Are these lives worth your effort?
“I can’t take it. It’s every day, it’s all day. I can’t take it.”
Last month I wrote about what was likely to happen over Memorial Day weekend. It wasn’t really a prediction; there was no question there would be horrific violence and that, in many cities, mothers and fathers would lose their children. They did, in too many cities to name and in areas where economic instability runs rampant. Young children caught in the crossfire, older youth caught in small turf battles, mired in desperation.
Saying poverty is the cause does not excuse it; it just explains the data in a way that we continue to ignore. And because we continue to turn away from the deadly crisis that is poverty, hundreds more died over Memorial Day weekend and thousands will die this summer. Still, every day we have a chance to pay attention to this, to commit to changing it.
Two weeks before Memorial Day, the woman whose words appear atop this email described how she often drops to her floor when hearing gunshots. “I hear a gun and I am out of my bed and on the concrete floor. It’s any time of day.”
The woman, a senior who needs a cane to walk, has to drop to the floor every day when gunshots ring out. That’s what our indifference produces. Her home is just a few miles from where many of you live, even if you do not live in this town, for the same violence occurs in cities across the U.S.
“Worse than ever”
Those were the words this woman used to describe the violence in her community. I had actually heard her comments before they appeared in the paper. I heard them even before she said them in mid-May. I heard them before she moved into this apartment complex 22 years ago. I heard them when I moved to Washington DC in 1985 and every year since. I read them in Chicago newspapers, Philadelphia newspapers, Houston newspapers, and Los Angeles newspapers. In fact, anywhere there is a concentration of people living in impoverished neighborhoods, you can go to the newspapers there and find her outcry throughout the past 60 years.
We will continue to read her words and we will continue to see parents mourn the deaths of their children unless you decide that these lives are worth your engagement. For this is our responsibility, and it’s myopic – and deadly – to think otherwise.
It is all preventable, if…
The violence, like other perilous side effects of poverty, is preventable, but only if you care enough to take meaningful action, to ensure resources are poured into communities where we have neglected and marginalized our fellow human beings.
It is not about increasing taxes for more misguided programs, and it’s not about doing a volunteer day or two. It’s about the removal of obstacles and the creation of opportunities. It’s about ensuring that there is effective education early in life, so children can actually learn, and it’s about you learning what you can do – and then doing it.
Yes, it’s about holding people accountable – people who have been elected to lead, people who are supposed to ensure children go to schools where they learn, and people who draw salaries and benefits for myriad programs that are supposed to eradicate poverty and more effectively address economic instability. But it’s also about holding yourself accountable. These are your neighbors and your city, and you can do something there that will save lives.
Here’s a brief list of actions to take, alone or with a company, school, or group. There are many more, but just to get the wheels in motion:
Help establish recreational programs and facilities. It’s not just about sports; it's about giving youth something to do, and giving residents there a chance to teach, coach, or mentor. Many adults who had these resources available as children will tell you that it saved their lives. I would be happy to connect you with people building those leagues and working with youth.
Offer apprenticeships. Make a commitment to not only offer one or more at your company but to work with other companies to ensure there are a variety of options for people to gain access to career-building opportunities.
Support organizations that are doing on-the-ground violence interruption work. This is tough work, but there are organizations around this country that do it well. If you want more info, let me know.
Support individuals who are re-entering or who were formerly involved in gang activity. If you don’t have resources or specific opportunities you can create for this, you can support groups that are doing it. They are in every city across our country.
I would be happy to provide other ideas or more details for any of the above. Clearly, what we have been doing to help those in poverty is not working. The proof is everywhere. The violence that feels like the only option for people across our country is asking for you to do something, asking for you to lead, asking for you to think bigger about who you are and what you can do to change the future. What will your answer be?