Violence & poverty: It is time to help our elected officials

Too many holiday weekends, year after year, with too many shootings. 400 this past weekend. Too many mothers, fathers, children, and friends are saying goodbye forever to loved ones because of the violence in our cities and towns.

And too many interviews with leaders discuss who or what is to blame without focusing on the poverty closely tied to violence. Just overlay a map of where people in poverty live and where violence occurs, and the correlation is clear.

I am not excusing violent behavior or siding with one political party - neither party works hard enough to end the violence or the poverty. On the contrary, for decades, each has blamed the other, often exploiting the suffering caused by poverty and violence for political gain.

This is all deeply painful - the violence, the rhetoric, and the inactivity. And it highlights yet again how we turn away from poverty instead of leaning into it.

Every day we allow poverty to continue without getting involved; we lose people who live in it. We lose three-year-old girls sitting in front of their homes. We lose teenage boys trying to make sense of their future. We lose mothers walking to their cars to go to work. And so many more. All ages, races, ethnicities, and across the entire country.

This is why safety is one of the areas highlighted in the draft of The National Plan to End Poverty and why we need your help to strengthen that area.

If your loved one were killed in the crossfire or as part of the beef that caused the shooting, you would be outraged by the lack of progress or attention this receives. Violence may get headlines from different media outlets but not a true concern, not the kind that produces outcomes. And if any of the elected officials who refer to a discussion about this violence as “hysteria” lost someone dear to it, they would insist we address this with more energy. At least, I would hope so. And that is why it is time that we all act as if it is happening to our children.

We elected folks to serve, but let’s not leave this at their doorstep. Let’s help them, especially those who want to prioritize it. Words no longer matter; only our actions and the outcomes achieved matter. Please try out one of our suggested actions today or give us better ones to incorporate into the plan. Truly, lives depend on it.