Posted on 12/11/2008 4:52:08 PM PST by CE2949BB
When I tell people who don't live in Oakland that I live here, they often ask me, "Is it safe there?" When I talk to people who do live in Oakland, I often hear, "I don't feel very safe these days." A quick conversation and I discover the root of that fear: the daily headlines screaming homicide and crime. It doesn't help that newspaper columns, neighborhood forums, cocktail party chatter and mothers' groups spend a fair amount of their time figuring out who's to blame for all this. And in the midst of all this, there's a group of people that's talking a little and working a lot to end the violence.
This is a group at the Ella Baker center for Human Rights that runs a campaign called Silence the Violence. You might have seen the billboards or heard the name from young men selling CDs on the streets of downtown Oakland. Led by 32-year-old Nicole Lee, this campaign comes up with programs that keep the youth off the streets of Oakland. Lee took some time to chat with OakBook about what you and your neighbors can do to bring the homicide numbers down as she prepared for a memorial event at St. Columba Church.
OB: For people who don't get a chance to go beyond the homicide headlines, when they read that there have been 119 homicides in Oakland this year -- what do these numbers mean? Who's getting killed, and who's doing the killing?
NL: I'm a fourth-generation Oaklander. My family has been here since the late 1800s or early 1900s. My whole life, violence has been a challenge for the city. In the early 90s, the homicide rate was even higher than it is today. In 1992, we had 172 homicides in one year, it was the height of the crack epidemic. Prior to this, this city’s had this ongoing problem -- as do many urban areas around the country.
In 2006, there were about 150 homicides. We are on a slight downturn. This is encouraging. In terms of what the numbers mean – the biggest group of people impacted by this are young adults -- folks between 18 and 34.
Seventy percent of the victims are African American, 90 percent male. For some of the young people we work with, what that means – cities in general tend to, because they’re diverse, some of us dwell in certain parts of the city and don’t leave that part of the city. For example, some people in Silence the Violence have lost six or seven friends. One of the men was talking about how he’d attended 16 or 17 funerals this year.
They feel like they’re living in a war zone and no one’s really talking about it. Even people who live in the city are highly unaware of it. They’re living through post-traumatic stress and exhibit he same symptoms as soldiers who come back form war. They’re 23-24 years old and living with this. That’s the context of why we’re doing Silence the Violence
I hear people talk about living in a bubble – see the same people, go to the same places. There could be people living two blocks away in a different reality. What we’re talking about is – how do we build bridges?
OB: What kinds of programs do you do with Silence the Violence?
NL: One of the things we do – one of the important things – if you look at the past ten years, there was a point when there was this de facto way of dealing with young people. An event for young people would happen, a fight would happen, and then people would start to say that the city shouldn’t allow such events. So, there was a dismantling of any kind of youth programs in the city. In my opinion, you have a city where 20 percent of the total population is teenagers and young adults, you shut down all of those things for young people to do, then 20 percent of the population has nothing to do. Part of what it means to be young is the rebellious nature. They responded through sideshows and hyphy. Some of it was fun, some of it was negative and dangerous. It was a response to being systematically shut out of the city they grew up in. We’re trying to build a culture where there’s safe and consistent programming for young people in the city. We’re sending them a message that they belong to the city and they’re valuable to us. If we’d approached these things with this attitude in the beginning, things wouldn’t have come to a head.
In Oakland, in the black community, there aren’t gangs. They’re organized around neighborhoods. So there are turfs. We do a program called Turf Unity – where we bring rappers out from different turfs. Many of the turfs have had decades-long conflict. We do a music-recording weekend, set up studios, and then kids come in and make a message about unity, and take that message into the community. We have a record release party, we do BBQs. We’ve collaborated with Youth Uprising. The idea is to create young events. And then we do due diligence and do everything possible to make sure the event is safe. It might not sound like a lot. But a lot of people thought events for young people weren’t possible. OPD has commended us for the work we do.
Then we have the Block Ambassadors leadership training program that we run for young people impacted by violence in the neighborhoods. They take the message of peace and silence the violence back into their neighborhood.
