First, on what basis do Whitlock and Negro (or is it Field?) jump to the conclusion that Taylor’s murderer is black? Because Taylor was black? Based on what we know about the murder, which is virtually nothing, the killer could be white, brown, or magenta. I question the extent to which popular assumptions and images (you know, the subtle but pervasive notion in the media that every black man wakes in the morning with bloodlust to snuff another black man for stepping on his Timberlands) have crept into the consciousness of Whitlock and Negro to assert–on no facts–that the killer is black. Moreover, Whitlock’s theory of suicide by immaturity is just stupid. First, there is no evidence that the Taylor’s murder was related to any of the exemplars of bad choices he made that Whitlock chronicles. Second, I am saddened that Whitlock’s faith in the redemption of humanity is non-existent. People grow up; people change; people mature; people develop. In fact, Jeremy Shockey talks in the Daily News about what a changed man Taylor was after his daughter was born. Thank God we are not governed by Whitlock’s rule that poor choices = death by shotgun. We’d all be dead.

Finally, I think we need to start thinking about black on black crime in a different way. Isn’t there a real difference between drug boys shooting each other over territory, money, and drugs than, say, a botched burglary where the homeowner and burglar happen to be black? Or a black woman who shoots her husband when she finds him sleeping with the babysitter, or whatever? I posit that the former example is a more significant concern to blacks because of our disproportionate and devastating representation in the drug trade, whereas the latter examples can happen to anyone. If, contrary to the findings of the current investigation, it turns out that Taylor was killed because he was beefing with other blacks and they brought the beef to him in his home (which seems unlikely since the only weapon Taylor had in his home was a machete—I mean, does anyone think he brought a knife to a gun fight?), then this is “true” black on black crime. However, if Taylor surpised a burglar (black or white) and they shot him in fleeing or for some other reason developed on the spot, then this is not “true” black on black crime since the latter likely would have occurred irrespective of the individuals’ races. Either way, it’s incredibly tragic.