Unity in the Community
By Albert B. Kelly
We live in fragile times, whether that comes in the form of
a fragile peace or fragile security for body and soul. I don’t think it’s the
fault of any one group or any single thing so much as the coming together of a
lot of desperate forces, big and small, that make us feel like reeds shaken in
the wind.
Take your pick; income inequality, racial and ethnic
tensions, stagnant wages, lost jobs, rising health care costs, student loan
debt, climate change and global warming, crime, terrorism, policing, the lack
of cyber security, or whatever.
It doesn’t help that this “fragile-ness’ has been used to
divide and conquer- wielded like a weapon to try and get to 270 electoral
votes. The strategy only works if you can blame and dismiss this group or that
group for whatever ails us.
But far from helping to identify the real problems and work
our way through to real solutions, this tendency to pin blame on other groups
locks us into the wrong battles against the wrong enemies for the wrong
reasons.
My focus is a little narrower and a decidedly more local; I
say that because we’ve had two shootings recently that resulted in the death of
two young men in Bridgeton and one fatal shooting in Vineland in the span of a
week.
While the facts are still being investigated, we know that
the two victims in Bridgeton, Davonte Lee and Dehaven Jackson, were 21 and 25
respectively. The Vineland victim, Ivan Strager II was 33. The lone suspect
charged in the Lee murder is 17 years old- all young lives destroyed by
violence.
A few weeks back, 20 year-old Kevin Carillo was stabbed to
death in a fight on Cottage Ave on a Friday afternoon. Two juveniles were
ultimately charged with homicide and 18 year-old Adrian DeJesus was charged
with hindering apprehension.
During that same timeframe, no less than 23 individuals were
arrested in a drug sweep. Those arrested were mostly from Millville, Bridgeton,
and Vineland. Some were as young as 18 with most in their early to mid-twenties.
I point this out to say that we may well be in danger of completely
losing this fragile generation to a
hopelessness and violence that only gets noticed when it comes with a body
count or a perp walk.
I usually do not write or publicize our community’s
negatives, but there comes a time when we have to “keep it real” as our young
people like to say. The conflict on our streets is as real as it gets, but then
so is the finger pointing by those offering criticism without solutions.
It would be easy to highlight one group or another, whether
by age, race, class, gender, or ethnicity and tick off all the usual
stereotypes as a way to explain the violence or drugs. We adults need to push
back.
The drugs and the violence are symptoms of the hopelessness in
this generation that’s a lot more fundamental, part of a larger disconnect from
family and community and the nourishment that comes from knowing we’ll face
things together.
So that’s a lot of why I’m hoping that many of you will join
us on October 22nd for “Unity in the Community Day” on the steps of
City Hall Annex from 2pm to 5pm- perhaps spread the word and invite others to
stand up with us.
Many remember our attempt at having the world’s largest
gospel choir. It was not so much about a record as it was about coming together
as a community; connecting and building up some of the currency of “us” so that
we’d be primed to do more to make our community a better place.
Three hours on a Saturday won’t solve anything, but it’s not
meant as a solution. It’s a reminder that we all cherish our children’s futures
and we all have hopes for building a better tomorrow- and that we’ll have to face
these challenges together if we’re ever going to solve our problems.
And it’s harder for the black community, the white
community, and the Hispanic community to blame and dismiss the others with
their favorite stereotypes and suspicions when we’ve taken the time to fellowship
together, lifting up our voices together…with our own unity and peace in mind.
So please consider coming out on Saturday, October 22nd,
starting at 2pm at City Hall Annex and help promote unity in our community.