Gary Fields, Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2008
Clarence Glover has a surveillance camera in the chapel of his funeral home. Joseph Garr sometimes carries a revolver in his hearse. Carl Swann Jr. is contemplating leaving the business.
The three directors of black funeral parlors here have been assaulted at services and each has had gunshots fired during burials. Concealed-weapons, pre-funeral intelligence briefings, cameras, panic buttons and armed security guards are becoming as much a part of services as the eulogy.
{snip}
Across the country, black morticians are changing the way they operate. The reason: a spike in African-American murders—and the violence that sometimes follows victims to the grave. In an echo of more volatile parts of the world, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, African-American morticians report seeing an increase in violent behavior, and occasional killings, at funerals.
The violation of the once-sacrosanct funeral is one byproduct of a little-noticed upswing in the murder rate of African-Americans. The number of blacks killed in America, mostly by other blacks, has been edging up at a time when the rate for other groups has been flat or falling.
As a result, the black murder-victim toll exceeds that of the far larger white population. According to the most recent statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the number of whites murdered dropped slightly, to 6,956 from 7,005 between 2004 and 2006. The number of blacks killed rose 11%, to 7,421 from 6,680.
African-Americans, who make up 13% of the population, have long had a higher homicide rate than other groups. And the total number of black murders is still significantly lower than in the early 1990s, when the U.S. was hit by a wave of drug-related killings. At that time, though, “funeral homes used to be the most respected places you could walk into beside the church,” says Jeff Gardner, a co-owner of A.D. Porter & Sons in Louisville, Ky., and a third-generation undertaker. “Nobody respects life and the young folks nowadays don’t mind dying.”
{snip}
Rising Incidence of Violence
Last year, the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association—a black trade group—held a panel discussion at its Philadelphia convention about the rising incidence of violence on funeral premises. Among some strategies recommended: increasing security and not publicizing funerals.
Since 2006, police in Boston, Goldsboro, N.C., Louisville, Los Angeles and St. Louis have investigated black murders that occurred at or immediately after funeral services. Of five cases reviewed for this article, four were at the funerals of other murder victims. Two were gang related. One was a revenge killing. Two remain unexplained.
{snip}
If a funeral has the possibility of “drama,” as he puts it, Mr. Glover hires security at $25 to $50 an hour per guard. He also assembles his staff two hours prior to a wake for a briefing. “We have a meeting so you know who is who, what to look for and watch out for each other,” he says.
{snip}
According to the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association, the average cost of an African-American funeral is about $4,500. In many cases, the specter of violence is driving costs up. In Cincinnati, security firms make regular appearances at services, adding as much as $500 to the bill. Surveillance systems can cost $2,000 or more just to install.
“We’ve had to alternate funeral procession routes because we have been tipped off,” says Duane Weems, president of Elite Protective Services, a local security firm. “Attendees to the church service will tell us that this gang is waiting down there.”
Since funerals and wakes draw family and friends of the deceased, they also provide a ready stage for anyone with violent intentions toward the mourners.
Family and friends of Frank Sherley Jr., who died at the age of 70 of natural causes, were arriving at A.D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home in Louisville for his wake May 21, 2006. It was “a perfect day,” recalls John Curd, an employee there that Sunday evening. “There was no expectation of violence.”
At services for Mr. Sherley, two gunmen appeared in the parking lot and began firing. Mr. Curd dialed 911. He recalls thinking: “This isn’t supposed to be happening at a funeral home.” One man was killed and four other people were wounded. Police say they don’t have a motive and the crime is unsolved.
Mr. Swann, of Cincinnati, says his family has been burying the dead since the early 1900s. “I caught the school bus in front of the funeral home and I got off the bus in front of the funeral home,” he says. Now, at age 37, he’s thinking of getting out of the business.
One particularly harrowing experience was the funeral of Raeshaun Hand Jr. The ex-convict had continued to deal drugs after being released from prison, according to police, and was wanted at the time of his murder. Mr. Hand, 27, was found shot inside his car in February 2005.
Mr. Hand’s father tried to keep the service private, but word got out. The father stood guard at the church door, trying to limit access. Some mourners made it in, drinking and smoking in the church bathroom, Mr. Swann says. Later as he prepared to close the casket, a large group rushed inside, pinning the undertaker.
“One dude punched me in front of the casket. The dead man’s son was there and he got punched and his father was punched. My professionalism went out the window,” Mr. Swann says. “I started fighting back, throwing punches. This wasn’t in the job description and it doesn’t come with the job.”
