Granted, Gary's murder rate has always been high, but police detective James Bond lets hyperbole get the better of him:
"People of Gary should ask themselves why the communities around them don't have this level of criminal activity," Bond said. "Urban genocide will continue until those who are brave enough actually stand up and do the right thing," he said.
"Genocide" is the deliberate and systematic extermination of an entire group of people. Using it as just another description of "too much crime" weakens a word for something far uglier. But I've fought a losing battle for years aginst the use of "tragedy" to mean merely that "something bad happened," diluting its more specific meaning of a great person brought down by a character flaw.
