Make your own connections

The thing I love about this town is all of the lies that go unquestioned and all of the bullshit that's allowed to slide at least if you have money or you're on the right side of the Tall Israelis who run the local media. I feel bad because I was going to let this slide as well . . . But then I thought that it's important not to lose your anger or intensity as you progress into old age because it gives women the wrong impression that it's okay for dinner to be late.

Yesterday, there was little mention of the fact that the men indicted in the case of Sylvia Raya and Tony Rios are also indicted in connection with the murder of local Mexican Torrez E. Rodriguez. The two articles were actually separate with Rios and Raya making the front page of the metro section and the other murder on the back next to the tire ads. As a brief aside, this rampage of Black on Mexican murder is yet another indication that Blacks and Mexicans/Chicanos hate each other . . . Where's Vicente Fox when you need him? And this puts the David Smith scandal in a whole new light as well.

Today, a story in the Star gives a brief whiff of a connection but it looks like the local authorities are staying mum.

They would say little else about the connections, however.

"An individual came forward and described the interrelationships between the cases," said Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders. The tip came in December.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves described the cases as "interlocking" but wouldn't go much further.

Actually, the story leads with the money line but then goes into the tired, old crap about closure and justice and all of the clichéd things that you're supposed to say whenever somebody is killed for whatever reason.

And while the death of Raya and Rios has turned into a local Latino Romeo & Juliet love story obviously Rodriguez didn't have as big of a fan club because his murder pretty much seems like one of the many deserved drug/gang related murders in this city.

According to court records, Rodriguez was an associate of a man who, Mathews thought, was involved in the murder of Mathews' brother. A witness told police that Dale, Mathews and Powell had gone to 39th and Jackson Avenue to shoot Rodriguez's associate. Instead, Dale and Mathews shot Rodriguez, who was walking toward his associate's car, court records state. Mitchell stayed in the car, the witness told police.

After Rodriguez was hit and fell to the ground, Dale stood over him and shot him several more times with an automatic weapon, another witness said.

Yeah, it's hard to spin being killed in the street with an automatic weapon into a tragedy but I'm sure somebody misses Rodriguez as well . . . Still, it's important to note that in the Rios/Raya case "The double killing occurred during a residential robbery, police said Wednesday. Police have not determined whether anything was taken from the home."

And while I find that it's also important to acknowledge that we're all sinners in the eyes of the Big JC and in the end we all get what we deserve . . . It's strange that so many of our Local Latino leaders haven't at least mentioned the many rumors that are circulating about the murders and the fact signs of forcible entry weren't mentioned during the initial stories that reported the Rios/Raya case. (Full Disclosure: A couple of years ago I covered this sham story for Dos Mundos and I'm guilty of writing a PR similar article as well. I guess it's bad idea to let facts interfere with a good cause. And since neither The Star nor so many advocates who love to cry crocodile tears at candlelight vigils will mention what everybody else is already thinking than I guess I won't either.

The gheys had it right when they used to say that Silence=Death, KC has adopted a similar slogan with "The Silence is Killing us." In that light it's funny to see Mike Sanders and all of the Latino "leaders" in this town stay noticeably quiet when it comes to what these murders might have in common. And that's fine if it were a matter that the families kept to themselves but since the Rios/Raya case has turned into a political cause and a campaign issue for so many people seeking higher office than it is simply yet another indication that there is no real solution to drug/gang related murders in Kansas City, there is only a series of empty slogans.