In the Ella Baker center, the communications strategy is very important. We see ourselves trying to bridge the different parts of Oakland. It’s up to all of us. Often times, when we hear about violence, we start to point fingers -- is it the mayor’s fault, the police’s fault, the neighbor’s fault? But when you point at someone, three fingers point back at you. This is such a widespread crisis, it creates opportunities for us to think– what can I be doing that I’m not doing? Maybe there’s a kid across the street who’s struggling with Math. Talk to him, and teach him for two hours a week. If we all did 1 simple thing, it would make a difference.
There are organizations that do this work. You can volunteer with them, or donate money to them. There’s Youth Uprising. They do great work with case management and after school stuff. We’re all in desperate need of funding. There are ways that you can get involved. If you own a business, take a chance on one of these kids and train them.
OB: How many events have you done so far?
NL: Dozens. we’ve actually mobilized thousands and thousands of kids.
Silence the Violence was founded in June 2006. We probably do 10 events a year. Some of them are youth events and some are community events.
Tonight is a memorial event for family members who’ve lost loved ones to violence.. and it’s really a way for there to be public healing. When a homicide happens, a family has to go through a mourning process. In a low-income community, it goes unnoticed
OB: And class has a lot to do with these statistics..
NL: We’ve been tracking where the homicides happen. Most of them happen below 580. About 90 to 95 percent are low-income, African American young men, for the most part. There are some Latino and Asian men. It’s happening in the flat lands of Oakland.
OB: I read an article recently about people leaving Oakland because they were afraid of the violence. What would you like to say to people who're thinking of leaving?
NL: If we focus so much on the violence, we start to scare ourselves. Oakland is such a phenomenal city. That’s why people are attracted to living here. It’s so rich in diversity, history and culture. I think the more we look at how to deal with our city from a place of cynicism, the worse it gets. We have serious problems in Oakland that need to be addressed. This is not Philadelphia or Chicago. We can get our arms around these problems. It begins with us looking internally. The more we can figure out ways to support each other, the easier it will be to solve these problems.
WHAT: Evening of Remembrance Ceremony
WHERE: St Columba Church, 6401 San Pablo Ave.
WHEN: December 10, 2007, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
WHO: Silence the Violence (A Campaign of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights), Khadafy Foundation, Family and Friends of Murder Victims, St. Columba Church, The Brady Campaign-Oakland Chapter, 1,000 Mothers to Prevent Violence, Youth Uprising, Youth Alive, and The Emergency Response & Support Network of Catholic Charities of the East Bay.
| Oakland Pride |
A fine example of Leftist Logic.
Hey, this is pretty good...!
Staying ready to shoot murderers, brigands and rapists where they stand.
Yeah, makes me want to move there. (just a wee bit of sarcasm)
> A fine example of Leftist Logic.
Huh??? I don’t understand — how is it “Leftist Logic” for a community to take responsibility for its own outcomes and for individuals within that community to mobilize against crime? That’s just plain Good Citizenship.
The article says:
>> In the Ella Baker center, the communications strategy is very important. We see ourselves trying to bridge the different parts of Oakland. It’s up to all of us. Often times, when we hear about violence, we start to point fingers — is it the mayor’s fault, the police’s fault, the neighbor’s fault? But when you point at someone, three fingers point back at you. This is such a widespread crisis, it creates opportunities for us to think– what can I be doing that I’m not doing? Maybe there’s a kid across the street who’s struggling with Math. Talk to him, and teach him for two hours a week. If we all did 1 simple thing, it would make a difference.
How is that “Leftist???” It would be “Leftist” if they said “it’s the Gummint’s fault! They got to fix everything!”
This is a perfectly good CONSERVATIVE initiative, one that is well worth Conservatives supporting.
You do not have to accept Crime in your neighborhood. But if you do nothing, then Crime is the default situation.
I have an idea!
Let’s encourage ***fatherhood**. The old fashioned kind.
How about encouraging solidly grounded families with a mother and a **FATHER **. The old fashioned kind where the father is actually the true DNA father of the kids in the family.
Do that and the murder and crime rate will go down.
Sounds like Silence the Facts to me.
