting. Misspelled my name (and let everyone know I'm 55 years old). Contrary to popular opinion, I wasn't out collecting ethnographic data for one of my projects studying criminal decision-making. I was shopping for potting soil.
fox5atlanta.com/news/lindbergh…

A fight broke out at the apartment complex next to the store, then spilled into the parking lot with gunfire. I took a bullet while calling 911. Walked back into the HD gardening section and waited for paramedics.

Two of the APD cops on the scene were former students of @GSUCJC (“Hey Doc is that you? Are you hit??”). Spent the night at Grady and then Mara did her magic the next morning.

They caught SUSPECTS yesterday (I refer to them as KIDS) and we'll see what happens from here on out. I appreciate any sympathy/encouragement but please don’t feel the need to refer to them as “animals” “scumbags” “losers” etc.

I don’t want to hear it.

wsbtv.com/news/local/atl…

I don’t feel that way about them. I don't hate them They are tragedies, to their families, their communities, and to the rest of us. They look like the students I see and love at GSU every day.
wsbtv.com/news/local/pol…

I'm NOT fearful, freaked out or paranoid about being victimized again. Why? Partly my personality, partly years of doing work in crime victimized neighborhoods in Atlanta, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am a 55-year-old (sigh) white dude with a good job who...

...lives in a nice neighborhood. What happened to me was literally bad luck; wrong place and wrong time. I don't walk out my door scared of being shot. But, if you're young, black, male in America EVERY PLACE is the wrong place, and EVERY TIME is the wrong time:

This is systemic violence. I've interviewed 100s of people who look like these kids. I've taught (literally) thousands of kids who look like them at GSU. They are all vulnerable and their vulnerability is what drives the current discord between the police and the citizenry.

POC feel under-policed (as victims) and over-policed (when profiled as “offenders” or “predators” or …etc). How does it feel to feel under threat all the time? From those in your community as well as those who are supposed to protect you?

Exhausting.

cdc.gov/healthequity/r…

Causes of violence? There are macro-level explanations (poverty, joblessness) that require long-term solutions but are NOT direct causes of crime, and micro-level explanations (drug use, desperation, codes of violence, retaliation, etc) that can be addressed more immediately.

John Roman (@JohnKRoman) has provided a comprehensive list. Here it is. The Mayor (@KeishaBottoms) and those running to replace her and their staff members should read this:
johnkroman.substack.com/p/the-great-am…

Solutions? Many that actually work and have been laid out by my colleague, Thomas Abt (@Abt_Thomas), in his excellent book, #BleedingOut. Again, the Mayor and those running to replace her should read this and his book (it should be on her damn desk):
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

The police CAN NOT/SHOULD NOT be looked to as THE solution to this problem. There is a lot of simplistic thinking around how to curb violence and crime, mostly focused on the Police. "We need more cops! They have to get out there and kick asses, knock heads, take the gloves off!"

These are (depressingly ) effective political slogans, but they're not solutions. There's plenty research showing that these “solutions” are ineffective and likely make things much worse. We need smarter policing, better recruitment, different training and most important...

...an acknowledgment that #cops can’t go it alone. Citizens, other government agencies, and business owners need to take responsibility and stop whining for the #police to fix everything.

What do I think about the current crime spike? First, yes there's a spike, but (and I know some people don’t want to hear this) its not as bad as the media/politicians would have you believe). Even with the 2020-21 uptick we're nowhere near recent or historical highs:

Does NOT mean current levels of violence are “acceptable” or “OK”. We should and can reduce them. Based on my own research, I think the causes of the current spike are relatively straightforward. We have the end of social distancing plus warm summer weather...

...and a sea change in how people see the police -- and how the police see the people.

Add to that the ultimate violence force multiplier: #GUNS. Their availability is breathtaking in this country.

How available?
thetrace.org/2020/08/gun-sa…

There are more guns in America than there are Americans (thank you @NRA and gun manufacturers). In #Atlanta, they’re so plentiful that people forget them in their glove-boxes, where they get stolen.

I wonder what happens to all those stolen guns? 🤔
ajc.com/news/police-82…

Why did I get shot? Lots of reasons (ask @JohnKRoman or @Abt_Thomas). But, I have written about a few factors w/my colleague Richard Wright over 20 years of talking to justice-involved individuals. Putting aside background risk factors that made these three kids who they are...

...we know that they lack of connection to their communities and mist have adopted what Elijah Anderson (@ElijaAnderson) calls the Code of the Street, putting them in situations where they come into violent conflict with one another:
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

Most of them are disconnected from influences in society that would steer them away from conflict and when they do run into others they are unlikely to back down, even in the face of relatively minor slights or insults. Add to that, their involvement in "streetlife"...

It’s all about the here-and-now, your reputation, and what you can get and experience in the present.

And if someone challenges you, pull out the gun you just bought on the street and let people know you won’t take no shit.

And if that happens to you, get your payback....

...And if someone gets payback against you, then you need to “re-get” your payback again. Etc., etc.

Cycles of retaliation and counter-retaliation.

If violence is a disease, its propagated by retaliation and accelerated by the presence of guns.

That’s what seems to have happened in my case…

...an altercation at a pool party that should’ve ended with pushing and shoving turned into a gun battle in an unsecured parking lot.

Dozens of shots fired and three people hit.
books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr…

We know that guns don’t discriminate where the bullet lands. Third parties get caught up, whether it’s the friends and family members of the aggrieved joining in to take sides, or innocent bystanders who catch a bullet shopping for potting soil at the Home Depot.

Why would these kids be so cavalier about violence?

Because they have no future, just the present (I mean, if you’re expecting to die before the age of 21 what’s the point in following rules, avoiding violence, or investing in your future?):

researchgate.net/publication/23…

Does this sound like something you can solve without experts?

No?

Then why do policy-makers, the public, and the police avoid working with the intellectual infrastructure in their backyards?

i.e., UNIVERSITIES and RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS

Depts of Criminology, Criminal Justice, Public Health, Social Work are in EVERY metro area!

You need to diagnose the problem to fix the problem. In coming weeks, WE (@DrShytierra @docthadjohnson @maraschenker @NNJohnsonEdD and I) are going to be speaking out on these issues. ☮️