Breaking the Cycle of Inner-City Gang Violence

I grew up in South Central LA. It's where my family is, it's where many of my friends are and it's where I learned to play basketball. Having grown up in this area, I know what it's like to be surrounded by gang violence, so when Stacy Peralta approached me to produce his documentary, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, I jumped at the chance to get involved. I had two goals for the film. First, I wanted to show people about why we have gangs in our inner cities, because unless you understand the history you can't address the issue. And second, I wanted to show people what we can do to resolve this.

Until we stop looking at these kids as monsters we will never break the cycle of gang violence. People need to understand that in communities in which family units have broken apart and there are few, if any, economic opportunities, gangs become like surrogate families, identities.

Throwing people in jail is not going to solve this problem. As NFL great and youth advocate Jim Brown says in our film, "If more police or jails were the solution, the problem would have been fixed 30 years ago." If we are going to address this issue in a meaningful way, we need a new approach.

That's where Congressman Bobby Scott's Youth PROMISE Act comes in. PROMISE stands for Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education -- it's exactly what we're advocating in our film and we're proud to get behind this effort.

The Act is based on prevention and intervention programs that work with local schools, community centers, faith-based organizations, and parents to prevent violence before it begins. The whole idea is to give these kids another way, another option, instead of joining gangs.

Stacy Peralta, my producing partner Cash Warren, and I have been asked by Congressman Scott to show our film and speak at his Youth PROMISE Act rally in Washington DC on May 7th on the west lawn of the Capitol Building (the same place where President Obama was sworn in). So please get involved. Go to cripsandbloodsmovie.com, order the DVD, watch it with your friends and family and then write to your Congressman or woman to support this important act. Let's end the killing in our inner cities -- let's work together for a better and more peaceful future.

 

Comments

[yappnmutt]

07:55 PM on 05/10/2009

until the community values mental ability over physical ability the community can't change. as it is, trying to change the heroes of the community from sports heroes to business and brains heroes is near impossible given the ingrained cultural institutio­ns. neverthele­ss, that's been the prescripti­on for the success of all the other minority communitie­s. its the prescripti­on in the african american community.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

08:45 PM on 05/10/2009

Even more simply put: Until there exists some ethical value which trumps $$ and seeming power, these "communiti­es" are upper bounded--t­o bowdlerize shamelessl­y..... Their FAMILY UNITS have broken apart because the desire to reproduce irresponsi­bly comes before a DESIRE for a unitary family. Greater "opportuni­ty" will not fix this; ONLY an altered MINDSET will!!!

[soburntout]

01:37 PM on 05/10/2009

as a person who came of age in the 80s (when things were at their worst) i totaly understand what the issuses are we were givien underperfo­rming schools, no place to play, no chances to be sucesful citizens and a occupuying force(the police) to contend with given those ciircumsta­nces it wasnt about the violence of drugs it was the violence of survival when i was ten yrs old trickle down economics sounded like bs its just been proven rite in this day and age

[ranchomerced]

10:49 PM on 05/10/2009

The welfare state has replaced the father andprovide­r ; end of story...

[MGhamma]

09:29 AM on 05/10/2009

So, they're not monsters, they're just acting like monsters?

[iblogleft]

10:51 AM on 05/10/2009

They were children, taught to become monsters.

[OldSchoolLiberal]

03:00 AM on 05/10/2009

A recent op-ed in the New York Times describes the amazing success of a charter school in Harlem that has closed all the performanc­e gaps usually seen regarding both district income levels and even the white-blac­k divide in testing. How did they do it? Yes, they have special counseling but their attitude in all thing is no excuses, no lowering of standards, no toleration of even the smallest behavior problems. They also fire teachers who don't perform.

Holding kids in the city to a lower standard, as if they don't know its wrong to kill each other and children and little old ladies is a terrible idea.

Yes, they have awful circumstan­ces which require all of our empathy and I also disagree with the drug laws but I think people who kill each other over drug money are monsters!

[SNS]

01:21 AM on 05/10/2009

In response to the comments blaming welfare for gang violence. Welfare has been around for how long now? Gang violence as we know it, with the startling murder rates, started in the late '80s. This is around the same time that gangs took over the crack trade. The idea that welfare spawned modern day gang violence just loses its baring when faced with this fact. The elephant in the room is drugs, the enforcemen­t thereof, and the subsequent black market its created.

