Anna's spider sense was all too accurate.

:-(

reading the horrid denouement of this case gave me chills. he obviously worked hard; arvin was an honors student who was about to graduate next week, he went out occaionally to release steam. this could've been any one of my little cousins.

it's just tragic. it breaks my heart that (among other milestones he won't experience) he'll never wear his cap and gown. :( you guys, be careful out there.

my prayers are with his family.
may his memory be eternal.

too tragic for words

So sad. . .thanks for letting us know. His family's in my thoughts and prayers too. Don't know what to say . . .be careful seems a little hollow, since he probably was being careful. What can we really do about these things?

be careful seems a little hollow, since he probably was being careful. What can we really do about these things?

i don't think it was hollow at all-- i don't think that "lime" is in the safest of areas. when i came to grad school in '99, i desperately wanted to see a certain DJ who was visiting DC *but* playing in one of the city's worst neighbourhoods. i couldn't get any of my friends to go, b/c cabs weren't known to cruise the area regularly, since it wasn't exactly lucrative. so getting there would potentially be feasible, but leaving wouldn't. fine, "let's drive", i said. no one wanted to drive there and risk something happening to their car. i didn't get to see the show.

we all make choices about where we go, what we do, and whom we do it with...i'm sure arvin was a marvelous, intelligent, capable human being and i understand that tragedy can happen anywhere, but if i find out that one of the young terrapins or colonials whom i know and love is planning on having fun somewhere outside of northwest, i have NO problem with being the bitchy chechi/akka/didi who nags them to reconsider. yes, bad things can happen, even in gentrified, money-soaked northwest, but i'll take those odds over the other areas of the district, any day.

what can we really do about these things? use common sense. watch out for each other. remain aware vs blacking out from all the fun. yes, i have no way of knowing if arvin did or did not do all of these things, but i want to make this perfectly clear--my comment isn't really about him. we've lost him and that's just horrible. i am not trying to cast any kind of negative light on him. what kind of person would?? my heart aches for his family. may they know peace.

maybe he did do everything he could to "be careful", maybe his friends were looking out for him, maybe, sometimes there's no way to prevent utterly senseless things from happening, but i think caution is hardly an empty, inapposite recommendation.

Sorry Anna, I didn't mean to belittle your comment. . .it wasn't even in reference to your comment per se, but just to the emptiness I feel when I say that to people for the nth time. I read about terrible things happening, I think of them happening to my friends and family, and I immediately want to reach out and say, "O Dearest, Please Be Careful," like that will make it all better, but it really won't. You make excellent points. We have to be vigiliant about being safe, look out for each other, etc.. I certainly don't want people to become shut-ins. I am totally known as the naggy girl in the group who harangues people just to wear the helmets on short bikerides. And I'm a big advocate on educating yourself about crime statistics and self defense so you can make educated and not irrationally fearful choices. But right now this is just so sad that I feel like I wish something more would come of it, somehow. I wish there was something else to say or do. I wish the root of it could somehow be crushed. I just wish this poor boy could have made it safely home.

Saheli,
Do you know where to go about getting violent crime statistics by neighborhood or census tract or whatever? I've always felt the same way about education vs. irrational (and racist) fear, but I've never taken the time to correct it.

Reminds me of the plight of black/hispanic people who want to get cabs in Manhattan. On the one hand, cabbies are often blatantly racist in refusing to pick up black passengers. I've heard of numerous stories of black people standing for a long time, unable to hail a cab...and then a desi or white friend pushes them to the back, hails a cab with ease, and allows them to get in. Pretty wrong.

But I also can't blame the cabbies too much. Being a cab driver is the most dangerous profession in the country. And I believe cabbies are require by NYC law to take a passenger wherever he/she wants to go in the city....so from a detached "rationalist" perspective, a lot of them think, "Why risk picking up this black passenger, he may ask me to take him to Hunt's Point in the Bronx or Far Rockaway or something...and then report me if I refuse to go." Especially when there are plenty of other (basically non-black) passengers they could pick up. If I were a cabbie, I don't think I would avoid any such passengers...but if my son/daughter/mom/dad/relative were a cab driver? Not so sure I'd advise the same...Discrimination in areas like education and job opportunities is anathema, but its trickier when personal safety is involved.

Saurav, good question. There is no single national resource, that I know of, yet. Since Sepia Mutiny Comments don't allow tables, I just threw together a quick table of some major urban centers. In general any police department worth its salt should post statistics of the Majors, or Uniform Crime Reports. . .look under Crime Statistics or Crime Data. . .and if you can't find it online you should be able to get a paper copy for the asking. Localizing those is harder in low-population areas--in NYC, for example, the precinct system automatically localizes it. If you're interested in promoting the availability of this kind of information, hound your local police department and considerc checking out SecurityOnCampus.org. It's still run by Jeanne Clery's brother, whom I've interviewed on the phone, and he's very sincerely and passionately interested in using information to promote safety and prevent crime--but I get the impression they're on a shoe-string budget and it's all they can do to make sure campuses obey the Jeanne Clery Act.

Hopefully soon to be updated table of Crime Statistics sites, for now including NYC, LA, DC, SF, Oakland, Berkeley, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and UCLA.

I'm double-posting this to the original Arvin Sharma thread.

what can we really do about these things? use common sense.

Live far away from black people. Yes, really. Attack me as a racist but Sharma is dead and it's pretty clear that "dangerous neighborhood" in DC does not mean Capitol Hill.

