Funeral directors protest Detroit violence

Detroit had 344 murders last year, and already there have been 27 homicides in January.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports that some funeral directors fed-up with the violence have taken to the streets to protest.

"By and large it's the younger people that's dying, that's killing each other," says O'Neil Swanson, whose family has buried Detroit's residents for 54 years.

These days, business is booming, for all the wrong reasons.

"You think about the potential these youngsters had, just taken away, taken away," Swanson says.

Last Sunday, dozens of Detroit's undertakers drove a motorcade of hearses through the city's most violent neighborhoods, bearing a simple message from the Bible.

"These are funeral directors and you'd think they'd want death calls and everything. They're sick of it. They don't want it. They don't want business that way," Swanson says.

Elaine Reebus saw the hearses in downtown Detroit as she was making funeral arrangements for her son-in-law, 36-year-old Derrius Kendricks, a married father of five, shot and killed in front of his two sons, when he tried to break up a fight.

"Do you know what I felt? I felt pride because a funeral director is coming together with his fellow funeral directors and saying enough is enough," Reebus said.

Swanson said that was the point of the protest.

"We want to send a message to youngsters that we're concerned that someone cares because all too often they're not getting that at home. If we had more jobs, I think you'd see a difference throughout America if there were more jobs," Swanson says.

O'Neil Swanson holds out hope that one day, he'll be the one business owner in America relieved to have fewer clients.

[credibility2]

For decades we have deteriorated as a civilized society. We have pandered to, tolerated, and accommodated individuals to do whatever they want to without any accountability or responsibility; this includes government handouts. The very people committing these crimes use as an excuse everything except the fact that they lack morality, ethics, integrity, and respect. Too many are content with generational government reliance, versus self-reliance. They are reaping what they've sowed and no one can help them except themselves.

[berlinfoto-2009]

For years Germans engineered the consent for the holocaust that was perpetrated against the Jews and other unwanted races of Europe.
The mass media of the United States controlled by the CIA, sold the use of drugs, to the people living in the ghetto. If you doubt this watch old movies on DVD, such as "SUPER FLY" which glorifies the selling and use of drugs. The CIA even introduced Drugs to America first with LSD then Marijuana then Cocaine, then Crack Cocaine.
The Drugs The Violence is a way of engineering consent, against the people who live in the Ghetto.

[tennguy2]

Maybe they could work around their school and earns some money. Or maybe just keep killing each other, which ever you prefer.

[berlinfoto-2009]

Have you ever heard of "REPUGNANT PHILOSOPHY" as the way Dolittle expressed it.
Repugnant Philosophy, is a way of being NAZI without being openly NAZI. It is about adopting elitism, and lying and covering up all of your bad deeds. The original members of the OSS adopted Repugnant Philosophy, their descendants follow in their footsteps. These are the White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, leading core of todays CIA.
They still believe that America can conquer and rule the world. They wish to eliminate certain races from America, the wish to create the Weimar Republic, in America in order for America to have a Hitler like dictator, and in order to start their wars to begin their conquest.
The exportation of jobs and their destruction of the economy is their steps in creating the Weimar Republic in America, Rampant Inflation is on its way.

[venusvegasvada]

OK Let's:

Offshore more jobs. Reduce taxes for the Rich.

Crush our nation with Debt. Replace SS with a sick 401k plan and give more money to Wall Street.

Take away Medicare/Medicaid and give out Cracker-Jack surprise vouchers so we can give more money to HMO's and insurance companies.

Take away any hope or shot this generation has at ever having anything better than a 10.00 an hour job (if they are lucky).

Thanks for putting the nation first all you elite "job creators".

It IS your fault.

[Jhihmoac]

Crazy way to voice an opinion...

[mecanik-2009]

We can sum up the problem with just one word. Drugs. And can you guess which minority group is seeing most of the killing. No one dares say it but it's like an elephant in the living room.

[guest173]

Are you talking about African Americans? what does that matter though? Do you know who the biggest drug dealers are in the world? South America for cocaine and pot and Afghanistan for heroin.

[bobnjersey]

[We can sum up the problem with just one word. Drugs. And can you guess which minority group is seeing most of the killing. ]
------------------------------------------
well ... you have drugs ... you have poverty ... you have race ... and you have violence.

which ones lead to which other ones?

you say it's the drugs ... but did the drugs really cause the poverty ... racial correlation ... and violence?

drugs are just a means toward money for most ... and in a black market ... the most ruthless usually dominates ... hence the violence.

so it sounds to me like it's really about money ... or the lack of it.

it's really a question of why that's a problem.

[smittyc]

Chicago has 300 of them stacked up waiting for autopsies. Chicago, Detroit, LA, Philadelphia, Newark, Trenton, Balitmore are to far gone. Nothing can be done, the gangs rule the streets. You take your life in your hands when you go into these places. Really the best solution is to pull the cops off the streets in these cities, stop wasting the taxpayors dollars and let them settle it amongst themselves. The funeral director shouldn't worry either, the ones that are left will bury the others in shallow graves just like they did in the old days.

[guest173]

no way. we don't need to have a Mexican Detroit where drug cartels are running things. Education can go a long way but even that needs improvement (I tend to agree with Bill Gate's recommendation to put cameras in classrooms and have teachers go through intense peer reviews for starters). Most people don't even know what Engineering is, one of the best paying career fields out there, that's a shame.

[bobnjersey]

[Chicago, Detroit, LA, Philadelphia, Newark, Trenton, Balitmore are to far gone. Nothing can be done, the gangs rule the streets. Really the best solution is to pull the cops off the streets in these cities, stop wasting the taxpayors dollars]
-------------------------------------------
you will try many things ... many things will fail ... never give up!

[nfission]

The oppression that the country is experiencing has been planned for a very long time, why? I'm not sure. And we have not been in a recession but rather a depression. This is some diabolical plan to harm the citizens of this country. One thing I have learned is that everything is tied to money, so I can only assume that someone is getting filthy rich from it all and more powerful.

[credibility2]

...those committing the crimes are the ones to blame for the problem and no one else...it's too easy to hide behind a flimsy excuse like this...it's been decades since the deterioration has been occurring...thank the liberals...