Angela Dawson
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Angela Dawson was the most prominent member of a family — five children, herself, and husband Carnell — who were all murdered in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 16, 2002. After Dawson had repeatedly alerted police to drug dealing, assault, and other crime in her East Baltimore neighborhood of Oliver, she and her family died after her home was firebombed - an example of the "Stop Snitchin'" movement. A neighbor, Darrell L. Brooks — once a page in the Baltimore City Council chamber — pled guilty to the crimes and was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.[[1]] At the time of the attack, Brooks was on probation but had been left unsupervised.[[2]]
After repeated vandalism of their home, the Dawsons survived a first arson attempt on October 3, 2002, only to succumb to the second.[[3]] The outcry over the magnitude of the crime was only matched by the frustration expressed by many residents who simply could not believe that city officials, who were aware of the escalating violence, had been unable to protect the family. City officials defended their inaction, saying an offer to relocate the family was refused.
The tragedy underscored the failure in attempts to encourage residents of Baltimore to stand up to drug dealing and of the city to provide protection to those who did. In 2005, relatives of the Dawson family filed suit against the city, state and various agencies. They alleged that despite the launch of the Believe campaign in 2002 (which encouraged residents to supply information about drug dealers) there were insufficient resources to protect witnesses who did come forward.[4] The lawsuit was later dismissed.
Numerous efforts to reclaim and rebuild Oliver in the name of the Dawson family have been undertaken by politicians, activists, and ordinary citizens. Mayor Martin O'Malley, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, State Senator Nathaniel McFadden, and the action group known as Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) have worked in individual and collective ways to ensure the Dawson family a lasting public memory. The house where the Dawsons died has reopened as the Dawson Safe Haven Community Center.[[5]]
