This guest post is from Rutgers-Camden student Brian Gregg. Brian works in North Camden, and was at the Little League Baseball game when the New York Times also was present. He sent me this story about something that happened there that did not fit the narrative of the New York Times article and was left out of the story:
I think it is easy from the outside to say one is simply stubborn for not throwing complete support behind improved statistics, but as you share it is much deeper than the numbers. Crime being down is definitely good, but to suggest that the history of mistrust between community and police has faded is unfair to the residents who are still faced with unfair policing and a history of mistreatment.
As I read the article, and looked through the slideslow, there was a stark contrast between the reality and what a distant observant takes away. The last picture in the slideslow is an image from the Phillies vs Red Sox little league playoff game which I happened to be at.
It was an intense game- and when a Phillies player was called out at home their coach got fired up and began yelling at the umpire (you played sports, you know this is not abnormal). As he argued with the umpire, the umpire kicked him out of the game- and before you know it a couple of the officer that were watching the game came on to the field as if to remove the coach. The families and assistant coaches quickly shifted their focus to the police, yelling “are you serious? This is a baseball game!” And “there are drug dealers down the street and you are harassing our coaches! Go do your job!” among other things. [editor’s note: emphasis mine]
Unless you understand and are immersed in the places you are reporting about, it is easy to miss the true story.
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