NYC desi cabbies know what's up. When will PC desis?

Localizing those is harder in low-population areas

Not really. Just do what Chris Rock says, and avoid Martin Luther King boulevard. (or the local equivalent, whether it be New Haven, East Palo Alto, East St. Louis, or the black part of DC).

And I'm a big advocate on educating yourself about crime statistics and self defense so you can make educated and not irrationally fearful choices

Good idea.

FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Table 43 is enlightening.

National Rifle Association.

lkjlkj = Godless Capitalist.

Er, why the new nick, dick ?

Er, why the new nick, dick ?

Maybe because our original nicks aren't unique enough :-(

Says SM when I try to submit a comment: "Please pick a more original nickname."

-(formerly) Anonymous Cow

Reminds me of the plight of black/hispanic people who want to get cabs in Manhattan.

vurdlife: Reminds me of a humorous Ted Rall article: Memoirs of a New York City Taxi Driver - an interesting read. Loved the article even though I despise his political columns.

Says SM when I try to submit a comment: "Please pick a more original nickname."

Sorry. Those highly differentiated nicknames Anonymous, Anon, anon, anony, anon-2, ... and ,,, messed it up for you.

Woah! I don't think its appropriate to say things like llrkja (whatever) said. I don't think you should stay clear of those areas because they are highly African-American populated. I do think, like others have commented, one needs to think safety. You can get stabbed in NW DC (raped, robbed, sexaully assaulted), as you can in SW/SE DC. I think blamming an area or group of suspected crime statistics is unnecessarily harmful. Also, as Saurav pointed out, keep in mind that stats from the FBI and others are often racialized. There are plenty of books, studies and novels criticizing crime stats.

I'm sad to hear about Sharma's death...but, not to sound cold, people are always being shot and killed in DC for no reason whatsoever. I don't know why we cry more for someone who is our own race when others are dying as well?

Grow up, dude. The statistics you cite are flat and crush together an entire mass. My neighborhood (which I'm not posting here) is virtually-crime free and has plenty of African-American households--def.a higher percentage than population. It also happens to be solidly upper middle class. Some of the most dangerous areas I've spent time in had not a single non-me non-blonde person for miles, but they were terribly poor. Class is a factor. Culture is a factor. How good the local PD is is a factor. How oblivious you look is a factor. And finally blind luck or destiny or whatever are big, big factors, because these are very small numbers and we're talking about people, not atoms. Each locale is different combo of factors. That's why low-resolution averages are so useless, and mapping software is so cool. The whole point of this discussion was that blind rules of thumb help no one. I don't know DC very well at all, but in NYC for example there were "black" neighborhoods that were perfectly safe and other neighborhoods--some black, some not--that were significantly less safe. So your racist rule of thumb would have gotten you into trouble/made you lose out on some nice housing stock. Much better off making a decision based on the facts on the ground. And much better off trying to alleviate the changable factors. I think people call race because it can't be changed so they dont' have to do anything about it. Employing a lot more cops in only the neighborhoods where you need them (as opposed to the neighborhoods where hysterical rich people demand them) is a good place to start. And all you Sepia Mutineers in Los Angeles should start taking a look at your local politics.

rversde23 When he was missing it was posted here because this is a good forum for such things. Desi people are likely to notice other desi people and remember a desi face better. (I think this goes for any community). So once they found his body it was announced and we were sad. I'm quite sad when I read about plenty of other deaths this week and any week, but this isn't a relevant forum to talk about them. Yeah, maybe it hits home a little more because sharing our culture and ethnicity we can imagine his life more, empathize with our parents. That's more because of culture and community than straight-up race. We can't hold a funeral everytime someone in this country gets murdered. It's no crime to be sad on the selective basis that you happen to hear about one or another.

Oh Lord. ..he was a Geography Information Systems Major. . .sigh.

vurdlife: Reminds me of a humorous Ted Rall article: Memoirs of a New York City Taxi Driver - an interesting read. Loved the article even though I despise his political columns.

Nice article! By the way I love Ted Rall...finally a liberal with balls.

arvin was one of my close boys, yall dont know the half of it...

What do you mean about "the half of it"? What do you know about Arvin that we don't?

Arvin was the most incredible person. I grew up with him graduated high school with him and talked to him regularly through IM. Arvin didn't leave that club by himself. He was forced out. Anyone who knows Arvin knows that he would never leave that club without his friends. Besides you don't just leave a club you pay 20-30 dollars to get into to go take a look at the damn river...

Why would you even bother to argue if you knew
Arvin better then mdigz? so what if you did, so what if you didn't. Arvin is gone. No only is he gone, but he was murdered. I know in my heart that there was "foul play" involved. I guess we'll find out any day now... May Arvin rest in peace forever.

I'm not saying I knew him at all. I am very curious, though. I don't think it was an accident either. I hope someone will say something here that will shed light on the mystery. I don't have much confidence in the police. I'm worried they are going to say that there is no evidence of foul play. Let's see.

Things the media didn't tell you: 1. The party was sponsored by Howard University, Morgan State University, and University Maryland College Park's Carribean student associations. 2. There is an FBI building right next to the club which has surveillance and evidently none of their tapes showed Arvin leaving the club or walking to the river. 3. His cell phone rang way after his disappearance, which suggests that he was not in the water because if he was his phone would have died as soon as it was in the water. Foul-Play.

Really sad. Also, a high school boy found him during the the high school's organized creek cleanup. That must be really traumatizing.