Silence of the blacks deafening

More than 60 people, mostly black, took part in a vigil for the victim of a shooting. The participants, including Marvin Gavin, an organizer of a collaborative working with residents and neighborhood leaders to address community concerns, demanded justice for the man killed.

Was it a tribute to Abdullah Nagi Mahdi, a humble, hardworking small businessman murdered last week in his shop on Youngstown’s South Side? Of course not.

The cold-blooded gunning down of the 29-year-old native of Yemen by a black man who is nothing more than a social leech has been largely ignored by the black community.

So, why was there a vigil in the city?

The answer speaks volumes:

It was prompted by the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a black resident of Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson.

Video surveillance

Brown was unarmed, but video surveillance cameras showed him shoplifting and accosting the store owner before being confronted by the policeman on the streets of Ferguson.

A grand jury is expected to issue a report on the incident at any moment, but the shooting has sparked daily and nightly protests in the city, and national marches and rallies to focus attention on the fact that in America today, black men are in harm’s way when it comes to law enforcement.

“It seems to be open season on black men,” said Gavin at the August vigil at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown. “I’m afraid for myself, my cousin, who’s 18, and my son in an environment where it’s easy to kill a black man.”

That heartfelt sentiment could easily be expressed by Youngstown neighborhood store owners, most of whom come from the Middle East and largely serve an economically challenged black population.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that these business owners, who work all year round, at least 14 hours a day, are as much in harm’s way in the city, as young black men are in their dealings with law enforcement.

It is a fact that the attackers of the neighborhood store owners are mostly young black men.

So, consider what occurred Wednesday when Mahdi was in his store, Reemas Fashion on South Avenue, earning an honest living to support his wife and many children, the oldest being 14.

Police say 19-year-old Larry McDonald, an individual with a criminal record and no redeeming social value, walked into the store under the pretext of wanting to spend $200 and instead pulled a gun and indulged in what has become a regular occurrence in the neighborhood stores: armed robbery.

But unlike the old days when immigrants handed over their hard-earned money rather than confront the scum who roam the streets of the city, owners have had enough. They are now armed and aren’t going to be cowed.

Mahdi, respected by many who knew him well, including the owner of a pizza shop next door, grabbed his gun when it became clear that McDonald was nothing more than an armed criminal.

Shots were exchanged. And when the shooting stopped, the 29-year-old immigrant from Yemen was dead. McDonald was injured and is now being treated in St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

He will survive, and if he is convicted for murder will be locked away for life — or so it can be hoped.

Family’s life sentence

But Mahdi’s wife and young children also face a life sentence — of sorrow and emotional pain that comes with the loss of a kind, gentle, God-fearing man.

The silence of the black community over the killing of a store owner who, by all accounts, was sensitive to the financial difficulties faced by many black inner-city residents, is deafening.

It is sad to note that had McDonald walked into the store and asked for a helping hand, he would have received it — and more. Instead, he chose to

attack an individual who had done him no harm.

In April 2012, this writer discussed the unprovoked pistol-whipping of Jihad Nizer, owner of Rainbow Red and White Grocery Store on Elm Street, in a column headlined, “Attack on store owner was obscene.”

Today, in light of the unprovoked killing of Abdullah Nagi Mahdi, the word “obscene” seems too mild.

It was an act of pure “evil.”