Youth violence in the city I teach in has reached crisis proportion. Yet another 17 year old was stabbed just yesterday near our high school. Last month an entire day of instruction was lost after a 13 year old stabbed another 17 year old to death just before Dr. King's birthday. I have been heartsick over the way my students experience childhood in these times, and things have gotten worse as poverty increases. http://www.recordonline.com/...
Today I read an article in the local paper that let me know President Obama is on it.
http://www.recordonline.com/...
I have written about the problems the city of Newburgh faces before, around the time of the "Newburgh 5" http://www.dailykos.com/...
and in heavily debated and not-so well received diaries about race, which is a factor. http://www.dailykos.com/...
This morning my now 19 year old daughter shared an open secret that the kids in Newburgh have with one another. In 2007 the teenagers knew where to buy drugs, from their security guards in their high school. In 2008 my daughter heard two security guards discussing how high they were with one another in her school cafeteria. My letter to the head of security goes out this morning.
This is only a small part of the dysfunction in this city, however. Corruption runs deep, and the history of exceptional crime spans back to when my dad was in his 20's (he's 83 now) and there was a famous madame who gained national attention for her brothels serving Navy ships that once docked on the Hudson in Newburgh.
What is hurting the most though is the increase in violence among our city's children. Incidences of students bringing weapons to school are on the rise, and the ages of the children doing so are shockingly young.
Concerned adults have been trying to learn about the issue, but it feels like the ones who attend the meetings are not the adults we need to reach. In addition to youth violence, we have many students whose parents themselves were or are teenagers, and we have some whose parents we suspect are themselves in gangs. Our largest gangs presently are La Eme and BBK, with the Bloods supporting the BBK on occasion.
I was relieved to read this morning that Newburgh's gang problem is on the White House's radar. In a time when Obama is endlessly criticized I want to openly congratulate the administration for acknowledging some very real "homeland security" problems for some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens. I hope we can get this right soon. There are many children that are trying to grow up in an increasingly angry world right here in the U.S.A.
While I know that some of the problem will be alleviated by the economy improving, and that most of the solution will come from local government and the exposure of corruption within, I hope that national attention will lead to a closer look at the failed systems in Newburgh. I hope that the FBI will look at the number of rehabilitated criminals the city council has bargained to receive payment for, including many sex offenders. They were absorbed into the city's population disproportionately to other more affluent areas. One reason gangs were created was to offer safety that was not provided for by public institutions. Many things have happened in Newburgh to allow the gang environment to thrive. There are no easy answers, this has been growing for decades. It is a relief to know that we exist in America's eyes though, and I hope this feeling can spread to the streets my students live on.