Newark SlayDay Counter Reset to Zero After Admirable 38 Day Run

Booker's admirable excitement over the fact that Newark had its first calendar month free of a murder since Lyndon B. Johnson was President was wonderful, because Booker's seen as Newark's most progressive and hard-working mayor in the history of the city, and whether or not he had anything to do with this directly, it's certainly a statistic to be proud of.

That said, it's obviously also kinda incredibly sad, because people shouldn't have to live somewhere where you risk being at least one of the people killed there every month out of however many aren't. And now that someone was fatally shot last night -- a man in his 20s, pronounced dead at the scene - and now that the counter has gone back to zero, it's even more sad, because now the city of Newark has to wake up every day wondering in the place they live in can set a record for not killing someone for more than 43 days, which they haven't done in forever, which they were only seven days out from doing. And that's the kind of thing you can't blame someone for feeling utterly hopeless about. I mean, sure, at some point, you can, but give 'em a few days before you do. It's not like they need another reminder.

[fkamer@villagevoice.com]