Where is the outrage?

There was a time in our history when outrage would follow the shooting of an individual. The names of shooting victims became a rallying cry for change: Emmitt Till, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Malcolm Little, Viola Liuzzo, James Reeb.

So far this year there have been over 120 murders in Prince George's County without any true outrage. The lawlessness simply continues and sometimes short paragraphs noting the devastating destruction of another family appear in the newspaper.

Nothing in our county will improve until we fix this problem. No company will invest jobs for fear of crime. No qualified school teachers will relocate here for fear of crime. No child can spend a day without worry of crime.

For too long, we have allowed our County Executive Jack Johnson to go without blame. He may not be the cause of crime, but he has certainly not done anything to address this problem. He is almost through his term in office and he still uses the excuse that there are not enough police officers in this county. How long must he be in charge before he fixes it? How long must Jack Johnson be County Executive before he takes a leadership position?

Our outrage of murders should compel us to demand change. How many more people will be senselessly killed before Jack Johnson becomes outraged?