Condolences to the Hicks Family

A sad addition to Monday's agenda is a resolution honoring the life of Dawud Hicks, 21, the city's latest loss to gun violence.

A life of promise cut short - all too common a story in urban communities and made even more poignant by the fact that the elder Dawud Hicks had brought to the City Council his concerns about the fragile passage of young men of color through adolescence and early adulthood.

In her role as pastor at Ruth Fellowship Ministries, Councilwoman Tracey Brown has officiated at many funerals of young victims of gun violence. Her message to the community Saturday, as reported in the Courier News, was for those who loved Hicks not to seek revenge, but to find ways to help others.

Much is made of spikes in crime and times when the crime rate falls. An official with many decades in law enforcement once said a mayor cannot be blamed for the former nor take credit for the latter. But in whatever way possible, the new administration will have to take up the battle against violent crime that is disproportionately affecting Plainfield's young people.

--Bernice