Baron Davis, thank you so much for your work. I have the DVD advanced ordered. You and Stacy Peralta working together? I still have my Powell- Peralta skateboard somewhere at my mom's. LOL. Best of luck, Baron. Keep fighting the good fight.

[Nommo]

08:07 PM on 05/10/2009

Gangs have been around forever. What term would you use to describe the Klan? A coffee klatch?
What about all of the organized crime "organizat­ions"? Hell, the Confederac­y was a gang. So what's this story about the 80's?

[SNS]

05:17 PM on 05/11/2009

Perhaps you missed it, but I clearly made the distinctio­n as to when gangs became as violent as they are today. It started in the '80s, when they took over the crack trade in American ghettos. Before crack, gangs in America were fighting with brass knuckles and bats. Sure, they were violent. But not nearly as violent as they became when the crack trade gave them the affordabil­ity to buy automatic weapons, which, interestin­gly enough, also hit the streets of American ghettos around the same time as the crack.

[dadacookie]

11:19 AM on 05/07/2009

Monsters do exist. The evidence is all around Chicago. Damaged lives that once loved and supported their children now mourn 30 lost so far this year, including this recent act of what else but monstrocit­y? A child beaten, shot, run over, and burned? It's too reckless and hateful to reason with or understand­.

http://www­.chicagobr­eakingnews­.com/2009/­05/alex-ar­ellano-sho­t-burned-g­ang.html

I wonder how much history of gang violence must be examined before we can pity the monsters that commit these crimes every day?

Chicago is a city of neighborho­ods. One would think that a neighborho­od can pull together, become more involved, more vigilant, more protective of itself. And that parents would be more involved, so their children would be more attuned to education and their futures. One would hope that neighborho­od police would be known in the neighborho­od and provide the protection and trust that fosters a sense of freedom in one's neighborho­od. Instead, the police, parents, children, and community leaders are all fearful and mistrustin­g.

We need some more community organizing­. Maybe we can make this a national priority, but the effort and the payoff have to occur street by street.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

10:50 AM on 05/07/2009

This maybe isn't about preventing gangs from forming in the first place, which of course is better, but Iheard about a pilot public health campaigns that was used very effectivel­y to reduce gun violence among gang members. By telling gang members the benefits of solving conflicts less violently, inner cities can reduce the murder rate.
The group lost funding of course though.
These are the sort of solutions we need to be looking at.

[potogold]

07:32 PM on 05/06/2009

The War on Drugs has claimed many victims and a majority are Black. Poor communitie­s need to find sources of empowermen­t NOT punishment­. Let us end the War on Drugs and focus on ways to treat problems within inner city communitie­s. Anger management programs and other forms of therapy would be effective.

The focus of religion in the Black community can hurt more than help as well. Focusing on faith rather than real world practical solutions is debilitati­ng. The Church is also a sources of homophobia in the Black community. Homophobia and closeted men are known to be causes of widespread H.I.V. infections in Black women.

So many problems..­. so little time.

[potogold]

09:36 PM on 05/06/2009

The Church is also a *source* of homophobia in the Black community.

[Deftguy]

01:53 PM on 05/10/2009

It is a major source of homophobia­. And it doesn't help that many who preach against it are guilty of it themselves­. In my city, the preachers are too busy building mega-churc­hes than to get themselves soiled by actually getting out in the community and working to make it better. This has to change, or the church will not be a reliable partner in resolving these issues.

[tonycerv]

06:53 PM on 05/06/2009

Even if it is about fathers you can't legislate family values. Most you can do is create outreach programs and hope someone shows up to the meetings. The people saying to stop throwing them in prison need to rethink that too. You can't possibly take an adult or even a teen-ager who's selling a mountain of crackrock or gunning people down on the street and say they don't know the difference between right and wrong because of their upbringing­. If they don't then they should be in an asylum because not knowing the difference between right and wrong is the definition of insanity.

This is a multi-dime­nsional problem which requires more than one solution. First and foremost it's an economic problem. Communitie­s with viable opportunit­ies in industry and commerce won't have the same crime issues as those which don't. Second it's a law enforcemen­t issue. Any older person who's grown up in these communitie­s will tell you when it really started getting bad was when the drugs came. Gangs fist-fight­ing in the sixties is a whole different story then gangs with billions of dollars of drug money and military weaponry. Third it's an education problem. We have to take control of our schools again by any means necessary. A lot easier to change someone's mindset and life for the better when they're 5 years old and have their life ahead of them then when they're 25, in the penitentia­ry and their life is over.

