| March 26, 2007 |
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Oakland: A Plague of Killing
"In 5 years, 557 families lost a loved one to violence in Oakland." —The Oakland Tribune and InsideBayArea.com So begins a tragic tale told by two San Francisco Bay Area newspapers in separate multimedia collections: Oakland: A Plague of Killing from the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune's Not Just a Number. In 2006, homicides in Oakland reached a shocking high: 148 victims in total. Murder in Oakland is a foul game, a deadly contest between drugs, poverty, and economics, with regular folks—including children—caught in the middle. No one wins. But we can try to get an edge by looking closer at Oakland's plight. Read a year's worth of coverage and watch the senseless murders stack up. Gaze in indignation at the map of murders along a city-wide trail of liquor stores. Understand that "99.9% of Oaklanders" will not be shot dead, yet it doesn't diminish the terror that many of them live under. Finally, recognize that a fallen young man sends ripples throughout his community, in ways many of us never understood before. Interact with Oakland's dark year and hope that knowledge can help end the game for good.
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