Of fireworks and firearms

I'm no grand prognosticator of public safety, though I find the socioeconomic bases of crime in neighborhoods a fascinating topic here from time to time.

Still, I can confidently predict there will be reports of staccato small arms fire in neighborhoods around downtown Durham sometime between, oh, say, 9:30 and 10:30pm on July 1 through the 4th, and again on July 11 and 25. Probably August 1, 8, 9 and 23, too.

There's no crystal ball involved in such predictions. These are just the next nights when the Durham Bulls are scheduled to have fireworks after games or the occasional Kevin Costner rock show.

It really seems to happen without fail: listservs in places like Trinity Park, Duke Park and the like seem to light up faster than a pyrotechnic starburst -- though perhaps not as fast as the 911 lines -- every time there's a light show over the Bull City.

Last night was no exception, with the Duke Park list debating the perennial question: fireworks shells or shotgun shells? Crane to see the sky or duck for cover? Roman Candle or roamin' Crip?

It's one of those bemusing moments that denotes the occasional tension that flares up every so often for those living in urban Durham -- those of us hardly hardy souls who endure so many questions from our suburban Wake friends, like "Isn't Durham dangerous?" and "I'm going to cover a foreign military conflict, can I borrow your flak jacket? You must have one."

We Durhamites are used to such digs, chalking them up largely to engorgement on bad TV news, with the occasional dollop of ignorance, racism or purely backward views of the Bull City mixed in. Still, there's an edginess in many when the cracks of the fireworks start.

I'm by no means immune. The first summer spent in my North Duke St. home, I remember hearing the whock-whock-whock sound as I sat near the window in my office. My first thought was, what the heck was that? Followed quickly by, am I a little too close to the window?

The feeling faded quickly after the next couple of homestands, though each spring brings a renewed startle the first time the natural lights go down and the artificial, brightly colored ones go up in the night sky.

Of course, those of us living in the historic, popular neighborhoods near downtown are generally quite free from crime of the personal-safety variety. In fact, the recent spate of robberies, thefts and occasional slurs-from-an-SUV-window for which a couple of teenagers from the Horton Rd. area were arrested on Friday stand out as the notable exception in an area where folks can be seen out walking practically all hours of day and night.

(To digress for a moment, I'm still not quite sure what's up with the 17- and 18-year-olds arrested in that case on accusation of a crime spree. They're alleged to have been part of a wide range of criminal mischief, including screaming at patrons outside of Watts Grocery. What, they couldn't get a reservation either on a Friday night? Right now, their only reservations are at the Durham County Jail, cooling their heels on a room reservation fee of $2.5 million bond apiece.)

Of course, they're unlikely to complain about the fireworks, given that they have one of the best views of the show in town. One of my oddest experiences in Durham as a new resident came driving down Mangum St. while the DBAP fireworks were taking place. Rapt eyes looked up from the stands at the pyrotechnics -- so too did equally rapt, though somewhat more jaded eyes, with prisoners clustered at all the southwest windows of the detention center to see the lights.

A classic Durham moment. And one emblematic of all the tensions that exist in a city that's very wealthy and very poor, very safe and very not so, depending on which neighborhood the fates have cast you to live in.

There aren't so many active listservs in the less-fortunate neighborhoods of Durham, areas underserved by computers and Internet access, and populated by many elderly residents not connected to the web. I wonder sometimes, do the residents there wonder about the fireworks? Do they think about whether it's gunshots or just beautiful gunpowder?

Those of us in Trinity Park and our fellow gentrified neighborhoods have the luxury to not have to worry about such things, by and large, outside of fireworks night at the DBAP. Yet still, on those nights, we worry.

It's a bit of a luxury, that.

Comments

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

I wouldn't agree that "those of us living in the historic, popular neighborhoods near downtown are generally quite free from crime of the personal-safety variety." There were quite a few burglaries on the north side of Trinity Park this winter as seen on the TPNA listserv, not to mention the robbery on Watts St.

And of course there are lots of "nuisance" property crimes, like the fact that the glove box in my convertible is regularly rifled through for small change (I never lock it for fear of the top being cut).

While I don't condone these crimes, they are largely avoidable. When I walk around the neighborhood I always take a big dog and a big gun, and I'm quite frankly willing to accept a bit of crime in order to keep out the worst of the gentrifying ninnies. Your mileage may vary.