DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the five links we’re reading, now:

Courtland Milloy: What does bin Laden’s slaying teach kids? “Out in the District’s feuding neighborhoods, a world away from the revelry around the White House, the killing of Osama bin Laden has simply reaffirmed the code of the streets — especially the principle of an eye for an eye. “You get on the wrong side of the wrong people, you reap what you sow,” a youngster from the Woodland Terrace housing complex in Southeast told me… The difference is that while the United States celebrates taking revenge against its enemies, the gunslinger in the ’hood is condemned for doing the same.” (The Washington Post)

Leckie Elementary Remembers Losses from 9/11 “Many people directly touched by the September 11 tragedy are reacting to the death of Osama Bin Laden. They include students from Leckie Elementary School in Southwest D.C. Even though they are too young to remember the attacks; they are forever linked to the tragedy. The school lost a teacher and a student when a plane carrying 64 people crashed into the Pentagon.” (myfoxdc.com)

Graham bill would ID young escapees “In response to two highly publicized escapes, a D.C. Council member who oversees the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services wants to speed up the release of pertinent information to the public when a young offender flees from custody…Mr. Graham will introduce a resolution Tuesday that would allow DYRS to release a photograph and “other relevant information determined by the agency as additional tools to quickly and safely apprehend a juvenile escapee” instead of waiting for a court order.” (Washington Times)

“USA! USA!” is the wrong response “This is bin Laden’s lamentable victory: He has changed America’s psyche from one that saw violence as a regrettable-if-sometimes-necessary act into one that finds orgasmic euphoria in news of bloodshed. In other words, he’s helped drag us down into his sick nihilism by making us like too many other bellicose societies in history…When we lose the sadness part — when all we do is happily scream “USA! USA! USA!” at news of yet more killing in a now unending back-and-forth war — it’s a sign we may be inadvertently letting the monsters win.” (Salon)

Prince Charles Visits DC “Four days after the wedding of his older son, Britain’s Prince Charles is coming to Washington…On Tuesday afternoon, Prince Charles will visit Common Good City Farm, an urban farm that grows food for low-income DC residents. And on Wednesday, he’ll be the keynote speaker at a conference at Georgetown University called “The Future of Food.”" (WUSA Washington, DC)