More on the Healthy Cleveland Initiative
By Mansfield Frazier
When a group of public officials, civic leaders and health professionals met at the Boys & Girls Club on Broadway a few weeks ago, a sense of urgency permeated the air… and with good reason: Urban violence and youth-on-youth killings are robbing from all of us, no matter how far away anyone might live or work from the heart of Cleveland. The cost… in lost lives, tax dollars and reputation of all Greater Clevelanders is virtually incalculable.
And until we start intervention programs that assist underprivileged parents in the proper raising of their children (yes, the Harlem Children’s Zone is a great example), we’re only going to be left with the option of cleaning up behind the few at-risk youth once they begin acting out and eventually engaging in gun violence. Collectively we should be damn tired of mopping up spilt blood and should be willing to take hard looks at alternative solutions.
However, there are a few truisms we’re going to have to face head-on and deal with first:
One — there will be no limits placed on Second Amendment rights in America, thus making guns less allopatric or more difficult for inner-city youth to acquire. Supply and demand is at play and all efforts at curbing capitalism always fall short. Additionally, it’s been well proven that interdiction does not and can not work… just look at the failed so-called War on Drugs. If there is a demand, there will be a supply… period.
Two — we’re not going to be able to place a limit on First Amendment rights either… violent films and video games are with us to stay. Indeed, even Black Friday is turning into a violent game, just like I easily predicted in print two years ago. But I take no pride in saying, “I told you so” since I sometimes hate being right.
And three — guns empower powerless people. Two street terms come to mind: “pistol courage” and “pistol power.” Parents, educators, mentors, police… no one is going to talk certain young people out of their fascination with firepower. In an age where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the most popular video game of all time, how are we going to persuade young people — with little to lose in life but their life — to stay away from guns. It quite literally can’t be done.
I’m challenging the corporate community to partner with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to start a handgun safety program for urban youth. Yes, teach inner-city kids how to respect and properly handle firearms.
Now, once you get your panties un-bunched, stick with me for a minute and think this through. Certainly such a program could simply make a small percentage of urban thugs better at busting a cap in someone’s ass, but there’s anecdotal evidence such training would actually help solve the problem, not worsen it.
My brother and I were raised hunting and fishing. My father took us (along with two or sometimes three other neighborhood kids) to an abandoned quarry off Rockside Road and taught us to shoot. He gave me a .22 rifle for my 7th birthday. At age 12 I received a .410 Mossberg shotgun. He owned a tavern in our very rough inner-city neighborhood so there was never a moment he didn’t have a sidearm in his pocket or within easy reach. And I never thought of touching one of his guns without his permission.
Indeed, when, as a teenager, some kid would show up at one of our hangouts with a pistol they’d somehow acquired, I — and the other kids my father had taught how to properly handle and respect firearms — would silently ease away from the scene. We were not about to become statistics, shot by accident by some damn fool kid who knew nothing about guns or the handling of them.
At present there’s a plethora of programs designed to assist inner-city kids… literally dozens of them; the problem is, the at-risk youth who need them most attend them least.
Could a firearms safety training program designed for urban kids (the NRA for years has had a program named “Eddie Eagle” for suburban youth) attract a percentage of the at-risk youth population… and keep them coming back so they could be mentored in other ways as they learn about firearms and safety under strict supervision?
Participation in the training could be tied to improved grades and consistent good behavior. At least the “bait” being offered — being able to handle guns — is something they’re already vitally interested in, and it just may be a good enough hook to reel them in for the long haul. It certainly is worth a try… is anyone listening?
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.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: More on the Healthy Cleveland Initiative”
Thomas
NRA’s Eddie Eagle program does not teach youths how to handle a gun. In fact, Eddie Eagle has never touched a gun in bringing the program to 21 million suburban kids. That said, I think you idea has merit.