Evacuation Plan
Debora Kellom, director of Wade Funeral Home in St. Louis and a spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association, similarly recalls how a fight broke out during the wake of a murder victim in January. Word spread that there were guns present. Panic erupted. Ms. Kellom ordered the casket closed, moved everyone outside and called 911.
{snip}
In some cases, police are shadowing mourners. On the West Coast, funeral directors are now working closely with the Los Angeles Police Department, from planning procession routes that avoid gang territory to coordinating burials so rivals aren’t interred in the same cemeteries at the same time.
Detective Sal LaBarbera, a homicide supervisor with the LAPD, says the department routinely attends high-risk funerals to offer security and gather intelligence.
{snip}
Anthony Felder, of Los Angeles’s Spalding Mortuary, says he routinely faxes basic information to the police if he’s handling a homicide case. He also faxes images of tattoos on the body to help the police identify gang members—and assess any specific risks associated with the deceased. The police in return send plainclothes officers for security.
In St. Louis, Ms. Kellom, 43, says she has gone so far as to ask that the local police department set up a substation inside her facility. She argues that such an arrangement would give her establishment—and the neighborhood—a much-needed, visible police presence. She has promised a body-free zone for officers, who she expects will soon be dropping by on a regular basis to monitor the area.
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on March 27, 2008)
Comments
Wow, I read through a whole article in regards to black behavior, and not once did they blame it on racism! As we’ve all been taught, poor black behavior is always the result of whitey’s racism.
Posted by kitty at 6:22 PM on March 27
“As a result, the black murder-victim toll exceeds that of the far larger white population.”
In a more enlightened and less superstitious era, crime statistics including those of murder always distinguished between that of the “White” community and that of the “Blacks”.
It is too bad the controlled “news” seldom makes such distinctions any longer. That the writer of this article did, and he was published by a major news source, indicates the long dark night of Governmental distortion and imposed ignorance may finally be ending.
Ronald
Posted by Ronald at 6:26 PM on March 27
I’m not surprised, shocked or upset at reading this. I don’t feel anything at all. Thirty years ago, it would have affected me terribly. Now, it has no more impact being told that it might rain tomorrow. Such is our world today.
Posted by Dwayne O. at 6:31 PM on March 27
Sorry to post this here, but this is the closest article to the subject. This has been a long running story in Kansas City, but hasn’t got much coverage. I haven’t noticed it on Amren either. At the trial, one white woman who survived his attacks testified of his threats to kill all the prostitutes - but more research on this needs to be done. It appears to be a racial crime.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A judge on Thursday convicted a Kansas City man of killing six women whose bodies were found along the Prospect Corridor, an area of Kansas City frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes.
Jackson County Circuit Judge John R. O’Malley found Terry Blair, 46, guilty of six counts of first-degree murder in the 2004 deaths of Sheliah McKinzie, 38; Anna Ewing, 42; Patricia Wilson Butler, 45; Darci I. Williams, 25; Carmen Hunt, 40; and Claudette Juniel, 31. Two of the women had been strangled, but the causes of death of the other women could not be determined because their bodies had decomposed so badly.
Posted by Whiteplight at 6:39 PM on March 27
Speaking of the end of life, here’s another racial difference worth noting: Blacks will make a bigger deal out of a funeral (violence notwithstanding), but they’re far less likely to visit graves or maintain gravesites and cemeteries, than whites.
Why is it surprising that black criminals don’t respect the “sancrosanct” funeral home? Virtually every time I hear of the rape of an exceedingly elderly woman (usually white), it’s a black suspect. If black criminals respected things as sancrosanct, then black gangs would be just like the Mafia, that was bad enough on its own, but didn’t mess around with people that didn’t mess with them.
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:40 PM on March 27
Is this behavior common in Africa between warring tribes?
Posted by Jacqui in AZ at 7:34 PM on March 27
Black murder rates are similar all over the world. They’re just a violent race. Poor South Africa, where blacks are like 90%, instead of only 13% here. Can you imagine? You don’t have to, the statistic is 50 murders a day, 150 rapes a day, in a country of only 44 million.
Posted by Diamed at 7:55 PM on March 27
Talk about convenience, can you imagine dying in a funeral home in a hail of bullets. Sorry, wrong culture.
Posted by Lars at 7:59 PM on March 27
What I’m concerned about is black-on-white genocidal crime in the form of black-on-white murder, rape, looting, theft, and neighborhood,school, and city racial cleansing. We whites are girly and generally have no guts to stand up for our civil rights. I do!! I am a working man and not a preacher, priest, or politician. Where are those white people in our time of need?
