There's more to it than gangs and guns.

One afternoon after watching the news on troubling violence in the Urban Charlotte, North Carolina a question arose "What exactly is considered violent urban crimes?" I wondered if people from less urban areas had the same answers as people from the inner city.

After speaking to a total of 8 students here on Appalachian State's campus, I was shocked at the information I heard. Three of them were people I was friends with, while the other 5 were random students I stopped during the day. When I asked a male student from Hillsborough North Carolina, he told me he considered urban violent crimes to be shootings, and homicides. Another male from a Georgia suburb answered with "I guess shootings, gangs violence, and probably burglaries or something." When I asked a female friend from Baltimore, Maryland (a high crime riddled city) she answered with "Shootings, robberies, gangs, and mugs."

I was happy to hear that most of the answers included the obvious ones, ones that are popular in the media which means we are at least paying attention to what's in front of us. What I wasn't so excited about was the fact that not a single person mentioned assault and battery, kidnapping or sexual assault crimes, all of which are big factors in the inner city.

My purpose for this post was to create a sense of urgency to those unaware about the different types of violent crimes. It's more than what's shown on TV. Women and children are being snatched up in alley ways while the gangs terrorizing the streets headline the news stories. We must open our eyes to ALL of it. There's more to it than gangs ans guns.