MANSFIELD: Exploding Myths

The accompanying photo shows two of the four young people who were working (with great alacrity, in spite of the off-and-on drizzle last Saturday, I might add) in the vineyards our non-profit organization established last year. They’re getting paid to prune and train the two-year old vines while learning other viniculture skills.

I show these industrious young people working away on an inner-city project to counter the notion Phillip Morris constantly promotes: That dysfunctional behavior is the norm instead of the exception in Black communities.  This Pulitzer Prize-nominated columnist of color seemingly takes delight in portraying such communities as dystopian landscapes devoid of anything (or anyone) worthy of assisting or redeeming.

A few months ago Morris penned a column in which a friend of his, an upwardly mobile Black ex-military man (who probably had the benefit of a middleclass upbringing), asks why should he care about young inner-city blacks who obviously are lazy beyond belief.  Of course Morris never straight-out poses such queries in his own voice… he usually puts the foul words in the mouths of others, journalistic coward that he is.

But the crux of the matter is this: As long as conservative writers — no matter their color — are allowed to subtly suggest that the disadvantaged youth of our nation’s inner-cities somehow are the cause of, and actually like, their substandard, marginalized condition (the subtext being these folks are somehow genetically inferior, making them more prone to criminality, which they, in fact, relish) it’s easier to dismiss this entire demographic as not worthy of our attention or concern.

This, of course, means little will be done politically to bring about any changes in current policies that created and sustain such abject conditions.  Additionally, closet bigots and racial reactionaries can then always secretly murmur, “Why bother, why waste the money? You can’t change them anyway, it’s in their DNA.”

Morris’ main goal remains the same: To exculpate the historic unfair laws, bigoted attitudes and racist mindsets that created (and still work to maintain) a vast underclass in America. His role, as he obviously see it, is to free the majority culture from any guilt or responsibility for the tragic conditions extant in many of our nation’s inner-cities.

But now he’s about to get someone hurt or maybe even killed. Morris went into the ‘hood and got the owner of a Black barbershop to complain about how the neighborhood around his Central Avenue business has deteriorated over the years… how the thugs have all but taken over. Along with Morris, he then muses that the solution just might be for armed men, the elders of the community, to become vigilantes and put these punks in check… Dirty Harry-style.

Of course less than a week after the article came out the windows of the man’s barbershop were shot out. I wonder where Morris was at the time… probably safely ensconced in his suburban community… far from the sounds of gunshots.

Not to fear though, Morris has another “solution”… cameras. Yes, mounting cameras in the area will certainly stop all of the crime right in its tracks, you can bet on it. Please. Cameras only deter honest people from doing something wrong, like speeding. Thugs don’t care about cameras, that’s why hoodies and bandanas were invented.

Are there thugs in inner-city communities? Yes. And increasingly they are in suburban communities also. As I’ve heard Mayor Frank Jackson say on more than one occasion when the question of spreading crime arises: “Did you really think that it was going to stay in my community, and not spread to yours?”

My question to Morris is, “What kinds of real solutions have you put forth… what have you personally done to attempt to alleviate this problem?”  But solutions don’t win Pulitzer Prizes… shot out barbershop windows do. Let’s just hope no one is killed in the process of winning an award.

The simple truth is the vast, vast majority of inner-city kids are like the ones pictured working in The Vineyards of Château Hough. I only wish that I could hire more of the young people who stop past everyday we’re out there working, asking if they can be hired too. It quite literally breaks my heart to have to tell them, “No, I really can’t afford to pay you.”

But I do want to offer my sincere thanks to an avid reader and dear friend, Stephen Schultz, who made a generous donation to our non-profit which, in turn, made it possible for us to pay these four young people… at least for a couple of weeks. Anyone else wishing to make such a contribution, no matter how small or large, please don’t be shy about calling me at 216.469.0124. I’m also on Facebook. And we’re always looking for more volunteers… there’s no shortage of work to be done.

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.