Posted by Elrey Jones at 8:00 PM on March 27
Black communities are awash in single child mothers financed by the feds, their children are taught that all is hopeless in life due to whites, personal responsibility is rejected by black activists and ministers, and blame for all the chaos is placed on, again, whites. It doesn’t get much crazier than that.
Some black “reverend” or tribal leader will soon find a way to personally profit from the carnage, and things will only get worse.
Posted by Proactive at 8:46 PM on March 27
The graph at the end of the article looks exactly like a graph I looked at of percent by race that achieve proficiency at Berkeley High School, except that the position of the curves for whites and blacks are reversed.
In math, over 80% of the white students are proficient, and less than 30% of the blacks. Similarly for “Language skills.” (What happened to “English”?)
I don’t believe anyone can argue that Berkeley, of all places, doesn’t give adequate attention to its black students.
(If anyone is really interested in seeing the graphs, they can be found by starting at www.jftk-ca.org, typing in “Berkeley High”, clicking on “Berkeley High” on the next page, and then clicking on the choices for “Subgroup Summary Charts”)
Posted by H. Dumpty at 12:52 AM on March 28
I have lived in Kansas City for over twenty years and it never ceases to amaze me how they act here. The city council and schoolboard are predominately black and totally dysfunctional. The city has a 78 million dollar budget deficit largely due to white flight resulting in errosion of the tax base. To bribe new business to locate here the city has to offer expansive tax concessions. Yet existing businesses have to pay city taxes and therefore some of them locate to other cities and many just go out of business period. Our infastructure is in horrible shape yet we give millions to the Truman Sports Complex. All this and not even mentioning the millions the city spends in tearing down abondoned houses and business buildings. Now we are the black murder capital of the United States. The new white mayor comes into office after defeating his black opponent. Now the blacks fight him at every turn in his effort to turn our city around. I feel I am witnessing the ghettoization of Kansas City from the first row.
Posted by at 7:02 AM on March 28
Has anyone bothered to verify if sales of burnt cork make-up have risen inexplicably? Or bothered to ascertain if those perps preying on decent, hardworking Black business owners and their staff are really evil White Racists in blackface make-up?
I mean seriously, we all are only too aware that virtually all young Blacks NEVER have trouble with the law, studiously go to school on a daily basis, graduate from college and become astro-physicists, brain surgeons, engineers, astronauts and bank directors. That ONLY maybe as many as one Black per thousand takes the wrong path leading to a life of crime. Hey, even Obama and his pastor know the truth — White racism is the root cause of Black’s general dysfunctionality.
Something in this articles just does not compute! It just HAS to be the work of evil racists, determined to give Blacks a bad reputation, right?
Posted by Fed Up at 10:22 AM on March 28
Strangely enough, this story doesn’t surprise, anger or upset me, as Dwayne O. so stated. What does it mean when things that should upset people, doesn’t?
Posted by Louis in Montreal at 11:06 AM on March 28
The first thing is not to feel guilty. Repeat after me: “There is nothing that white folks can do to keep black folks from slaughtering each other. Not in America, not in London, not in Toronto, not in Johannesburg, not in Zimbabwe.”
After all, now that he no longer has to stay in Chicago and preach against whites, Reverend Wright is escaping the black ghetto by moving to a big church-owned house in a gated community in a white suburb, according to web reports.
Posted by Big Bill at 11:54 AM on March 28
Perhaps unfortunately, 7:02 AM, US blacks have not adopted the habit of renaming cities whites built before wrecking them. In Africa, Leopoldville, Stanleyville, Salisbury and Pretoria are no more. It must be easier to accept the destruction of a city if the name is at least decently changed, first, like a doctor covering a deceased patient with a sheet. Even the Soviet Army was polite enough to do this to places like Konigsberg.
Who but a long-time local can really work up much emotion about what happens to a city named “Kinshasa”, “Harare” or “Tschwane”? On the other hand, reading about the demise of Kansas City, Miami, Seattle, London, Paris and others like them is acutely painful.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:46 PM on March 28
“The new white mayor comes into office after defeating his black opponent. Now the blacks fight him at every turn in his effort to turn our city around. I feel I am witnessing the ghettoization of Kansas City from the first row.”
Posted by at 7:02 AM on March 28
Same thing all over this country. I left Philadelphia a long time ago.
Are we AMREN posters the only ones who see what’s happening here or are we all hopelessly paranoid Chicken Littles? I look at my children and young grandchildren and I’m honestly fearful about their futures and what lies in wait for them. I wake up at 2:30 a.m. and I can’t get back to sleep for thinking about all these horrors. Yesterday I was listening to the news about the poor 36 year old White guy who was beaten to death in a subway station in Philadelphia by a gang of four blacks who were truant from school. His family says that they don’t want to make a racial thing out of it.
