"With the unknown, one is confronted with danger, discomfort and worry; the first instinct is to abolish these painful sensations. First principle: any explanation is better than none. The question "Why?" is not pursued for its own sake but to find a certain kind of answer - an answer that is pacifying, tranquilizing and soothing."

Opening an article about crime in Tacoma with a quote from Nietzsche. Now that's gangster.

There are no easy answers to the questions sparked by an ongoing case against several dozen alleged gang members in Tacoma. Everyone involved - advocates for the accused, public officials, law enforcement, members of the local media - has their lines memorized. It's not about black and white, they say.  It's about justice. It's about making our communities safe. And it is. But it's about more than that. It has to be.

To say otherwise would be dishonest.

Here are the bare facts: In early February, law enforcement agencies throughout Pierce County served warrants, made arrests and charged 32 alleged gang members with a laundry list of felony charges ranging from first-degree murder to criminal conspiracy.  Each of the 32 arrested are charged with criminal conspiracy (some of them with no other charges), which means they'll be prosecuted as a group. This is a new approach in Washington state. It's based on a legal tactic that was used first to prosecute mafia syndicates.

Relevant to this current instance is the use of the so-called RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act to prosecute gangs in Florida and other hot spots - the Latin Kings, for example, which is considered the largest, most organized Hispanic gang in the country.  Comparing the sophistication, organization and criminal influence of the Latin Kings to gangs in Tacoma requires some degree of creativity.

But application of legal precedent doesn't require attention to such subtleties.  Especially when applied to people that are damned the moment the label "gang member" is affixed.

Washington has its own conspiracy law, which requires prosecutors to offer evidence that at least two people planned to commit a crime and that at least one of them took steps to carry it out. The logic among prosecuting teams in Pierce County is that joining a gang is sufficient to prove such an agreement - literally that joining a gang makes every gang member complicit in crimes carried out by members of the same gang. That doesn't mean all gang members can be prosecuted for all crimes carried out by members of the same gang, but it does mean several members of the Hilltop Crips who do not face charges for specific crimes such as assault or robbery can be charged with conspiracy, which is a crime in itself.

"We took the [Washington]conspiracy statute, and looked at models of successful gang prosecution in other parts of the country," says Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. "Statutes similar to our own have been used successfully to prosecute gangs. We're not comparing gangs here. We're comparing how these laws have been applied. "

The people arrested and charged were fingered by a single informant - a gang member who cooperated with police and prosecutors. But the tips offered by the informant were just the beginning, says Lindquist. Investigations into alleged crimes were exhaustive, and cases were built through cooperative efforts of several law enforcement agencies that collected a massive pile of evidence. It might be cynical to suggest that the so-called aggressive prosecution currently underway casts aside the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing. 

"The way our system works, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty," says Lindquist. "But we charge the cases we think we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt."

The particular people arrested in this case - and the fact that they have black skin - is characterized as a sort of coincidence. They just happened to be members of a gang that shared the misfortune of having an informant in their midst. Lindquist and others involved in rounding up the alleged gang members assure the community that this is just the beginning. Other gangs - with members of various races - are under investigation, and will be prosecuted similar to the group currently in the spot light. He notes that crime has decreased since the arrests in question were made. While many who've taken a statistics course might tell you that drawing a direct connection between the two things raises its own set of questions, still, Lindquist says he and members of his team plan to carry out prosecution with integrity.

"We're going to play this by the rules," he says.

People concerned about this new legal approach, especially black people, have to be careful raising protest in the meantime. It's too easy to interpret any sort of opposition or concern about the new legal approach as knee-jerk. You know, the dreaded "race card". Read the local papers and blogs, and listen to conversations about this issue, and you get the impression all black people in Tacoma are crying foul, and everyone else wants the accused to be locked up and forgotten.

But that's all it is - an impression. And it's a patently false one.

In interviews and conversations with people involved in all aspects of this case, opinions vary.

