Dear Editor:
“Ideas are the factors that lift civilization. They create revolutions. There is more dynamite in an idea than in many bombs.” As I sit here I just read that another former student was killed recently. They are literally dying faster than we can save them. I attended a community meeting last night and felt empowered only to read the news now and feel powerless. In the last couple of days people have been blaming and pointing fingers. Some blame the mayor. I suppose his administration could certainly carry some of the guilt. Some blame the police, but short of putting an officer on every block, they are limited and should not carry this alone. I have read on how some blame education. As an educator I know that there are students that I can connect with and I know that there are some I have helped save but there are also students who I could not save and are in jail or underground. Lastly we tend to also blame parents. This particular group gets lots of blame. However, you can be a good parent and lose a child to the streets and you can be a bad parent and have a child who breaks the zip code stereotypes.
What is obvious is that there is more than enough blame to go around. What is less obvious is how can we pull together our resources and save more of our kids. In other words this is not just a political problem or a problem of parenting. We do not need to solely blame the politicians or the police. We need to look in the mirror and realize we all share some of the blame. What is missing is a willingness to tackle this problem using all the resources in our city. We need to bring together the politicians, police, educators, clergy, different departments and agencies, and business leaders, legal component, and parents. We need this to be the priority. We need this to be the emergency of our city. We need to listen to the concerns of all these groups and begin to change right away. We need to come to this meeting ready to sacrifice time, treasure, or talent. Some can only give time but need the treasure to keep a gym open or to hire someone to prepare meals. Some have talent but no place to teach. Others have the treasure but have no idea where to invest. The point is that the challenge we face does not have to rip our city apart. I believe we have everything we need to confront this challenge. We have to make this the reason we get up. We have to learn to trust the officer, teacher, and the parent. We have to learn to look at people beyond the color of their skin, age, how they dress and understand the value they bring. It’s the only way we will come up with ideas that we can run with.
Hilario Nunez