Whither our sense of outrage?

Whither our sense of outrage?

The page one story looking back on the car-bombing that killed “Cadillac Charlie” Cavallaro, and his 11-year-old son, Tommy, 50 years ago describes the reaction of a city and the nation to the horror of a child being caught up in gang violence.

It was enough to capture the attention of the attorney general of the United States and brought a truce that stifled mob killings here for more than a decade.

It is difficult to read that without thinking about the eight children under the age of 12 who have died in senseless gun violence in the Mahoning Valley since 1996. Many of them were collateral damage in the drug wars that have been raging here, killed by stray bullets fired during gun battles or drive-by shootings.

Their names appeared in a chronology in the Aug. 22 Vindicator. But they bear repeating. Apparently it’s too much to ask for the outrage that accompanied the Cavallaro bombing of 1962. But we might at least feel sorrow and shame:

Jessica Ballew, 3; DeShun Moreland-Aziz, 4; Luis Cruz, 4, Jiyen C. Dent Jr., 3 months; Cherish M. Moreland, 3; Ceonei Moore, 8; Lloyd McCoy, 11, and Bryce Linebaugh, 8.