"We're not saying they're all innocent," says Kevin Ryan, who stood in the doorway at a recent Tacoma City Council meeting handing out buttons that called for justice and fair treatment of the accused. "We just don't think this amounts to the conspiracy they say it does."

By "we," Ryan means People for Justice, an ad-hoc group of advocates for the accused, for the reputation of Hilltop, and for the fair application of law. This distinction was made clear for all the folks who think every time a member of a racial group says "we" they mean everyone that looks like them.

"I don't think the crux of the issue is about arresting these people," says Arthur Banks, pastor at Tacoma's Eastside Baptist Church. "We're not pro-gang or pro-criminal. But we are pro-justice."

Banks shares concerns with several people interviewed that the new, aggressive legal approach may not be fair. Some are concerned, for example, about the million-dollar bail levied against the suspected gang members. Others are concerned that some of the accused are not gang members, and are being charged solely for associating with gang members. Others are concerned that this is the first time Pierce County has used this approach and that prosecuting people as a group doesn't afford the accused the same quality of legal defense offered to people being tried individually.

"You go down to court and see people committing far worse crimes or crimes of equal magnitude, and they're getting far less bail," says Banks.

Banks also expressed concern over reports that some of the accused have been taken out of their cells at night and questioned without a lawyer present, also saying he believes all the attention given to this issue will make it hard for the accused to receive a fair trial.

Oscar Morris, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Redress President, expressed concern that crucial information has been withheld from defense attorneys.

"We're not saying release them because they're gang members," says Morris. "We're saying don't commit a crime in order to alleviate another. I want to stay optimistic and say that no crime is being committed [by law enforcement].  But there's an old country saying  - where there's smoke there's fire."

The fact that these concerns are expressed by people of color doesn't make this a race issue. Concerns are concerns, says Pastor Gregory Christopher, minister at Shiloh Baptist Church and president of the local chapter of the NAACP. Dismissing concerns based on the color of the skin of the person expressing them would be as misguided as accepting them on the same grounds.

"I did not want this to blow up to be a race issue," says Christopher. "I initiated a meeting with the mayor, the city manager, the police chief, the prosecuting attorney, the black collective, the NAACP - and we had dialogue. After that meeting, my focus became loved ones [of the accused] who said their civil rights were being violated, to include that some family members were being harassed by the lead detective.  Because of my status in the community, I had to respond to this. Somebody has to step up and be a voice for them. I will continue to shine a light on this situation, hoping that the powers that be will not allow injustice in this situation. Even if you disagree with a person, you can't be that evil about it. This thing had the potential of exploding and doing more damage than good. This is about justice and due process that anybody deserves."

With all that said, it would be wrong to ignore the issue of race. Despite proclamations of a so-called post-racial America, the emotional energy surrounding this issue is a clear indication that race is still an issue.

"I believe that we [African-Americans] are learning to defend our civil rights without even having to go there," says Christopher. "Even if there is a clear race case, we're told ‘You better not go there - it is what it is'."

But the race to move past race ignores complex social realities that will likely take decades, centuries even, to unravel and come to terms with. It's especially hard to face these realities in a city that has struggled with issues of race and poverty for decades, and is moving at breakneck speed to blossom into an era we hope will be characterized by shiny new museums, art, tourism, condos, martini bars and cupcakes.

Walk 10 blocks in any direction from this urban renaissance, however, and you'll see the evidence that we're not there yet. Sorry Tacoma. We've made progress, indeed. But reality keeps coming back to bite us. People are still struggling. We still have an affordable housing crisis of immense proportion. We still have an education system in need of serious overhaul. And ignoring the racial components of these issues may sooth emotions, but it ignores some important parts of the picture.

