Black Murder Victims Up, White Victims Down

The number of black murder victims surged at an alarming rate last year – a key reason for a citywide spike in homicides, police officials said.

Statistics released Tuesday show the number of black people murdered jumped to 357 from 272 – a 31% increase. The number of whites slain last year dropped 27%.

“It’s us killing us,” said Garren Polloydore, 25, a parking lot attendant in East New York, Brooklyn.

The statistics are part of “Murder in New York City: 2010,” an NYPD analysis of last year’s 536 homicides. The number includes 19 people who died from injuries suffered in previous years.

“I thought as a people, as a country, we were getting better at dealing with each other without violence,” Joel Cuffee, 48, said outside a bodega at Pitkin and Euclid Aves. in East New York. “But I’m not surprised.”

The deadliest borough was Brooklyn, with 42% of the city’s murders. East New York’s 75th Precinct led the borough and the city with 33 murders.

The Bronx was second among the boroughs with 24% of the city’s murders. Police in the 47th Precinct investigated 23 murders last year – the highest number in the Bronx.

Lunette Lewin, 48, who lives in Edenwald in the 47th Precinct, blames parents.

“Parents need to control kids from a younger age so when they reach manhood they can live a better life,” she said. “Most don’t grow their children properly and the kids rule them.”

Two-thirds of the murder victims in 2010 were black, even though blacks comprise just 25% of the city’s population. A third of the people murdered in the city were black teens and young men between the ages of 15 and 29.

NYPD officials said the surging number of black victims was the primary factor in the city’s 14% spike in homicides.

The findings didn’t surprise Bishop Gerald Seabrooks of the Brooklyn Clergy/NYPD Task Force.

He said youngsters have nothing to do and don’t know how to resolve disputes without a gun.

“There are no resources for them,” he said. “They go to war with each other.”