March 9th / 11th , 2007

"Aftermath of a Murder"

Last week's shoot-out at the Red Rooster club left Sgt Howard Plouff dead and a city in mourning. It was a tragedy that should have never happened.

Rooster owner Mark Jacobs has been down this road before, having owned two hip hop clubs in Charlotte, where 4 shootings and two deaths occurred, He came here and opened Red Rooster as a Country/Western club, but on the night in question, Jacobs allowed a private party to take over the club for a hip hop romp.

That's three strikes against Jacobs, and he should never again be granted a liquor license. He also hired a convicted felon as his bouncer, and when fights broke out among the rap goers, the white ex con bouncer brandished an illegal gun and fired a warning shot above the heads of Black party goers. Moments later someone fired the shot that killed Plouff.

An African American man was arrested for murder, but we don't know yet if that arrest was an emotional rush to judgement, or just good police work. Time will tell. Common sense says there should have been more security, and that Black kids should have never help a rap dance in a redneck bar, and that the club owner should have never hired an armed felon as his bouncer. Spilled milk. Now we must move forward to understand the causes of nightclub violence in America so that we can prevent the killing that results. If we don't, we are doomed to endure more funerals in the future.