Elizabeth Pisani, author of The Wisdom of Whores, visited Tulane University last week to share her views. Here is her blog response to her visit to the south.
My Heart is Bleeding.
My Heart is Bleeding. Today for my Violence in the Community course taught by Professor Peter Scharf, Ameer Bakara and Jermaine Morgan came and spoke to us about why kids kill. First I will give you a little background on Ameer and Jermaine. Ameer is an actor for Treme (HBO Show). When he was 15 he was incarcerated as a juvenile for manslaughter and again later for drug charges. He says that jail was life changing for him. He learned how to read and became absorbed with the English language and all of the possibilities it unleashed. Coming out of jail he wanted to become a mentor to the youth in New Orleans who teeter at the edge of a life of drugs and violence. He decided to become an actor to be a role model and someone the kids would look up to. Unfortunately, he said black kids will not respect or listen to a lawyer or professional, instead they will look to athletes, actors and rappers like 50 cent and lil Wayne. Here are some of the points he made:
- In these black communities there is no respect for life, not even their own. They are so disconnected that killing is not seen as tragic but as a part of the norm, a right of passage into manhood, the equivalent of a diploma. There is a “disassociation of love” in these communities.
- We cannot change kids that have committed to “channel 6”, or a life of drugs and violence. We can only catch them and help them when they are “flipping the channels”. This means reaching kids at ages 9, 10, and 11 and showing them another life. Once kids are locked in it is like “home grown terrorism”, where they are taught to kill if someone invades their turf. These are just the rules of life.
- Many kids kill because their friends have killed. Jermaine added that these killer kids feel bad but eh, its eventually just a part of life and seems normal and what has to be done and what is done.
- Why do blacks have higher murder rates than whites but in places like St. Jermaine Parish (an all black parish) 5 years can pass without a single murder?
- Institutional racism. When Ameer went and spoke at the Booker T. Washington High School graduation, there was no air conditioning, and it was HOT. Addressing the crowd of young African American graduates he said “some of you will die this summer, some of you will go to jail and some of you will do alright and will make it.” Unfortunately, what he said was right on target, as later that week two of the students were shot. This is the world these kids live in. Most of the comments to Professor Scharf’s Mundane Murders article reporting this speech targeted the lack of air-conditioning in the establishment. Who of us in the Violence course, went to high school in a school without the proper heating or air-conditioning? Institutional racism.
- These communities are surrounded by negative social interactions. More interaction with good role models, men working for a living in a trade other than drugs. By tearing down the housing projects after Hurricane Katrina and making mixed income housing, communities were engineered were role models could be introduced and the closed community of drug trades and violence could be opened up to more possibilities.
Professor Scharf asked: Do we include the environments and background characteristics of a perpetrator in sentencing?
Before today I would have said, “of course”: a person coming from an environment like the projects, growing up exposed to a drug trade climate will be much more likely to be thrust into a situation where they can be pushed to kill again or steal again or sell drugs again. However, isn’t this another form of racism. By judging these perpetrators from the projects more harshly than perpetrators of the same crime from a more “respectable” background? They cannot control where they were born, or the environment they live in. It is chance, circumstance. By punishing one person more harshly with a longer sentence because of circumstance we are in effect limiting their options and claiming that these people are “worse” and not giving them ample opportunity to rebound or live. And why not? Why incarcerate them longer? Is there really such a higher chance that these individuals will kill again? What about the chance that jail is life changing and they go back to there communities to improve them?
Jermaine Morgan is a 16 year old from Booker T. Washington High School. When asked if he knows classmates or friends that have killed he responded very matter-of-factly, yes, of course. His two brothers are currently facing murder charges. At an early age he was dealing heroine and packing a gun every day. He does not think anything can help his classmates and he does not see an end to the drug and gun culture of his community, however, he does see it as a problem. Unlike many of his classmates, he is optimistic about his future and believes he can do anything he sets his mind to. Ameer is trying to be a good mentor to him, by showing him all of the options open to him. Even with this guidance, Jermaine has still been drawn to the wrong crowds, recently being caught in a stolen car. This proves just how hard this cycle is to break. The draw of crime is too strong for many to overcome, especially when lacking responsible, driven, and inspiring role models.
This class brought me to question another aspect of this way of life. What about the women and girls? Are they participating in the drug trade and violent way of life? Or are they simply silent bystanders? And if so, why aren’t they speaking out? If they did, would things change, would men listen? What do they think the solution is for their neighborhoods?
Today was very frustrating. I am completely shocked. My heart bleeds for these kids growing up with guns, drugs and violence as the norm. I want to understand this community better. I am frustrated because I feel so separated. I live in the exact same city, but my world and the world of kids like Jermaine are completely separated. I will never know what Jermaine does but I want to peek into their lives.
I was thinking of doing my honors thesis about the Grocery Gap in New Orleans and looking for a connection between low socioeconomic neighborhoods and their access to grocery stores or fast food. Did the loss of grocery stores following Hurricane Katrina, open a door for fast food to inundate these neighborhoods? Now this seems like a futile topic. Why would these neighborhoods care about nutrition and daily access to fresh vegetables when they are dealing with kids killing kids over drugs? Thinking about and solving such public health issues is a blessing that can only be tackled after general environmental safety is established. I am privileged to be able to care about these public health issues such as access to grocery stores, good nutrition, physical activity, obesity, diabetes, etc. etc. These issues are not the first area of concern for drug trade neighborhoods. We cannot address these public health issues without first dealing with the culture of drugs, crime and violence. It would be ineffective to jump to the more advanced stages of public health because the neighborhoods themselves would not be focused on the issue. First step, first. The epidemic of violence: of kids killing kids.
Short response to Cost Conundrum pointing to more preventative health care/publich health attention.
