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Congrats, Mr. President, Now Earn It
By Clarence Page, Tribune Media Services
Congratulations to President Barack Obama on his Nobel Peace Prize. I
hope he now can do something to earn it. He could begin by bringing
peace to American streets, such as those in his hometown.
Less than nine months into his presidency, it obviously is early for Obama to be lauded for great achievements. Yet the Norwegian Nobel Committee seems to be saying, why wait? They're giving him a big "E" for his efforts.
According to their declaration, the committee decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 should be awarded to Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The committee "attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."
Fine. I would like to attach as much importance to his vision and work for cities without kids killing each other for sport in senseless turf battles, if only I knew what his vision was.
He still appears to be searching. A week before the Nobel was announced, Obama was compelled by the fatal video-recorded beating of Derrion Albert, 15, by a mob of teens on Chicago's South Side to take action. He dispatched two cabinet officers to address a youth violence problem that already has been exhaustively studied.
He sent Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to meet with local officials in Chicago. The problem is hardly new to Duncan. He was CEO of the city's public schools before Obama brought him to Washington. He openly lamented in an April interview that, despite many achievements of which he was proud during his seven-year tenure as schools chief, he was a "total failure" at curbing violence. At least he's honest.
Yet, everybody seems to think they have the answer to youth violence. Just ask them. If I had a dollar for every reader who has written to me, often in capital letters, "IT'S THE PARENTS, STUPID," the windfall probably could pay my son's college tuition.
They're right, of course. Broken families lead to broken lives for kids. But what's the prescription? For the black kids who disproportionately are victims and perpetrators of juvenile violence, for example, it is easy to blame black social problems on the absence of black fathers. It's hard to argue with a black out-of-wedlock birth rate of almost 70 percent. But where are we going to find young marriageable men to marry those unwed mothers? How do we break the cycle of family dysfunctional before yet another generation of kids is lost?
More police are needed, but they're not enough, says Phillip Jackson, founder of Chicago's 13-year-old Black Star Project. "Derrion Albert and others are not getting jumped by organized street gangs," Jackson told me. "These are just neighborhood kids who get together for what they call 'mobbin,' which usually means fighting. They're not making money with their crime. They just don't think they have anything better to do."
Jackson didn't expect much from the surge in programs, services and promises by city and federal officials that followed Derrion Albert's death. "We need structural changes," Jackson said, "not knee-jerk reactions."
Like what? He referred me to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which appropriately treats youth violence like the disease that it is. Their four sensible prescriptions:
1. Teach parents to talk with their kids and solve problems in nonviolent ways.
2. Teach children to resolve tough social situations without using violence.
3. Pair adults with youngsters to mentor and serve as role models for good behavior.
4. Reduce social and economic causes of violence in the young person's environment.
What doesn't work is buck passing. Each of these strategies require time, money and concern.
Kids need more than cops. They need good mentors and role models. They need something better to do after school than the "mobbing" that leads to gang fights. They need people with whom they can provide early warnings of violence before it happens, without feeling stigmatized as "snitches." We know these things from programs that have worked to measurably reduce violence in schools and neighborhoods around the country.
So, congratulations on your prize, Mr. President. I hope you can earn it now, not just overseas but also here at home, too. We've diagnosed the youth violence virus for decades. It's time to give more attention to prescriptions that work to stop it.
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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage(at)tribune.com, or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.
(c) 2008 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
This news arrived on: 10/11/2009
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Posted Comments:
10-19-2009 09:53
Catharyne Stauffer wrote:
To JCE Where do you get your stats that this family violence problem is the highest in Christian families . I would like to see some proof of this because according to stats here the highest percentage of family violence is in Military family as a group .
You really need to get off this bandwagon of bashing Christians when your hate for Christianity is clearly a personal one .
You really need to get off this bandwagon of bashing Christians when your hate for Christianity is clearly a personal one .
10-11-2009 18:22
All for "Real Families wrote:
Violence
When we daily hear of violence in the homes, parents beating, knifing, shooting each other in front of children, why are we surprised when the children use the same tactics when things don't go as they would like them too. Once we as a country begin to get back to basics, words can cut like a knife and often lead to violence as an end result. When, we as a nation - adults begin treating all as we would like to be treated, then marriages will talk not fight things out and children will learn to do likewise. They learn to talk and walk by watching their caregivers, so where do they learn violence. These young people need to be loved, nurtured, they have a right to that and in too many cases they little or none of either - again WHY are they angry and violent? I believe if we stop and watch ourselves and set examples that would be a great beginning.
10-11-2009 16:32
JCE wrote:
And don't forget. The problems are worse among the Christians, in the Christian communities. So Christ either isn't the answer, or the Christians just aren't having any of the answer. Sure, for every Jim Jones and every crooked Christian politician caught in a lie or crime, there are a few 100 real believers. But there are just so many phonies, and all to many of them are role models, and leaders, spiritual or civil. That is where the problem lies. Leadership.
10-11-2009 16:29
JCE wrote:
You can't keep God out of a place if he is in your heart and mind. You don't have to talk about God, say His name, or pray. You just have to be. And the schools can't control that. This is just another example of parents and churches not doing their job, and blaming the school. We didn't pray, or talk about God. We didn't need to. This is all a game to some people. But to serious parents and churches, it isn't a problem. They do their job, are good role models, and the kids are fine. And when kids ask why God allows bad things, it makes you wonder why the parents and churches haven't taught them the truth.
10-11-2009 15:21
HHJ wrote:
I saw an interesting cartoon some time back and two children were discussing a school shooting and one asked why God would allow such a horrible thing to happen at school. The other one replied, haven't you heard God is not allowed in school anymore. Crime, dyfunctional families, children born out of wedlock is a reflection of the moral decay of this country. Christ is the answer to all of man's delimma and He is not even on the list of solutions.
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