There Are No Children Here describes the
violent situations impoverished children in Chicago face in their daily lives.
The authors narrate the lives of two children who are born and live in
neighborhoods with high levels of poverty, and expose many of the dangerous
situations that individuals treat as normal aspects of life. One situation
describes the boy, Lafeyette, hiding from gun fire on his twelfth birthday,
which was not an uncommon experience. Apparently the family had practiced
drills for this type of situation. In this same chapter the lives of parents in
these neighborhoods are also described. Women are grandparents by age 30 and
great grandparents by age 40 which is an extremely alarming statistic. I feel
in order to raise a child the individual must have life experience that teaches
them responsibility, and too often individuals have unwanted pregnancies that
result in unfit people becoming parents. This cycle of unfit role models and
high levels of gang activity lead to the destruction of the living standards
within the projects. When the first families moved into the projects the areas
and living conditions were more than acceptable, but as the culture of
residents in these areas change the physical locations begin to change. This
trend is simply escalation in a different form. Once one gang moves in and
begins to distribute guns, for example, other individuals will also turn to the
same style of deviance because that is what they are exposed to at an early
age. The authors even describe the leader of the Conservative Vice Lords, the
biggest gang presence in the projects, and how he is viewed as a role model.
This person is responsible for enforcing the gang’s policy which usually entails
using violence to achieve his goals. But at the same time he hands out food to
families in need, keeps children out of the gang, and does not abuse drugs
himself. In the eyes of the children he is a role model because of the latter
things he does for his community, but this type of role model will not help
children move into positive lifestyles. Yes his family values are admirable,
but are they only admirable because he is a gang member?
Reading
this book I found underlying themes similar to the mentality I have described
in my previous blogs, the mentality of laziness. If individuals or families
that deal with fear of gun violence on a dialy basis collectively took action
against these individuals a solution may be reached, but they are either too
afraid to take that action, or they have become too accustomed to hearing gun fire every day. Taking action against
armed criminals is a daunting task, but taking action against gang members can
be a different issue. A quote from the
director Spike Lee illustrates this point perfectly “Our ancestors risked life
and limb to learn…the Media needs to stop glorifying gangsters and start
focusing on education.,” and I feel this hit the nail on the head. If children
grow up with their surrounding community looking up to gangsters they will want
to life the same type of lifestyle. They will then see crime or violent action
as an easy means to achieving their ends. But this does not teach individual
responsibility or hard work. If individuals who peruse higher levels of
education and achieve class mobility were focused on more children would strive
to achieve those goals instead. Fixing a neighborhood can only be done through
reinvesting in the individuals who compose that area. If young black
individuals who escaped the poverty they once lived in returned to those
neighborhoods to help other young individuals get on that same path, the cycle
of poverty is broken and a cycle of success begins. The idea of hopelessness is
a central theme in this book, and in my opinion hopelessness is the greatest
adversary of the fight on poverty, because if individuals do not have hope they
no longer have any reason to want to change their lives. Giving the youngest
generation hope for a better life will teach them to strive for class mobility.
If they are socialized to believe that living until age 25 is rare we cannot
expect them to attempt to change any parts of their community. We need to teach
that living past age 25 is normal and after that age I feel individuals can
have the greatest impact on society. It is on the young adults who have changed
their living situations to show those younger than them that anything is
possible.
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