> Do that and the murder and crime rate will go down.
I saw some interesting statistical work here in NZ on that very subject — I will need to dig it out — it supports that notion quite convincingly.
The guts of it was this: our current trends in NZ crime more-or-less correlates to the “coming of age” of kids born into single-parent families where mum is on the “Domestic Purposes Benefit” umpteen years ago.
There is correlation, and the study was trying to prove causation. Commonsense says “of course there’s causation” but statisticians don’t like commonsense: they like proof with numbers.
IMO the absence of good father figures in families is a lead contributor to crime and all sorts of society’s ills. We have sown to the wind on that issue, and we are about to reap the whirlwind. If we think things are bad now, they will only get worse.
Sigh, I remember it well. When I was in my teens and 20's and found myself with nothing to do, why I'd go right out and shoot other teens and 20-somethings. It sure beat sitting around being bored!
They aren't taking responsibility at all.
Taking responsibility would mean supporting the police efforts to arrest criminals.
Instead, Nicole Lee denies there are even gangs in Oakland.
Instead of organizing a Neighborhood Watch, they are throwing them parties.
Instead of dealing with her own city's problems, she's comparing it to Philadelphia and Chicago.
So, yes, this piece does qualify as Leftist Logic.
This is a perfectly good CONSERVATIVE initiative, one that is well worth Conservatives supporting.
Since when is it "Conservative" to have a barbecue for the local thugs?
You do not have to accept Crime in your neighborhood. But if you do nothing, then Crime is the default situation.
Agreed.
> They aren’t taking responsibility at all.
> Taking responsibility would mean supporting the police efforts to arrest criminals
Yeah, that’s a small part of it. What they are actually doing is no different to what we try to do as Guardian Angels — except they’ve missed out the “or else whup-ass-and-citizen’s-arrest” bit which we also do (if we must). That can come later. But, baby-steps-are-best, as they say.
It *is* “taking responsibility” by organizing block parties and getting to know your neighbors and their kids. In fact, it is a brilliant way to deter crime. Everyone get to know everyone. And if there is a crack house in the neighborhood, make sure everyone knows about it. How much easier will it be to send the cops to the right place if you know where the punk lives?
Neighborhood rebuilding: important first step because crime takes over where there is no sense of “neighborhood”: it becomes “turf”. So the neighborhood needs to be rebuilt. A Neighborhood Watch can grow from that. Or an unarmed Safety Patrol such as what we do as Guardian Angels.
But it is an excellent beginning. Much better than having people cowering behind their curtains at nite, afraid to go out in the dark.
> Since when is it “Conservative” to have a barbecue for the local thugs?
I’d say that’s pretty dam’n smart strategy. In what other setting can you (reasonably safely) get their names and where they live and who they hang out with? From an Intel viewpoint it’s bloody brilliant.
Done properly you could probably even get their photos. How? Well, they said they bring Rappers to these parties. Just make sure you invite a fairly famous Rapper, and have a camera ready. The rest takes care of itself.
On the basis of that barbecue alone you could produce a criminal road-map of the entire neighborhood, stretching out for many blocks. Maybe even with mug shots.
If other groups were doing similarly, then by sharing Intel you would have an amazingly valuable resource: something not even the cops would be likely to have.
And all it cost was a couple burgers.
If it’s Conservative to be “smart” then that’s definitely Conservative.
When, exactly, do we get to the "later" part?
How high does the body count have to climb (100+ this year), how many children have to be involved in prostitution (Oakland is a hub for child prostitution), how many innocent people have to be robbed in takeover restaurant robberies (lost track of the number) until we can get tough?
A lot of people simply feel we've hit the "later" part already. Oakland has been a crime-ridden hellhole for a long time.
We've been trying this "feel good" / community-centered approach for decades. It was tried, and failed, during the initial crack boom.
We have an under-funded and under-staffed police department that's handcuffed with political correctness, a corrupt city council, and an ineffective mayor.
Throwing money away on crap that doesn't directly reduce crime or increase academic performance - such as parties, barbecues, and "music-recording weekends" - is a supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources.
