Shield.
I know anything can go down in New York City at any time anywhere, and usually I can cope with that, even on the days when you can feel the sidewalks vibrating with collective mental unrest. However, the news of this random shooting on Clifton Place — which may have been another one of those “disrespect” homicides that are increasingly common these days — has really unsettled me today. (Not least because the unhinged suspect is still at large.)
The Hub is grown — New York-born and bred, in fact — so I try not to worry about him, though, y’know, stuff happens to native New Yorkers all the time. But I do wonder about teaching The Scamp street smarts when there’s a special type of alertness and wariness you need in most American urban environments, especially New York. From the regular reports of pedestrians and bicyclists (often young children) hit by cars to unstable, desperate people, it’s sometimes overwhelming to think of how The Hub and I are supposed to help him stay out of danger. Luckily, The Scamp is naturally reserved with strangers, and while it often makes people huffy (”Why won’t he smile?”), it’s a lot easier to encourage him to follow his instincts and await proof of trustworthiness in someone he’s just met than it is to dissuade a super-friendly child from chatting up and taking the hand of just anyone.
I walked Clifton Place frequently with The Scamp this summer, having been impressed by the way its intersection with Grand Avenue seemed to clean up with the opening of Le Grand Dakar, Choice Market, and Still Hip. But I also noticed signs of the old drug trade hanging around, obviously having missed the gentrification memo. It’s a lovely stretch, and it’ll soon be home to the Brooklyn School. I hope for the sake of the children — hell, for the sake of us all — the 88th Precinct and the community can turn it around. But it’s just one block of many in this city that has witnessed cruel horrors, and the concepts of protection and safety sometimes seem like a distant shore.
[ETA: The Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Courier reported on October 12 that “Psycho,” as he is apparently known, was caught.]