Working Together to Stop
Violence
By Albert B. Kelly
This column piece is not
the column I planned to present to readers this week, but the events of the
past 10 days moved me in another direction.
I’m speaking about the recent shooting at a local restaurant in which one
man lost his life and another was critically injured. It echoed the sad and
painful events that drew the curtain on 2014.
Last year was tragic not
only for Bridgeton, but for the entire county, collectively enduring a year
with more violence leading to homicide than we’ve known in recent memory. Unfortunately
in our county, unlike larger metro areas, when one city suffers it seems to
literally bleed into neighboring cities.
In light of events in
Ferguson, NYC, Cleveland, South Carolina, and now Tulsa; this year seems to be
the year in which every police force throughout the country is under a
microscope with regard to policing tactics, community relations, and
use-of-force protocols to name a few . This is as it should be given the number
and nature of the police-involved incidences we’ve seen in recent days.
Be that as it may, I have
stated publicly and still maintain that we cannot short circuit the
investigative process nor should we rush to quick and easy judgments- but we
should allow the judicial process to run its course. Many others see things
differently, and having made their judgements, it’s all about indictments and
convictions…or condemnation.
I share all this with you to
make a point and perhaps to ask some questions of friends, neighbors and even
some detractors; where is the outcry when everyday folks shoot and kill each
other in the streets of our community? I’ve seen no protests, no rallies, and heard
no outcry; just silence and an occasional shaking of the head or clucking of
the tongue.
Could it be that it’s really
not so much about who’s doing the dying, but only about who’s pulling the
trigger? If we’re willing to take our stand against what we deem to be excessive
use of force or even police brutality, are we simply content to let everything else
pass as “garden variety” violence in our neighborhoods so long as the shooter
isn’t a cop?
Do we dare make a
distinction between police violence and every other form of violence? Shame on
us if we’ve lost the ability to be shocked or horrified when someone is shot to
death or an innocent victim suffers at the hands of another and shame on us if we
value life and peace in our community so little that we barely say a word about
it when it happens.
Think what you will, but I
refuse to believe that we’re stuck in a cycle of violence so that we’re unable
to have a community where all can live in peace and safety. We’re willing to
accept “zero-tolerance” when it comes to our schools; why can’t we have
zero-tolerance when it involves violence in our neighborhoods?
I ask the question because
if you’re idea of “zero-tolerance policy” basically means that police are the
ones who have to deliver on it, we’ll never get there. If we expect to have a
community that is relatively free of violence; where homicide is a
once-in-a-generation thing; then it’s up to us to help make it happen.
Too many mothers weep as
they lay their sons and daughters to rest; too many kids have lost one or both
parents to a violent death or incarceration. There are too many weather-beaten
roadside memorials bearing testimony to this fact throughout the county. It has
to stop.
Some might think I’m
living in fantasy land; maybe, but we can’t keep shooting and maiming each
other. We have more power than we realize; we see it almost daily riding past
the playgrounds and basketball courts filled with young people of all stripes
playing together without a hint of violence.
But parents have to be
more accountable for their teenagers; schools have to find new ways to push
back against the street ethos, we have to come up with new citizen-police
partnerships to deal with conflict, and people have to be willing to come
forward with information before the shots are fired, not after the fact.
Scripture says “I wish
above all things that you prosper and be in good health, just as your soul
prospers.” That’s not too much to hope for nor is it too much to want a safe
city and county for all our residents and my hope is that we’ll work together
to make it happen.