Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Gun Violence In Boston
The Globe briefly mentions some newly released gun violence statistics today. Over here in the gentrified Fenway area we can easily forget that Boston has a growing problem on its hands, one that deserves some discussion.
There were two more gun homicides in 2005 than in 2004, but 72 more non-fatal attacks. More disturbing is the difference between last month and the January of 2005. In 1/04 there were 11 attacks, 2 fatal and this January there were 30 attacks, 4 fatal.
One can easily write these statistics off by saying that Boston is still one of the least violent cities of its size, so we shouldn't be worried, and this holds some value. But, one gun death is obviously one too many, and every effort should be taken to decrease gun violence rates.
There are a number of approaches to be considered:
Josh's boy Menino has focuses his efforts on eliminating bad T-shirts. A few months back Menino forced a clothing store to take "Stop Snitching" shirts off of their shelves. It was essentially Boston-Herald-politics, if you will, playing to the headlines instead of looking to solve the actual problem.
The most popular solution amongst City officials is increasing police presence. There are two problems, first Boston's budget is such that it really can't increase the police force to the levels people would like. The second problem is that this is far from a long term solution. The Boston that we all want isn't one with no violence but police on every corner, it's a Boston with real peace. To paraphrase someone quoting MLK at Coretta's funeral, "Peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence of peace." I like that.
So now that we are thinking big, how can this be accomplished. My answer is almost always education, and this is no exception. The first thing we need is an extended school day, with after school activities like we all enjoyed in our fancy suburban schools. The most dangerous time of the day isn't 3 a.m., it's the time between when school lets out and when parents get out of work. If we can occupy students with sports and theater and art, not only we they be better educated but our streets will be safer. There plenty of ideas out there, but I say we start with that one.
There were two more gun homicides in 2005 than in 2004, but 72 more non-fatal attacks. More disturbing is the difference between last month and the January of 2005. In 1/04 there were 11 attacks, 2 fatal and this January there were 30 attacks, 4 fatal.
One can easily write these statistics off by saying that Boston is still one of the least violent cities of its size, so we shouldn't be worried, and this holds some value. But, one gun death is obviously one too many, and every effort should be taken to decrease gun violence rates.
There are a number of approaches to be considered:
Josh's boy Menino has focuses his efforts on eliminating bad T-shirts. A few months back Menino forced a clothing store to take "Stop Snitching" shirts off of their shelves. It was essentially Boston-Herald-politics, if you will, playing to the headlines instead of looking to solve the actual problem.
The most popular solution amongst City officials is increasing police presence. There are two problems, first Boston's budget is such that it really can't increase the police force to the levels people would like. The second problem is that this is far from a long term solution. The Boston that we all want isn't one with no violence but police on every corner, it's a Boston with real peace. To paraphrase someone quoting MLK at Coretta's funeral, "Peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence of peace." I like that.
So now that we are thinking big, how can this be accomplished. My answer is almost always education, and this is no exception. The first thing we need is an extended school day, with after school activities like we all enjoyed in our fancy suburban schools. The most dangerous time of the day isn't 3 a.m., it's the time between when school lets out and when parents get out of work. If we can occupy students with sports and theater and art, not only we they be better educated but our streets will be safer. There plenty of ideas out there, but I say we start with that one.
