This month is a month to reflect on the struggles and sacrifices of Black people to achieve America’s promise. We celebrate the great Black men and women of the past and the legacy of Black history that deserves our gratitude and celebration.
But as I sing Rhapsody, I will also think about the nine-year-old boy and his 13-year-old pal who allegedly approached a woman in the middle of the night and tried to steal her purse. Hundreds of young black men in this city are walking the same path.
Last year, 584 young people under the age of 18 were arrested in D.C. for violent crimes. Of those, 556 were black and 99 were between the ages of 12 and 14. Juvenile arrests for robbery exceeded adult arrests: 524 vs. 284.
Look back with pride.But please stop Please ignore our current disaster.
In the coming days, the DC Council plans to discuss Laws to fight crime. Expect to hear impassioned appeals about the need for more “wrap-around” services to uncover the “root causes” of crime and keep “at-risk” young people out of the criminal justice system. will be done.
My thoughts remain with those two boys. Why were they in town past midnight? Who were their parents, and just as importantly, where were they? Who is raising their 9-year-old son and 13-year-old cousin?
Yes, it turns out that the two boys are related.
The 9-year-old boy’s case never reached the Family Court Social Services Division of the D.C. Superior Court, where juveniles arrested for criminal offenses are sent, according to people familiar with the matter. He says there is no. Instead, he was instructed to Go to the diversion referral program.
Has the child returned to the same home from which he was absent last weekend? The government is tight-lipped for child protection and privacy reasons.
But it is in the public’s interest to know whether two children are in a home with adults who are doing their best to meet their basic needs – whether these children are doing well. become. Food and medical care are safe, and they have a safe roof over their heads. not only that. That these two boys, and other children in similar situations, have good role models at home who provide them with solid guidance and emotional support. I’m talking about families where children are trained to learn about rules and why they’re important, and to act on what they’re taught.
What happened with those parents, especially the father whose son ended up in handcuffs?
Oh, and don’t flip the page and run away to “root causes” and “wraparound services.”
Spend time with the people who brought these children into this world. After all, the kids didn’t ask to be here. They have no say in who their parents are.
With this question in mind, this month we take a closer look at the true, unsung heroes of black history.
I’m talking about generations of black mothers and fathers (many legally married) who have raised, raised, and guided their children through the painful adventures of black life in America. (Some of them are single or unmarried, but they are still mothers and fathers.)
They are I did my best for the children. And they are the people who helped us overcome difficulties: the preachers and teachers who made a way for us when powerful opposition forces claimed there was no way; They established an organization with elders and other people.
I touched on this in a previous column about the chaos and dire consequences of the displacement of the city’s black community. And I received snide comments from readers suggesting that I was remembering an idyllic black world that never existed. But it happened. The community hubs bravely destroyed helped bring families and neighbors together.
This week, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb (D) said at a community meeting on carjacking and juvenile delinquency: We want to be safer in the long run. We cannot prosecute or arrest people to get away from this problem. ”
I’ll leave it to others to figure out what Schwalb wants to do.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Council will continue to have a high-minded discussion about how to judge the children involved. That’s not all. Some children are in homes with young people who don’t know what they don’t know about parenting, such as not knowing where the kids are after sundown.
It may not be the “root cause,” but very old people know this much: The absence of a supportive, constructive mother and father, a strong family, means that even on the best of days the D.C. government Even can’t be filled, leaving a void in children’s lives.
Not to confuse the government, but The community has a role to play. Helpful interventions are needed in the personal, material, and spiritual realms that most people who celebrate Black history understand.
Do we do nothing, forget about the world of that nine-year-old, and cast aside troubled black boys and girls as worthless trash? I’d rather die. Then one day all the victories of black history will be relegated to the dust heap.