By Hollis Wormsby

We all see the end res ult of youth left to discard efforts at a proper education, and wander our community without direction or supervision.  Each time a horrific crime is committed by a youth we all go into a tizzy about what  can be done to reduce youth crime, and then a week later we move on without having taking any action.  There is no simple answer to how to address crimes committed by 16-20 year olds who have essentially not been raised and who do not share the values of most of the community, but there may and probably are ways to address producing fewer of these individuals in the future.

Let’s begin with enforcing truancy laws and providing adequate resources to make enforcement real.  One of the biggest challenges to this community and to urban communities across America is children being born into homes not willing and or able to provide adequate supervision and educational support.  We know this, but I am not aware of any solution that is being implemented.  But two steps that will help will be holding parents more accountable and implementing consequences that are meaningful for failing to adequately raise and supervise your children, and secondly to increase the number of truant officers to whatever number we need to adequately patrol our communities and ensure that no child has the opportunity to ignore their responsibility to get an adequate education, and that there are programs in place to address and support children who are not getting adequate educational support at home.  There is a role for the government in this, but there is also a role for every church and non-profit that claims to care about the community.

Another thing we need to do is to stop giving bad parenting a pass.  I think that parenting classes should be required for folks who are receiving public benefits and their children are not making adequate progress in school.  We are often told it is because in many cases they do not know better, then we must require that they learn better.

Finally I believe that every child should be given a chance and as many resources to help ensure a successful transition from youth to adulthood as possible.  But when you are 16 and terrorizing the neighborhood with a gun, and denying the rest of the community the right to the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of what they worked for, then I don’t think we need to be looking at you as a child or a youthful offender.  I think given what is going on in our community, until we get this madness under control, when you attack someone with a gun, when you enter someone’s home without their position, then you have done a man’s crime and you deserve a man’s punishment.  Or at least that is the way I see it.

Hollis Wormsby has served as a featured columnist for the Birmingham Times for more than 20 years.  He is the former host of Talkback on 98.7 KISS FM, and the current host of Real Talk at 3:00 on Saturday afternoons on 610  am, where you will find informed discussion and an opportunity to discuss issues of importance to the African American community here in Birmingham.  You can also pick up Real Talk on the World Wide Web by going to: www.610wagg.com and clicking on the Listen Live button.

By James Clingman

via George Curry Media

“Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.”

-Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I can hear the backroom discussion now: “We can save money if we stop taking our drinking water from Lake Huron and start using water from the Flint River instead.”  Those may not be the exact words, but the leaders of Flint, Mich., including the two recent emergency managers, City Council, the EPA, and the governor, have caused a catastrophe.

Money is the common theme among the perpetrators in Flint; it is always lurking in the shadows of the many problems facing Black and poor people.  Now, in a city that is nearly 60 percent Black and has a 40 percent-plus poverty rate, money trumps life again. Money trumps the long-term effects on more than 8,000 children, many of whom will grow up suffering from the physical, cognitive, and emotional illnesses caused by lead poisoning.  As one person said, “Everybody in the city has been poisoned, everybody.”

Sophia A. McClennen wrote, on Salon.com, “The story of Flint is the story of what happens when profits are more important than people. What Michael Moore captured in his movie, “Roger and Me,” was a clear prelude to what is happening [in Flint] today. First, Flint residents lost their jobs. Twenty-five years later they have lost their water and their health. There are ten dead…from Legionnaire’s disease in Flint and countless others with serious illnesses from contaminated water.”

Politicians are playing games with this emergency, and trying to garner votes from it.  Remember Rahm Emmanuel’s quote?  “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”  Where is the “opportunity” in this crisis?  Was the slow response to this crisis really just an opportunity to get more money?

This is far from being about what political party is in charge. Some folks are blaming the Republican governor and some are blaming the city council, on which the Democrats hold a 7-1 majority. But so what? The damage is done; the important question is: “Now what?”

Many people have marshalled their forces to assist the people of Flint, first, by bringing water.  The feds have granted a measly $5 million to help but President Obama, who went to nearby Detroit but did not go to Flint, denied the request by the governor to declare the situation a “major disaster,” which under law applies to natural disasters and “certain other situations.”  Isn’t this a “certain other situation?” Isn’t it just as important as getting water to Katrina victims and providing healthcare for Flint’s citizens?

It would be great to see our doctors, psychologists, attorneys, scientists, engineers, and technical personnel lend their talents to help, like we do in other countries. In light of this terrible situation, Flint is in need of all the services, assistance, contributions, and prayers that we can muster. By the way, so are the folks in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., where the citizens are suffering from all sorts of diseases and untimely deaths because of the still lingering effects of the BP oil spill.

The lawsuits will come and the money from the taxpayers’ coffers will flow, money that could have been used to prevent the problem in the first place. The long-term health ramifications of lead poisoning are irreversible but sometimes manageable if the funds to do so are available.  The state of Michigan, as it deals with myriad financial issues, will now have to pay billions for its neglect and lack of concern for poor people.

Beginning with Idlewild in 1912, Michigan has had issues with Black/White relationships, social/environmental justice, and economic progress, which provides a context from which to view Michigan’s current predicament, Detroit and its recent economic woes notwithstanding.

In Benton Harbor, with a 90 percent Black population, Edward Pinkney was imprisoned for fighting for social and economic justice, another example of money trumping what is right. The NAACP abandoned brother Pinkney and opted, by its silence and lack of advocacy on his behalf, chose the path of least resistance, and who knows what they received from the Whirlpool Corporation in return for their silence? Once again, as it has throughout the nation, the NAACP manipulated the local election to get rid of Pinkney as president. He went to prison and Whirlpool got an NAACP award.

Three of the five great lakes – Michigan, Huron, and Erie -virtually surround Michigan. For folks in Flint to have to drink water from the Flint River in order to save money is reprehensible.  “Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.”   To all of you “civil rights” advocates:  What could be a greater “civil right” than having clean water to drink?

Jim Clingman, founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce, is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. He can be reached through his website, blackonomics.com. He is the author of  Black Dollars Matter: Teach Your Dollars How to Make More Sense, which is available through his website; professionalpublishinghouse.com and Amazon Kindle eBooks.