The city of the murders’ vendors (On the basis of a handful of data)

 

FOR THE ITALIAN VERSION OF THE POST: HERE

 

Capital of Virginia, front line of the civil war, the outpost of slavery opposed to Lincoln’s prophets of Freedom. Today, the crossroads of opposite worlds, connecting link between North and South. Mythical and stuffed with history, but at the same time a symbol of redemption of the black south of America, able to integrate successfully in the large economic arteries running from Washington DC up to Boston.

 

Richmond, lost among the hills and countryside of Old Dominion. I did not expect at all it could be that intriguing.

 

Before applying for, and winning, the scholarship I did not know anything about Richmond. 

Only, and I confess it without any shame, that there was a fashion label with the same name. I mean, that one which sells jeans with its logo written, in enormous letters, on butt, but worn to the ankles strictly (and in any case, never higher than to the knees).

I am not that much into fashion (I’m Italian, and the style is natural to me!) but really I’m not interested in understanding the deep meaning of spending hundreds of euros for being dressed like a uncouth, flirting with the most annoying and vulgar boorishness.

Slovenliness, all in all, sold for its weight in gold. Delirious.

 

Less than three months before leaving I have to deal with a growing interest and curiosity getting stronger and stronger towards the place where I will be hosted for five months. So here is Richmond, whose charming appeal is leading me to seek relating information, facts, stories and anecdotes. 

An simple common sense would impose not to talk about a place that has never been seen or imagined, thus avoiding to spit out judgments and clichés based on prejudices and stereotypes read here and there. 

As “ex” exchange student I am aware how ultimately unnecessary is to try to know at any cost a reality that, once encountered, is often different and revolutionized by all the events and adventures going to happen.

 

 

 

So, putting aside any emotional feeling, I turn to those tools that are objective, concrete and imparaziali: the statistics. 

Right, I have already denied everything I said a few lines above, but I cannot renounce drawing a first portrait of Richmond, although starting from real data. 

I tell you, in the World there are only a few things more boring than reading numerical-statistics tables. The cricket on TV, waiting for hours in line at a amusement park, and perhaps to watch the cricket in company. 

Among the myriad of percentages and calculations, more or less relevant, a peculiar and distinctive aspect has been brought to my attention.

 

It’s not that the percentage of black population is so far the highest one – it’s definitely fine, all in all this is Obama’s Country – and either not the fact that the number of people who possess a university degree is much bigger than within the rest of the nation. Rather, I meant to say about something more considerable.

But allow a very short digression first. 

As from the data Richmond looks clearly like a city controlled and dominated by the category of professional sellers. The figures are dizzying: the percentage of such workers is 21%, against 1,2% of the national average. I mean, one in five person in Richmond is working as part of that category. 

Avoiding saying any joke, this scenario may reflect a city ruled by a lively economy, an aspect to remark firmly during so troubled times for the economies.

 

The thing that caught my attention does not make me smile at all.

If Richmond looks like a good place for purchasers – the range of choice seems wide – it’s an even better place for dying.

I should quickly forget the places where I have been living in for so many years till now. America doesn’t make jokes and Richmond, for its part, plays the game very seriously.

What happens here, in a week, would fill a one-year archive in my Turku, Finland. 

This is the other face of America, the ugly and violent one, the savage and bloody one.

 

http://www.clrsearch.com/RSS/Demographics/VA/Richmond/Crime_Statistics

 

Let’s pass over the risk of pickpockets, four times higher than in the rest of the Country. Let’s pass over even the risk of getting your car stolen, since I almost certainly will have no car in Richmond. 

But what left me speechless is the index of murders: seven times, I say it again, seven times higher than the national average.

After a quick research via Google you can find that, between 2002 and 2005, Richmond has been the fifth most murderous city in the United States. Overcome – and at this point it was such a pity – only by those pleasant urban heavens such like Detroit and Los Angeles: places where it is widely known mothers leave their daughters going jogging alone in the night.

 

It’s not just about murders, of course. The criminal daily Life in Richmond is very wide-ranging, and it offers soft and harsh atrocities, suitable for everyone. 

Here you can take a look, in real time, about the criminal acts occurred in the city during the last five days.

 

 http://www.spotcrime.com/va/richmond

 

It’s easy to understand how Kay Scarpetta achieved her successes there. 

For my part, after careful psycho-physics analysis, I concluded that I don’t have the slightest chance to fit in a gang. 

After reading those statistics, apparently Richmond shows a remarkable sensitivity for business and murders. 

Perhaps, instead of cars in Richmond people sell second-hand revolvers. 

In this case, bad news for those vendors: the only aggression that I inflict myself is abstinence from coffee.