There were two killed and at least other shootings in Baltimore on Tuesday. May was essentially a record breaker for Baltimore when it comes to murders. What to do?
(Baltimore Sun) Pastors and other community organizers plan to walk some of Baltimore’s most violent blocks on weekend nights from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m. this summer.
Midnight basketball tournaments and a new community center for children named for Freddie Gray not far from Gilmor Homes, where he was arrested, are aimed at uniting the city. Gray, 25, died from an injury sustained in police custody prompting protests and rioting.
On Father’s Day, the Rev. Jamal H. Bryant wants to lead a rally through the streets — clergy, gang members and children alike — bearing coffins, a solemn “visual reminder” of the violence. Baltimore recorded 43 homicides in May, the worst month Baltimore has seen in 40 years.
And right there it breaks down. Gang members? How in the heck are they supposed to be a part of the solution? They are part of the problem.
Clergy invited to Baltimore on Tuesday the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who led the Boston TenPoint Coalition, a faith-based crime-fighting effort that helped drop that city’s homicides from 152 in 1990 to 31 in 1999, in what many called the “Boston Miracle.” Brown led a “street training” in Baltimore on how to best engage young people.
Brown said clergy must take their roles in the community to heart to change the culture on the streets.
While I applaud the initiative, the Boston one is the outlier. These usually fail (see Detroit, Camden, Birmingham, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc), hence the reason to try them again and again and again and again, etc and so on. Why the need to continuously have marches and demonstrations and programs and such in these liberal/Democratic Black areas? As the comments point out, “where were they 43 murders ago?” Why is it that, even with heavy policing, Baltimore is a violent city? Why is there no need for all these programs and demonstrations and marches and such in Conservative areas?
Of course, even mentioning this is surely raaaaacist, as is discussing the real issues and real solutions.
