There's an outsized map of Chicago on the wall of the office of the Black Star Project. In the center of the map there's the letter "A." The letter is the Chicago home of the Obamas. The "A" is surrounded by yellow stickers that make the map look like the bull's eye of a dart board. The analogy is deadly fitting because each one of the stickers represents a child under age 18 who was murdered.
The victims were all African-American, and outside of their grieving families and friends, a brief mention in the local press, and the pleas from a handful of local activists to do something about the carnage, their deaths drew barely a ripple of media and public attention. The yellow stickers circling Obama's home are no aberration. In the past year more than 40 young persons have been murdered in Chicago, many within a stone's throw of the president's home. A three-year study of murders in the city found that young black males in the most impoverished parts of the city were 30 times more likely to be murdered than young white males living in white areas.
It took the cell phone video of 16-year-old Derrion Albert being bludgeoned to death on a Chicago street to momentarily change that. Obama will deplore the violence, Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will propose ramped up spending on youth education and violence prevention programs and anti-gang violence initiatives, and with much media fanfare there'll be a round-up or two of alleged gang members.
But, as in the past, the flashy new initiatives unveiled after much public anguish over a particular heinous killing may again fizzle out due to lack of money, lack of political will to push them through, or lack of practicality. Increased dollars alone, Holder and Duncan's inner-city treks, and moral finger-wagging will do little to stop the killing. Many of the young men that tuck guns in their waistbands and shoot up their neighborhoods or beat to death an honor student feel that no one cares whether they live or die. Their belief that their lives are devalued fosters disrespect for the law and forces them to internalize anger and displace aggression onto others.
Many of them, mostly young black and Latino males, have become especially adept at acting out their frustrations at white society's denial of their "manhood" by adopting an exaggerated "tough guy" role. They swagger, boast, curse, fight and commit violent self-destructive acts. The accessibility of drugs, and guns, and the influence of misogynistic, violent-laced rap songs also reinforce the deep feeling among many youth that life is cheap and easy to take, and there will be minimal consequences for their action as long as their victims are other young blacks or Latinos. And as long as the attackers regard their victims, such as Albert, as weak, vulnerable, and easy pickings they will continue to kill and maim with impunity.
The other powerful ingredient in the deadly mix of youth violence is the drug plague. Drug trafficking not only provides illicit profits but also makes the violence even more widespread. The innocent victims that are caught in gang shoot-outs thus further fortifying the conviction that inner city streets are depraved war zones.
It's not just drugs and hopelessness that drive young men, especially young black men, to kill. The huge state and federal cutbacks in job training and skills programs, the brutal competition for low- and semi-skilled service and retail jobs from immigrants, and the refusal of many employers to hire those with criminal records have sledgehammered black communities. The unemployment rate of young black males is double and in some parts of the country, triple that of white males. The high number of miserably failing inner-city public schools also fuels the unemployment crisis. They have turned thousands of blacks into educational cripples. These students are desperately unequipped to handle the rapidly evolving and demanding technical and professional skills in the public sector and the business world of the 21st Century. The educational meltdown has seeped into the colleges. According to an American Council of Education report, in the past decade Latino, Asian, and black female student enrollment has soared while black male enrollment has plunged.
There's no magic formula to stop the violence. Federal and state officials must drastically increase funds for violence prevention and gang intervention programs. They must call on educators, health professionals, drug counselors and gang intervention activists to devise and provide the crucial resources for more programs to keep at risk youth off the streets. The Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Democrats must continue to challenge the Obama administration and corporations to do more to end discrimination and create more job and training opportunities for young blacks.
It took the shock and horror of Derrion's murder to shake up a president and a nation. The real test is when the shock passes will the White House continue to do what needs to be done to prevent other Derrion Alberts from meeting the same fate.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge (Middle Passage Press) will be released in January, 2010.
Bernardine Dohrn: No Safe Passage: Little Rock to Chicago
Remember the eight extraordinary students in Little Rock who ultimately required the presence of troops for their safe passage into the school they finally integrated? Where was Derrion Albert's safe passage?
Children of immigrants do exceptionally well when they move to this country in spite of having to overcome even more difficult odds because their parents have the right attitude. You are responsible for your own action and future. If 'white society' was so powerfully set against blacks, than we would not have the Obama's or the Condoleeza Rices or Oprahs of this nation. When you and other so called black leaders stop making excuses for them, then and maybe then will the cycle of violence end.
"They swagger, boast, curse, fight and commit violent self-destructive acts."
...reinforces my opinion that Mr. Hutchinson was invalidating that excuse. But perhaps that's just my perception, because I think that what these youths are doing is the exact opposite of showing their "manhood." They're showing their impotence.
Everything he said was true. Why so many uninvolved fathers and overwhelmed mothers? How can you possibly expect to go to go to college and become something if you can't even speak proper English? These youths seem to revel in their ignorance and do not hesitate to attack and label those who aspire to something better. Even some of the names they choose for their children is a nightmare because it immediately brand them as something they may not even be. Black leaders need to do a better job of changing that type of mentality and atttitude.
When I was in my 20s, I lived in a house that had been divided into two apartments. Above me was an 18 year old mother of colicky twins. When the babies would cry, the mother would turn her stereo on as loud as it would go and scream "Shut up!" at the top of her voice. I called child services several times, but nothing was ever done other than the landlords telling her she had to move at the end of her lease. Unfortunately, I don't think my experience is as unique as it should be.
Blaming white society for "disrespecting" your manhood, not throwing enough money or programs into your open arms, or mean old employers who won't hire young people who act like thugs may make you feel better but it's not going to solve anything. This is a problem that begins at home and that's where the solution crafting needs to start.
We need other men teaching each other how to man up, so the young men of today can have a chance to learn that violence is not the answer.
Life is about relationships, with family, and others, if the young men learn how to survive starting with their own families, learn how to act and react to situations, learn how to know what is important enough to stand up and fight for and when you should be a man and walk away. That way you live to see another day.
The Whitehouse can send all the money and send people to the neighborhoods to assist. But if there is no cooperation from the people who need the help, then that's money down the drain. I've seen this happen also. They have to want to change, and take some action and be receptive to all the opportunities presented to them. They have to have someone to teach them how to take responsibly for themselves. Not just expect them to know. Because they don't. They have to want it, that is the key.