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The Pain of Violence and Death In the Hood
By
Marvin X
"When
you kill your brother, you kill yourself,
so two people are dead."--Abdul (Leroy) James
Not
long ago some Washington, DC school children were asked what
they envisioned for their future. They responded with how they
planned their funerals. As I watched the Discovery Channel's
documentary on Saddam Hussein's regime, the pain of mothers and
fathers who lost children and other loved ones in the nightmare
called Iraq, supported for many years by America, I also thought
about life and death in America, especially in the black
community as a result of drugs and the related violence.
Many years ago I tried to work with mothers who had lost
children in Oakland's drug wars until I was overwhelmed with the
testimonies and tragedies I was forced to hear, not much
different from seeing the mothers and fathers weeping and
wailing at discovering missing relatives at the mass graves in
Iraq. Yes, if taken collectively, the national deaths of African
Americans due to drugs and related homicides, constitute mass
murder, orchestrated by the American government, a government
similar in many ways to the fallen regime it supported for many
years in Iraq. Almost everyone in Iraq has been a victim of
Saddam's death squads, just as in America, almost everyone I
know coast to coast has family members murdered, jailed or
addicted as a result of the so-called war against drugs.
While the Oakland mothers tried to organize, the fathers I know
that have lost sons go about their daily round in silence,
albeit suffering as the mothers suffer. So we have a nation of
people in virtual mourning, doing their best to maintain sanity
in an atmosphere of madness.
The more we organize, the more the drugs and killing
proliferate. It seems to be a losing battle with the "drug
lords" who we know is Uncle Sam. Anytime the police want to
stop the flow of drugs, say when a pig is killed, they stop it
immediately, the hood is dry overnight, but once the suspect is
apprehended, the drugs flow again like water.
So all the talk about more police, more judges, more prisons is
poppycock. The economy of the hood is a drug economy, let's be
real. This became clear to me seeing masses of black people
shopping downtown during working hours, how is it possible
except for an alternative economy. I've said before the dope man
is the number one employer of our youth coast to coast.
Well, is there a program to end the pain, the murder and social
destabilization? We could say, as in Iraq, we need a regime
change. We need to throw out the corrupt police, mayors,
preachers (many churches would cease to exist without donations
from mothers of drug dealing children), school teachers and
others who benefit from the drug trade.
Few are ready for radical change, most will accept Miller Lite
solutions that don't go to the root of the problem, until one of
their children is a victim, then they wail like an Iraqi mother.
Yes, we will march to city hall when the police abuse a ghetto
youth, but the nightly black on black homicides cause no real
protest, especially in the hood where residents are terrified
into silence.
Of course, my solution is the formation of elder councils. But
these seem to miss the mark. The elders seem too old and feeble
to really do anything but pontificate and demand youth bow down
to them because of age and reactionary wisdom. Yet I know no
other solution: the elder council should serve as an
alternative government, empowered by the people to handle
matters the traditional political and social/economic structure
is unable to solve. It would be composed of intelligent,
progressive, radical conscious people respected by the community
for their integrity and problem solving ability. The elder
council would be especially useful in emergencies, say, when
white power falls or is under attack.
The
council would be the point of authority to resolve matters
between community residents before the criminal justice system
is involved, such as conflict resolution, including domestic and
street violence prevention. It would also provide alternative
economic solutions to drug dealing. It would establish grief
counseling and/or mental health groups such as the Black
Reconstruction mental health group Dr. Nathan Hare is
facilitating in San Francisco. With the many deaths from
violence and natural causes, grief counseling is especially
needed in our community, too many are forced to suffer the pain
of loss alone.
If you have a better solution, tell me about it because death in
the hood is killing us coast to coast, and we have too many
intelligent people not to find real and lasting solutions to our
myriad problems, short of bringing in the US military that is
too busy bringing in drugs
Marvin
X is a poet, playwright, essayist, teacher, actor, organizer, director
and founder of Recovery Theatre, Inc., a therapeutic theatre project for
the chemically addicted and those suffering mental disabilities. His
latest book of essays is IN THE CRAZY HOUSE CALLED AMERICA, Black Bird
Press, 2002. |