The National Urban League "State of Black America 2010" report, for example, indicates that on national level, blacks are six times more likely and Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to be incarcerated.  Analyzing a broad range of statistics, the Urban League report compares quality of life for dozens of categories, including economics, health, education, civic participation and social justice. Amassing and integrating this data produces a measure of the overall well-being of African Americans, described in the report as barely three-fourths that of whites - a ratio unchanged from last year. The report indicates that blacks have more than double the unemployment rate of whites.  Less than half of blacks own homes, compared with more than three-fourths of whites. Black youth are more likely than whites to have poorly trained teachers, live in poverty and not have health insurance.

Narrowing the focus, note comments by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges who recently reviewed restrictions on voting rights for felons in Washington State jails. 

Circuit Court Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote that documents and evidence, "have demonstrated that police practices, searches, arrests, detention practices, and plea bargaining practices lead to a greater burden on minorities that cannot be explained in race-neutral ways."

Joined by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Tashima found that black and Latino Washingtonians faced arrest and prosecution at rates far higher than could be explained simply by increased criminal activity. Finding no "race neutral" explanation for the higher incarceration rates, the majority reversed a U.S. District Court decision and ruled in favor of the inmates right to vote. 

"Although (the state) criticized the experts' studies and the conclusions, the (plaintiffs') reports, when objectively viewed, support a finding of racial discrimination in Washington's criminal justice system," Tashima said in the ruling.  "Given that uncontroverted showing," he added, "in the words of the district court, there can be 'no doubt that members of racial minorities have experienced discrimination in Washington's criminal justice system.'"

Closer to home, residents of Pierce County are still dealing with the emotional shock and mourning the death of four Lakewood police officers. Maybe now isn't the time to have these discussions. People are still too raw. Too hurt. Too emotionally charged.

"Once Tacoma and Lakewood begin to heal, we need to have real conversation around the race issue," says Christopher. "If you put it on the table now, it's almost like committing suicide."

But if we don't, we run the risk of sacrificing justice.

"We sweep it [the race issue] under the carpet, and it just gets bigger," says Christopher. "In the initial meeting with Mayor Strickland, the city manager and the police chief, they said with conviction that we don't want this to be a race issue. We were concerned that the way that you portray these people, you will say the face of crime on Hilltop is black. I was proud of our mayor and the other people we met with. They know that Tacoma has a history with the race thing. We've got to give Tacoma and Lakewood time to heal - and then we have to have those conversations."

As far as those standing trial, Christopher is more candid than most.

"Some of them, I believe, are not guilty of what they're saying they're guilty of now," says Christopher.

"They're able to get away with it because some of these people have criminal history. But people can change. People do change. I've been in trouble with Tacoma about 25 years ago, but I changed my life. I got hooked on that crack cocaine, and went to jail. But the detectives that arrested me went in front of the judge and said ‘This is not your typical criminal'. Because of his testimony, I only did four years. I was looking at 20 years to life. I am passionate about people being able to change. But in this case, because of the title ‘gang member', people have already said in their mind, ‘To hell with them'."

But Christopher finds some hope in the justice system as well. Why?

Because local leaders had the courage to meet face to face, wrestle with issues that many would like to sweep back under the rug, and face these issues from multiple perspectives.

"I told him [Lindquist] ‘Let's do this right'," says Christopher. "And he agreed with me."

Lindquist, meanwhile, says frankly that the criminal justice system can't solve this problem.

"We can't just arrest our way out of this problem," he says. "We have to work together as a community to solve the problem of violent gangs."

So, Pierce County ... we have a black president. We have a multi-racial mayor. We have a lot of young black men facing time in prison. We have a lot of healing to do. And we have some tough conversations ahead of us. Maybe now isn't the time. Maybe people are still too raw to tackle this one.

But maybe now is the time. Maybe we'll wait and let the courts decide for us. But that seems terminally nave - naive even.

"Electing one person to office can't eliminate 300-400 years of racism," says Pastor Banks. "It's going to take people making some sacrifices and getting to know people and trusting them. It's not a quick fix. Just when you think you're making the necessary progress, the devil will throw you a curve and let you know that it's not over yet."