The D Boys

I've been monitoring news stories here in Charlotte and elsewhere for a while now over what I call the "D Factor." The D Factor is the likelihood that, on any given day, a crime involving violence, shootings, stabbings, murders, robberies and burglaries will feature an African-American man in his 20's with a stupid-sounding name beginning with the letter "D."

For example, in today's Gainesville Sun: (Gainesville was my birth city)

Kevin Dushay Collins, 26, committed sexual battery;

A brawl at an apartment complex landed Deshard Collins, 24, in jail. Don't know if he's related to Kevin Dushay Collins mentioned above. (His opponent was Tuquana Yolanda Williams, 22.)

Shaun Donte Watson was arrested for burglary.

Scanning arrests here in the Charlotte area I see:

Austin Demar Burnett, drug possession;
Dontavious Damarcus Hollis, larceny; (Double D on this one!)
Desmin Martez Logan, resisting arrest;
Charles Darneil Norwood, drug possession;
Demarcus Antonio Sings, failure to produce ID.

And since I first drafted this entry a week ago the following have appeared:

An armed robbery down in Monroe, NC, one of the participants was Donnell Montez Haley, 19.

Down in South Carolina in the Charleston area, a crime spree occurred in the aptly-named Folly Beach area, with fighting and gunfights leading to one death and two wounded. One of the participants was named Detrichia Sellers.

If the infamous "Sumdood" were to be given a name, it would probably start with the letter D.

Presumably if I had a Masters in Anthropology I could publish a learned paper with a title such as Some Factors In Crime Statistics As Related To Naming Trends In African-American Communities and be taken seriously, but since I don't, we'll just dismiss this as racist stereotyping.