AVONDALE � On a day of talking about gun violence and absentee fathers
Saturday, the words of 19-year-old LaTarence Matthews rose above the
well-intended banter of experts speaking to other experts.
After meeting Saturday morning on Burnet Avenue with street outreach
workers � many of whom have felony records � Matthews, of Downtown,
praised them for credibility and understanding his tough situation.
Then he said, "When I'm falling down or thinking about doing something
dumb, like robbery or burglary, I will call them and say, 'Can you help me
out?' "
Matthews and two 18-year-old black men, including his brother, stopped in
at Stag's Barbershop for an open community discussion later Saturday
afternoon but did not seek the floor to speak and were not recognized. The
barbershop talk, sponsored by Stag's and the Cincinnati Human Relations
Commission, sought community input on solutions to youth violence and
coincided with three other community events in the neighborhood.
Rashid Abdullah, who works for the commission, in cooperation with
Avondale-based J.C. Battle & Sons Funeral Home, pushed a casket at the
corner of Reading Road and Forest Avenue. Inside was a mannequin head of a
black male with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. At the same
time, members of Avondale's Worshipers Together in Christ church handed
out free hot dogs, chips and cold soft drinks to passersby. The events had
a strange symmetry.
"We're all about promoting peace and God's love," said church member Ness
Tubbs, 31. "There are no coincidences in Christ."
Less than a mile from that corner, the location of the Lincoln statue, the
fifth annual men's conference on fatherhood wrapped up at Zion Baptist
Church. Sponsored by the church and Shelton-Reid Inc., the event, "Men in
Spiritual Warfare: Fathers Reclaiming the Glory of Our Sons," was
well-attended by about 50 men, yet � like the barbershop talk � appeared
to miss its target audience of young men. Most of the men at the church
were older, well into their 40s and 50s.
"You see the societal and economic impact of fatherless children in the
black community," said Earl Blanks, executive director of Shelton-Reid.
"Seventy percent of children born in the African-American community are
born out of wedlock. A third of black males born since 2001 will spend
time in prison."
The overarching concern in the community is the deaths of young black men
in Cincinnati. Of the city's 41 homicides to date, 15 have been black men
between 19 and 29.
Cincinnati remains on track to match a troubling trend of the increase in
juvenile deaths. In 2013 and 2012, roughly 1 in 7 Cincinnati homicide
victims were juveniles, compared to an overall rate of 1 in 10 from 2000
through 2011. So far in 2014, five of the city's homicide victims are
juveniles: a 3-month-old black female who was punched, an 8-year-old white
male shot by a friend, an 11-year-old white female shooting victim, and
two 14-year-olds shot and killed � a black female in Avondale and black
male in Walnut Hills.
Saturday morning on Burnet Avenue, Mike Mitchell, 18, of Downtown �
Matthews' brother � said he wished he had known street outreach workers
before he served time in juvenile detention. Instead of police being
called after a fight at home with his brother, they instead could mutually
agree to call an outreach worker to help resolve the dispute. The young
men said many shooting incidents involving young black men occur out of
revenge for even the smallest slights.
Inside Stag's Barbershop during the afternoon, a distinguished assembly of
anti-violence leaders spoke passionately but primarily to each other.
Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati City Council member and 27-year police
veteran, said judges need to stop sending black men to prison for
"low-level drug offenses, branding them as felons and handing them life
sentences."
"People want to know where our fathers are," said Thomas, who is running
for the Ohio Senate. "They are sent through the criminal justice system.
Ten years after they are out of prison, they're skilled in HVC (heating
and air conditioning) and trying to get a job, and the company doesn't
want to hire felons."
Torrance Jones, a former felon now working as a job placement coordinator
at the Urban League of Greater Southwest Ohio, said a job-readiness
program recently helped a released felon train for construction and land a
$16-an-hour job.
"That's one success at $16 an hour," answered Victor Garcia, a pediatric
surgeon at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and founder of
CoreChange, a community-based organization working to reduce poverty.
"That needs to be multiplied by the thousands."
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/2014/07/19/avondale-seeks-answers-youth-violence/12901867/