Battle Fatigue

The town of Cairo, Ill., might be a reminder that no one group holds a franchise on violence. In Cairo, a decaying, Southern-oriented town of 8,000 people at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the nights have been punctuated for months by gunfire from blacks and whites alike. Property owned by both races has been fire-bombed in a long struggle over job discrimination.

Anomalously, both sides share a common hostility toward Cairo's 14-man police force--four of whom are black. As Police Chief Ray Burke explained: "White officers don't trust black officers; white citizens don't trust black officers; the black officers don't trust all of the white officers; and the black community doesn't trust any police officer, black or white." Now Burke, a native Virginian who took over only last February as Cairo's third police chief in two years, has resigned, suffering something like battle fatigue. "I don't know where I'm going," he said, "but I'm looking for a community where the people work together."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.