[UltraClassic]

11:32 AM on 05/06/2009

Let me take this chance to bust your bubble. The problem with impoverish­ed youth, more than anything else is the lack of the father in the home. Period, end of story. We have a tax code and a wellfare system that enourages the father to keep distance between himself and the mother for the sake of benefits.

While I am not familar with inner-city blacks, I am very familiar with the poor hispanic population and I have watched for 40 years as the bulwark of our society, the nuclear family falls apart and slips away.

The government has replaced dad. And although the government can throw money at the problem, the government can not instill a work ethic, discipline and a sense of values in the home. It takes a man and a woman to raise a child for success. The mountains of statistics prove this. The fight is lost. The future holds nothing but chaos and confusion for many of our poor fatherless youth. This is our postmodern America. The Obamas out there, while I admire him greatly, are and will be far and few between.

[pragmaticdallasite]

11:46 AM on 05/06/2009

Yeah but as someone with firsthand experience­...... I know a crapload of people who ruined their lives through gangs/drug­s/crime with a great father in the home. I've also known many friends without a father (including myself) who overcame their odds. Although a father in the home makes a huge difference­, it is not the magic ingredient­.

[CommonNonsense]

01:07 PM on 05/06/2009

Are you kidding me with that garbage? What benefits does a father receive for not being a part of his child's life? Is it the child support he has to pay? Is it the license revocation he faces if he doesn't pay the child support? Or are you blaming the mothers, implying that they kick the fathers out just so they can earn welfare? Your entire premise is wrong. The nuclear family is falling apart and slipping away(oh the humanity!) in all corners of society. Take a look at divorce rates and the number of children born to teens and/or out of wedlock. It's not an "inner city blacks" problem. It's a societal problem. There IS NO DENYING that poverty perpetuate­s itself. Ask a family who has lived in our poorest inner city neighborho­ods how many generation­s of their family have been in that same place, with few options, stuck in a cycle of welfare to low-paying job and back to welfare. Sure, there's somthing to be said for willing yourself to be better and to make something of your life, but spend one day in the shoes of these young people and their parents and tell me that a father in the home would fix all the problems. Basically you're saying don't bother because they're lost causes. Shame on you for thinking that about ANYBODY.

[toyboat]

10:49 AM on 05/06/2009

It's about time someone realized that you can't just lock peopel up & call it an answer because we can see it's not working. If you want someone to change & I mean really change you have to assist them in re-wiring their whole thought process, all jail does is put these kids in jail with the most sophistica­ted criminals on the globe & give them an oppurtunit­y to learn even more low down tricks than they knew before they came in. Baron you guys keep doing what your doing & I pray that it catches on so that my African American brothers can quit being locked up in disporport­inate number and get a slice of the American dream going for themselves & their families.

[menlopian]

09:44 AM on 05/06/2009

Thanks Baron- keep using your gifts and fame to spread hope and love.

[constitutional 1]

09:28 AM on 05/06/2009

Great Article. Its nice to see people that realize money is not the answer to many of the problems. The culture that many of these kids live must change if there is going to be a difference­. This doesnt just apply to inner city housing projects but to poor rural trailer parks too.

[jeniferdaniels]

09:26 AM on 05/06/2009

Baron, good to see you posting on the Po' - keep it up and tell your teammates and colleagues about it...

[johnie2xs]

08:52 AM on 05/06/2009

I've read a number of the comments, on this thread, and in my estimation it's "D", all of the above. Not the least among them, though, is the education of white America to the fact that you don't just hate a person for their color.

Full disclosure­; I'm white. From this point behind enemy lines, I have to say, that there are still TOO many Americans who express their hatred for the non-white amongst us. Thankfully­, with the help of time, the majority of these people will "shuffle off their mortal coil", and the younger generation­, in whom I have great hope and respect, will be given their chance at correcting this awful legacy.

No matter how much the oppressed do to help themselves­, until and unless the scepter of prejudice is lain down for good, success will remain elusive.

Kudos, Baron. You have my respect an support.