Batons to the head, not burgers down the hole.
From an Intel viewpoint it’s bloody brilliant.
You're telling me a mini thug will go thru an interrogation and be photographed... for a burger?
Must be one helluva burger.
If it’s Conservative to be “smart” then that’s definitely Conservative.
I'll take the "dumb" solution: flood the streets with cops.
I'll ask the "dumb" question: who will pay for all these cops?
The tax payers.
Law enforcement is a legitimate function of government.
Are there that many tax payers in Oakland?
I think a high percentage of Oakland residents are on the dole or are making money illegally (think drugs) and are not paying taxes.
There is a town near Oakland that is quite upscale. It’s called Piedmont. Not sure if their taxes pay the salaries of Oakland police though.
Currently, yes. If Oakland doesn't get the crime problem under control, the tax base is going to disappear.
I think a high percentage of Oakland residents are on the dole or are making money illegally (think drugs) and are not paying taxes.
Even the crackheads pay sales tax. ;)
There is a town near Oakland that is quite upscale. It’s called Piedmont.
Don't forget Alameda.
The Lake Merritt area was a little bubble of safety for a few years, but even that is changing.
Moving a couple miles isn't a longterm solution.
Not sure if their taxes pay the salaries of Oakland police though.
No clue.
I just checked Wikipedia. Piedmont is a separate, incorporated city even though it is completely surrounded by Oakland and they have the same zipcode. Homes in Piedmont cost a million and more, much more.
> When, exactly, do we get to the “later” part?
Do you live in Oakland? If so, then the answer to that one is entirely up to you. If you’ve had enough and want to do more about the problem than just talk, why not organize a Safety Patrol? If that is something that you seriously want for your neighborhood, I would be happy to help you do it (yes, all the way from New Zealand where I live).
How’s that for a deal? We can start tomorrow morning if you like.
> How high does the body count have to climb (100+ this year), how many children have to be involved in prostitution (Oakland is a hub for child prostitution), how many innocent people have to be robbed in takeover restaurant robberies (lost track of the number) until we can get tough?
It will get as high as the citizens of Oakland are willing to allow it to get. And no higher. If it is high enough already, then it is time to do something about it. If it is already too high, then you haven’t got a moment to lose.
> We have an under-funded and under-staffed police department that’s handcuffed with political correctness, a corrupt city council, and an ineffective mayor.
None of that is likely to ever change. The Mayor could fill your streets with cops 24x7 and you know what? You’d still have a crime problem. Cops can only ever be “the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.” This is because their role is to catch criminals. What your community needs is “the fence at the top of the cliff”. Only your Community can provide that.
> Throwing money away on crap that doesn’t directly reduce crime or increase academic performance - such as parties, barbecues, and “music-recording weekends” - is a supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources.
If throwing money at the problem would directly affect the crime rate or increase academic performance, it would have been done long ago. The problem isn’t as simple as that: I wish it were, but it is not.
These things that you cite as a “supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources” will certainly not solve these problems rapidly. But they are legitimate steps.
You didn’t get a crime problem overnight: it is unrealistic to expect an overnight solution. Baby steps work well.
> Batons to the head, not burgers down the hole.
It’s an appealing thought, but if that didn’t work in South Africa, what makes you think it will work in the US?
> You’re telling me a mini thug will go thru an interrogation and be photographed... for a burger?
Yup, they love to boast. Sometimes for even less than a burger.
> Must be one helluva burger.
Ever wonder why businessmen go out for business lunches? It ain’t because they’re hungry. It’s because they hope to get their client’s natural guards, inhibitions and defenses down over lunch, maybe build some rapport.
Exact same principle at work here.
> I’ll take the “dumb” solution: flood the streets with cops.
At — how much? — $40,000 per copy per annum? More? Twelve more cops are going to cost your community half a million dollars. That’s three shifts of two pairs of cops 24x7. Not much of a flood for half-a-mil, and it doesn’t include a pair of squad cars and petrol to make ‘em run.
Flooding the streets with cops is prohibitively expensive. And it would turn your Community into an armed camp.
Worst of all, it wouldn’t work.
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