White people are all like the Gazelles on the African Savannah who stand around and watch their own being slaughtered by predators and they continue grazing, content that it wasn’t them that day.
There has GOT to be a way to put a stop to this insanity!!!!
Posted by at 12:53 PM on March 28
To posted by at 7:02 AM on March 28
Blacks did a superlative job LITERALLY TRASHING VAST PARTS of the city while I lived there. But that can be said to ANY of the older Northern cities — it’s just not p.c. to ADMIT this reality.
Philly has a see-saw problem. A Black mayor is elected by the Black majority. The Black mayor and his cronies promptly run the city into near financial chaos. Then a White mayor gets elected — to clean up the mess — once the city is reasonably healthy again — the cycle repeats.
Pennsylvania spends an incredibly percentage of its annual budget on welfare subsidies of all kinds. Businesses are taxed to the point of leaving the state (per a good friend still living in Harrisburg). The answer: Black legislators come up with the mind-boggling solution: MORE GUN CONTROL is needed to solve Philadelphia’s problems. Take away privately (legally) owned firearms and the rainbows will blink over Philly. Businesses will return in droves. Taxes will POUR into municipal and state coffers.
A real pity that our enlightened 21st Century Americans can’t simply deport all African descended misfits, sociopaths and criminals back to Africa the first time they earn any kind of criminal record. It would sure save taxpayers and Pennsylvanians a lot of wasted money, prevent a lot of crime-caused misery and suffering.
Posted by Fed Up at 1:43 PM on March 28
Look…a simple question. What goes on inside certain black peoples heads? Why cant they sit quietly ever…why do they need the constant pounding rhythm of rap or the moronic chanting of 4th grade rhymes? Why do they need to be on the phone talking all the time. The words make no sense, there is no logic or intelligence to them..but somehow they need the noise as if reality had to be blocked out every second of the day.
Posted by at 2:10 PM on March 28
Why should funeral shootings be a suprise? This, after all, was brought to us by the same folks who gave us the Knoxville Horror, the Wichita Massacre, and thousands of incidents like them here in the US, plus real delights like muti killings, cannibalism and infant rape back in their beloved homeland.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 3:25 PM on March 28
Notice how they call 911. Yep, call the white man.
The white man invented the telephone. The white man invented the 911 concept. The white man invented the location software in which the Africans don’t even have to tell the police (white invention) where to go in their squad cars (white invention).
Why must the white man take care of the mess of the black man?
911 should not answer any black calls. Let them solve their own cultural problems without the need to call white racists. Let Obama give them hope and change all this.
Posted by LOGIC at 6:56 PM on March 28
Blacks did a superlative job LITERALLY TRASHING VAST PARTS of the city while I lived there. But that can be said to ANY of the older Northern cities
The Ruins of Detroit:
http://www.white-history.com/hwrdet.htm
Large areas of the city are actually reverting to wilderness.
Posted by qwerty at 7:15 PM on March 28
Directed to 210pm posting
They imitate those around them.Example;they see bankers,coat and tie with a briefcase going in bank.Get a briefcase,walk in the door,viola a banker.Blacks are hugely expressive to tragedy.I think it is the same,imitation.To me they don’t seem to have empathy as an emotion.So Monkey see monkey do.
Posted by skinnylegsandall at 9:37 PM on March 28
“Are we AMREN posters the only ones who see what’s happening here or are we all hopelessly paranoid Chicken Littles?” (Posted by at 12:53 PM on March 28)
No, we’re not paranoid. History is happening, and we’re living it.
Posted by H. Dumpty at 1:26 AM on March 29
This story is just another example of how decent, or at least relatively harmless, blacks are likely to be the victims of black thugs. The respectable ones have far more to fear from their own race than from us whites.
Posted by Cindy at 3:01 PM on March 29
With all the White victims of Black-on-White crimes over the years should have mainstreamed what Amreners have been writing all these years. You know the saying about what a conservative is: a liberal that has been robbed three times….. Unfortunately critical mass should have been reached long ago. What gives. Could someone reading this comment on why critical mass is not forthcoming in the near future. I trust amreners’ logic way above the “Docents of Political Correctness”!
Posted by White is Beautiful Robert at 9:42 PM on March 29
Until they face their own problems and quit blaming all their shortcomings on the evil white devil, this story will be typical for life in the hood. What to say?? fighting, shootings, doing drugs at a funeral, never a dull moment.
Posted by tall one at 6:08 AM on March 30
Also remarkable is this article appeared on page one, in one of the most-ciculated newspapers in the country.
Posted by John at 9:35 AM on March 31
