The phrase "Happy New Year" is ringing hollow for one family I know. These people are starting 2012 the same way they ended 2011: In mourning.
In early December, Miguel Almonte, a hard-working husband and father, was murdered. He was working in his grocery story one night when he was senselessly shot and killed. This murder happened in a violence-ridden city -- Camden, New Jersey. Some might dismiss Miguel's death for what it appears to be on the surface -- the latest violent crime in a city known for bloodshed.
But it goes deeper than that.
To dismiss this murder as a "Camden thing" would be a horrible mistake. Its implications should ring a wake-up call all over the country -- even as far as the White House, where President Obama has the ability to employ measures of intervention.
We have to say "enough is enough" and mean it with all of our hearts.
We have to feel sad. Then we have to get mad because murder reflects a shameless disregard for human life. Finally, we have to act. Now, before things get any worse.
It is time to stop the violence.
Miguel's death touched me personally because all four of his children attend the LEAP Academy University Charter School, which I founded. Furthermore, Miguel was a role model parent leader at our school.
We are a public pre K-12 charter school with an early learning component. So, we are entrusted with the safety and well-being of all of our 900 students and more than 160 teachers and staff -- a pact of trust we take extremely seriously.
To succeed as an urban school, we have created a model of learning that considers the challenges of teaching students from low-income background.
Family engagement is a big component of our educational model. That's why Miguel's murder touched us the same way we would feel as if a blood relative were slain.
We believe in inspiring each and every student to respect life and to become responsible citizens. In addition, we believe in providing them with the opportunity to attend college with affordable options. We've succeeded, too; 100 percent of our students graduate and go on to college.
Providing a positive learning environment is an important ingredient in our recipe for helping students be successful. Therefore, we need to be very careful. If violence were allowed to spill over into the school, it could have a seriously detrimental effect on the culture of teaching and learning.
We have witnessed our children come to school every day with their open minds clouded by broken hearts because of the injury or death of a relative from violence.
We do what we can, such as provide counseling and support. We focus on teaching them to become engineers and scientists. And we make Camden a badge of pride; when they go to college we tell graduates to tell their peers that they come from Camden, where they received the best schooling possible.
Still, we can't overlook the sobering bottom line. Violence and crime are happening in schools in cities like Camden and other poor urban centers throughout the country.
Our families have come together to object the violence in our city. And we are asking President Obama to help.
Here's why the White House should care and call for a national intervention in multiple cities, including Camden.
Increasing the amount of police officers on the streets is a place to start -- especially in Camden, where 2010 budget cuts severely reduced our police force.
Throwing more dollars against tighter law enforcement is only one part of the solution. The community needs to play its part, too.
Organized community watches can play a key role, too. More eyes on the street is a proven-effective way to supplement police patrols.
We also have to stop looking the other way. Public, private and nonprofit entities should host dialogues to address the true causes of poverty, violence and crime. These dialogues can even be held with the White House serving as a catalyst. The issue is THAT important.
Only through sincere dialogues can we begin to effectively establish credible and effective solutions.
Education is the key to individual and collective success in the fight against violence. All citizens should support the efforts of your city's schools -- charter, public or parochial. It makes no difference.
Taking the high road is vital, too. As we condemn the violence and its perpetrators, we must show respect for each other. We cannot fight violence with violent language and anger. As teachers, parents, mentors and role models, we must be a light for our children and teach them that peace and justice will never come through violence.
Our mission is clear. We will not tolerate crime and violence.
At the same time, our message must be unified and uplifting. Solutions to the ills of Camden and cities like it are attainable -- but only if we work together. We must reaffirm our faith in each other, and solve our problems collectively.
A violence-free community is a civil right of every child and family. Lets hope for a new year free of violence.
It is too late to bring back Miguel Almonte. But it is not too early to start ensuring that another urban family will not end the next new year the same way the Almontes are ending 2011.
Follow Gloria Bonilla Santiago on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GloriaBSantiago
Police rarely prevent a crime. At most, a police officer would have shown up a minute or two sooner after Miguel Almonte was murdered and started the report.
The only thing that would have prevented Miguel Almonte's death would have been if New Jersey would have "allowed" him to own a firearm for self defense. Instead, the state has rules and regulations in place that make it nearly impossible to legally own, keep, and transport a firearm legally. Unless the person is politically connected.
How do we fix it?no politician will take on this issue for fear of being called a racist
If by that headline you mean Washington, DC, I would agree with your headline, but you don't mean DC. And in fact, you mean every decaying American city that has become a "latino" rat's nest between Manhattan, Miami, Montebello and Minneapolis.
Go to rural Maine and try to peddle your "national" crisis.
And don't be too shocked when you don't hear bullets flying, bodies falling to the ground bleeding or the cry of babies born to 14 year old "mothers" waiting for their 15 year old "machos" to come home from the tattoo parlor.
Better than making lofty, emotional pleas, that for several decades now have been falling on deaf ears, I would recommend SEVERE and AUSTERE locally-based programs that reward responsible behavior and NOT irresponsible behaviors that typically get labeled as "community values" or "cultural values", unless of course those are the values and communities you want to continue to pander and patronize.
NO ONE but you can change these dismal communities.
Forget the pinatas, the graffiti, the celebration of 14 year old mothers and you just might get somewhere other than the welfare office and the visitors' room at the State Prison System in a few decades.
* follow up after a violent crime has been "solved." Gather evidence and prosecute persons who illegal provide guns to criminals. This is rarely done.
* Pressure congress to fund the laws they've already passed with regard to the judicial systems reporting convictions for violent crimes and adjudications of persons found to be mentally unstable. Congress requires it but they've repeatedly failed to fund it.
* phase out large public housing units where even the police fear going. Limit such housing developments to one per three mile radius with a maximum of 30-50(?) families per development.
At a local level - Teach and preach the fact that crime VERY rarely leads to riches and happiness. The odds of becoming "successful" through a life of street crime are virtually nil.
Every seventh grader should know that poverty is best fought by the individual who will:
* Finish school.
* Get a job - any job - be the "best" at that job.
* Don't have kids until you're married.
* Get married and stay married.
* Don't abuse alcohol or drugs.
* Obey the law.
* Don't borrow money except to further your education or buy a home.
* Live below your means even if you have to pool resources (room mates).
They should also KNOW and understand that:
* You are NOT "entitled" to a cell phone, cable television, respect, etc...
* Anything given to you can be taken away. EARN what you want.
People who follow those
Almost all people who follow those simple rules rise from poverty by age thirty. Being poor at 20-25 is pretty normal. Being poor at thirty-five can usually be blamed on the aforementioned. Exceptions definitely do exist but they are not the norm.
Pardner, you act like what you've earned can't be taken away..it can, and it can be done legally
"Urban culture has to begin changing to stop glamorization of the death and crime culture (to include drugs, use of drugs, )