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The Talking Points Memo this evening...
A mother and her five children murdered by drug dealers in Baltimore. Angela Dawson wanted a better life for her kids, so she constantly complained about the drug dealers in her poor Baltimore neighborhood. She had been threatened many times, and a firebomb was thrown in her apartment house a few weeks ago.
Still Miss Dawson would not move, telling the authorities she would not let criminals drive her out of her own home. On Wednesday, Miss Dawson and her five children were burned to death after a drug dealer allegedly torched their house.
Twenty-one-year-old Darrell Brooks has been charged in the case, and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley says the arrest proves that criminals cannot get away with heinous crimes, but that is not true. In Miss Dawson's neighborhood, dope dealers run wild, intruding on her freedom and the freedom of everybody else who lives there.
The Baltimore cops know who the drug dealers are yet cannot control them. Talking Points has said for years that many poor neighborhoods in the USA are out of control because the police simply are not tough enough in those neighborhoods.
Some cops are afraid of being accused of racism. Others see the revolving door justice system, the dealers back on the streets just hours after an arrest is made.
Whatever it is, there are American neighborhoods that are completely controlled by hoodlums. And now a brave woman and five children are dead because the Baltimore police could not protect them.
I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but it's true. Beat cops in every neighborhood know who the criminals are. And believe me, they would not be allowed to operate openly in wealthy neighborhoods. We are supposed to have equal justice for all in this country. We do not.
The solution to this problem is for Americans themselves to demand that criminal behavior be punished, but don't do it the way Angela Dawson did it. That is simply too dangerous. Americans who live in poor neighborhoods should organize with the help of the local churches and give information about crimes to priests, ministers, and rabbis, who would then pass that information along to the authorities.
Those clerics would then see if the authorities responded and would report back to the folks. In that way, drug dealers and other criminals would not have specific targets like Miss Dawson, and the police would have a conduit for information.
It is the churches in alliance with law-abiding Americans that can put pressure on criminals who are now running wild. That's the only solution to the chaos that is infecting poor neighborhoods from coast to coast.
Angela Dawson is a true hero, and the nation should mourn her and her five innocent children.
And that's The Memo . More on it in a few moments.
The "Villain of the Week"
Time now for the "Villain of the Week."
No surprise, it is Christina Norman, the president of VH1. We pounded Miss Norman into the ground the last few nights, and she deserves it. VH1 will run the concert featuring convicted murderers this evening. There is no excuse for it. And, for that, Christina Norman is the "Villain of the Week."
— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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