Is there a cure for hate crimes & racism?

I know that tomorrow celebrates the 50^th anniversary of a famous march in Washington and a speech that has echoed throughout our land. The question that still evades me is whether this dream of racial equality and responsibility will ever become a reality. I live in a diverse community where ‘hate crimes’ happen all of the time between different gangs, in neighborhoods and in schools. I know that it is still relatively easy for those outside of my community to have a negative view of my neighborhood because of its’ diversity.

I struggle with the ongoing issues within different racial communities when it seems as if it is self-perpetuating. I recently had a good friend who is a reporter for the Arizona Republic write an article on the ongoing struggles with African American youth in Phoenix. He had used the last census poll as the means to make the assessment that Phoenix had the highest dropout rate, unemployment rate and teen pregnancy rate in the country for this racial group. He interviewed one of my teens and did an overview of his life story. His mom died when he was young, his dad has never been in the picture, he is a juvenile diabetic and his grandma who is 80 is raising him. He had dropped out of school out of frustration with his inability to do his math and other homework.

The article attempted to give some sense of hope and what had to happen to see life improve. My frustration is that being involved with an at risk youth population can be very rewarding at times when you see someone ‘get it’ and rise to the top. It is also rather frustrating when I continue to see the same teens that are dropouts make excuses about why they don’t have jobs after being out of school for a couple of years and haven’t even gotten their G.E. D.

It is so easy to blame circumstances, which I know the youth didn’t create such as their deadbeat dad or welfare mom. Yet, the opportunity is there today for anyone regardless of race or background to choose to get involved in life and make a difference in their community. Yet, what seems to happen isn’t much different from these teens that randomly killed this Australian Baseball Player. The teens made the comment that they were bored and didn’t have anything to do so they decided to kill someone that day. I’m shocked that there hasn’t been outrage from the racial communities that these youth represent to take responsibility for these teen’s choices.

I know that my button gets pushed when I’m with anyone that makes the comment that they are bored and must be entertained. I know that one of the common threads of today’s youth is the need to be entertained. Few are able to sit still for more than a few minutes unless there is an X-Box or PS-3 to play in the house. What happened to the day when youth and adults choose to be responsible for themselves? I know that reading and using your imagination isn’t very popular but why not do something different? Why allow the crowd mentality to pull you down? How could someone ever think that harming someone was a way to ‘kill the time’?

The story that talked about my teen unfortunately failed to mention what had helped him turn the corner and get back into school, playing football and life. It was the choice of someone outside his life to get involved. I have two close friends who have become his mentors. They are both from different racial groups and have made significant commitments to help him stay in life and succeed. My one friend takes this teen out often; he takes him camping and hunting. My other friend has chosen to get him involved in playing football. This requires driving everyday to pick him up and drop him off.

I know that the concept of being committed to a higher calling that requires your time and resources is alien to many. What helped my teen turn the corner could have saved the life of an innocent 20 something that was jogging by a group of teens that hadn’t been taught much by their own communities about the value of life. Don’t be surprised at the impact you can make when you walk away from the T.V. or your ipad or smartphone and do something that matters!