With the commotion over urban gun violence reaching a cresendo I belewive we need to (finally) examine the issue to get a CORRECT picture of why it is ,and what we should do about it!!! Firstly it must be understood that Urban gun violence is far different than random gun violence and acts of domestic terror. Urban Gun violence is the product of years of cultural and social apathy by Governmental authorities from the local level to the federal level. For decades now, the only policies and plans that have come from Government to address the Urban theatre have been to contain and control the urban community!( and to those who keep saying that stop and frisk was and is the answer, one problem wont solve another one! stop and frisk is racist plain and simple and it does more harm than good!!) And as long as the containment was viable and effective, no real concern or thought was given the violence! It's not like the 70's and 80's, when violence went out of the urban community to prey upon those outside of the community, the urban community is now preying on itself and those in authority are fine with that. It is that mindset and action which has created the underculture that exists now, a culture of violence and death, a culture that worships the power of the gun!! And the simple fact is that nothing has been done to dispel that power!Violence and death has become a means to a end for far too many, used to advance, succeed, and maintain that success. Gun violence has become a primary tool to be used to make, for many youth ,that primal scream, to remind the world that I am here, and I am somebody!!! But as the damage and destruction grows from this underculture , we are wondering ,from Chi-town to NYC, what do we do? It is my belief that we must engineer a massive culture shift in America's urban theatres, a shift away from this underculture that has been allowed to take hold! But this will only take place if political courage is had, the courage to stand up and say what has been done TO the urban community, and what needs to be done FOR the urban community!!!! Because simply put, the urban theatre is standing on the edge of a abyss here! We are raising generations steeped in violence against itself, generations who beleive in gun violence as a means to a end, as something that is part and parcel of everyday living!!! A new normal, and if we dont do what needs to be done to dispel that belief and end the culture that has spawned it, then our inner cities will be lost FOREVER!!!! So how do we engineer this cultural shift? As I said it will take political courage, it will take social action, it will take MONEY!!!America, if is is truly committed to ending the scourge of Urban violence must commit to it, and I beleive that a Massive Urban aid package is the way to do it!!! WE can and have rebuilt Nations, Its time we rebuild our urban areas!!!!!!!!! And the foundation of these areas are its people and that is where we must start! Change the culture , change the dynamic, change the thought process, but until we commit to that, commit with courage, action, and resources, we are only delaying the inevitable!!!
