Jackson Free Press

Lately, I've found myself with a lot more time on my hands. I try to fill that time with as much as I can, whether it be working to get ahead at the Jackson Free Press, dreaming about the novel I'm working on, fencing on Thursdays and Saturdays, or volunteering for organizations such as Community Animal Rescue & Adoption.

But more often than I'd like to admit, I find myself sitting in my room with nothing to do. In my down time (which I'm trying to greatly reduce), I generally use it to catch up on my favorite TV shows, whether it be "2 Broke Girls," "New Girl," "Marvel's Agent Carter" or my new favorite, "Arrow."

I'm not a huge fan of DC Comics (at least their movies and TV shows) because I find many of the more mainstream characters, such as Superman and Batman, to be more than a little boring and overly dramatic. Batman's story is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, and I generally stay away from drama. And Superman is more than a little boring to me. But heroes such as The Green Arrow make me want to look a little closer at the comic conglomerate.

The Green Arrow is a billionaire playboy (not unlike Tony Stark, my favorite Marvel character) who has been through a lot and because of that, he's changed his entire persona. He's gone from a selfish, egotistical jerk to someone who cares about people and is trying to help rebuild the city his father and others tried to tear down. At first, everyone sees him as a vigilante who does help the city, yes, but he's not doing it within the realms of the law, so that makes him an enemy of city law enforcement.

Regardless of how citizens and the police force see him, one thing is clear: No matter what means he goes by to do it, he's always fighting for his city. It took five years on a dangerous island to get him there, but he came back with a vengeance.

I've finally finished the first two seasons, and due to that, I've grown to understand the character a little better. In the second season, he makes an effort to stop killing in the name of justice, even knowingly putting himself and those he loves in danger because he refuses to take another life (though there are always casualties). In the first season, he sets out with vengeance in mind, but he chooses to honor those he lost by defending the city against the many threats that creep up.

Sometimes when I watch "Arrow," I think about the city I feared for most of my life, but over the last two years, have grown to love: Jackson. It almost reminds me of Gotham City or Starling City. It seems big, but it's actually a small city with a fairly tight-knit community. And like the cities that lie throughout the comic-book world, it has its problems.

The Jackson Police Department reported that, in the 28 days leading up to Jan. 11, 2015, the total major crimes, which include auto burglary, grand larceny, homicide and rape, committed in Jackson went up 15.4 percent from the same period the previous year. The current statistics include 120 cases of car theft (that number was 86 last year), 34 cases of business burglary (43 last year) and three homicides (two last year). On Jan. 7, a group of young men allegedly murdered Carolyn Temple while she was picking up a neighbor's garbage can at her boyfriend's house in the Belhaven neighborhood. Days later, in south Jackson, Christal Summers died in a shootout that he may have started.

Tyson Jackson, the lead organizer for the Mississippi Association of State Employees-Communication Workers of America local 3570, wrote a column in last week's issue, "On Life and Crime in South Jackson," saying that in December 2013, two men shot and killed a 15-year-old girl a block from Jackson's house.

Scary stuff, right? It adds fuel to the fire that tries to make you believe the worst about Jackson—while ignoring crimes in other places, including the suburbs, from child pornography arrests to the group of Rankin County teens that drove into Jackson and killed James Craig Anderson.

Jackson is not a bad place to be. It's good, in fact. I promise that you won't find such diversity and soul anywhere in the world. You won't find people who care more than the people of Jackson. And you won't find such a focus on "local" in many other places—an emphasis this newspaper has pushed since the beginning.

It says something that, after Temple's murder, residents of Belhaven and nearby neighborhoods started a dialogue on their Nextdoor website that turned into an open and honest discussion about crime in the city, with meetings planned to discuss solutions and ways to prevent crime. It's people outside the city who see news like Temple's murder and shiver in their bones.

But like Oliver Queen, I love my city, and I take offense when someone tries to write it off as a place where nothing but crime happens. If I had his capabilities, I'd don a hood and defend it, but I can't. I'm not a superhero, and the most self-defense I have is what I've learned in fencing and the little I know about shooting a gun.

I'm not a superhero, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. The ones I'm thinking of probably don't have expert archery skills and can't catch an arrow before it makes skin contact. They don't have millions of dollars or the technology to create a high-powered titanium alloy suit with repulsors and the ability to fly. They have passion and hope.

What I like about the Green Arrow the most is that Queen doesn't have out-of-this-world superpowers so he's fairly relatable. I mean, I could probably become a master archer if I wanted to. Queen is more or less a regular person who's dealt with a lot of loss, but still sees the best in his city—and is willing to fight for it.

I always want to imagine what it would be like if Jackson had superheroes. It's got the right atmosphere for a comic book world—varied types of architecture, slums, an overwhelming sense of hope in the air (yes, I believe in that).

Superheroes wouldn't be bored in a city like ours, and sure, they could definitely help keep crime down, but they alone can't change our mindset when it comes to crime. We have to stop looking at crime as an epidemic that needs to be stopped. You can't completely wipe out crime because evil can lurk behind any corner. But we can change how we respond to it when it does happen or maybe even come together to help keep young people from becoming criminals. And we have to stop thinking that it's something that only affects Jackson. Crime and evil are everywhere. You just can't focus on that.

Assistant Editor Amber Helsel graduated from Ole Miss with a bachelor's degree in journalism. Email her arts, food & drink, and wellness story ideas at [email protected]