It’s been a deadly year in Vicksburg and Warren County, and I have to say I’m disappointed.

I’m disappointed in the amount of violence, and in our community’s reaction to it.

So far this year, seven people have been killed — five by gunshot and two by knife. It’s a fact that’s hard to ignore.

The killing that drew the most public outcry was the death of 69-year-old Sharen Wilson who was kidnapped from her home on Drummond Street and taken to the former Kuhn Memorial Hospital where she was killed. Her body was dragged from the hospital building to the edge of the wood line.

The community was outraged, and rightfully so. A prayer vigil at St. Michael Catholic Church, where she was a member, drew hundreds of people. Her death inspired a women’s night out.

But where are the support, prayer vigils and swift reactions to the other six slayings in Vicksburg and Warren County this year?

The others — as most murder victims — were not prominent members of the community, and as a result, our community’s been quiet.

We must have forgotten the book of Matthew where Jesus is teaching the parable of the sheep and the goats.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” Jesus said.

Who in our community rose up and said no more when Jimmy Johnson of Tallulah was shot in January outside a Vicksburg nightclub where police were already on scene?

Who increased their crusades against domestic violence when Kathryn Peacock was stabbed outside her home on Grammar Street, when Roy Brown was shot in the yard of a home on Court Street or when Mack Vaughn was stabbed to death on Grove Street?

Peacock was a white woman living in a predominantly black neighborhood. Does this make her a social outcast who is easy to forget? Of course not. Vaughn was killed after a domestic disturbance involving a woman and her husband. Police say a husband and wife killed Brown.

Any police officer will tell you that domestic violence killings are almost impossible to stop once the violence has reached a certain level. But we as a community can work together to prevent it before it happens.

Brown’s shooting is extra dubious because the area of Court Street where he died is known for a high concentration of crack cocaine users. Does this make his life worth less than anyone else? Absolutely not.

Then there’s Richard May Jr., who was killed Friday inside a motel room where police found methamphetamine. Does out community chalk this up to another drug-related death and forget? Joseph Acuff was killed the next day. His death is also linked to a man arrested in a house where authorities also found meth.

Where is the public outcry, or is our community so quick to dismiss and forget because someone didn’t fit society’s mold?

These victims, people dead before their time, deserve our consideration. Their families deserve our prayers, support and outreach.

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John Edwards is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at josh.edwards@vicksburgpost.com.