So the major news over the last week has been the arrival of the Guardian Angels into town in response to the escalation of violence in Boston. Boston has tallied 13 homicides in 2007, up from 10 this time last year, and witnessed 3 violent shootings in broad daylight in the span of only 4 hours on Friday alone, 2 resulting in death. The Angels have come to town to recruit peacemakers who can promote anti-violence within their own communities and counteract what the gangs are doing. Although they were not turned away, they were not exactly supported by skeptical police and hopeful but cautious civilians.

I say whatever help we can get, take it, and I do agree that the movement for peace needs to come from its own people, who need to welcome and trust the authority that are there to protect them. Although more guns are off of the streets, the gang mentality of anti-snitching and distrusting police remains, and it is a powerful one, powerful enough to keep families hiding in their homes, witnesses’ mouths closed, and teenagers trust of authority broken even as their friends get gunned down before their eyes.

Working literally right in the middle of the major areas entrenched in the gang warfare, and seeing 15 year olds come into school wearing t-shirts dedicated to their gunned down cousins, I am hopeful that the Angels’ work is effective but skeptical about the depth and longevity of its outreach. Of course they are seen as “outsiders,” not welcome, not supported. Who are they recruiting and what is their agenda? The future - the young people - to stop the cycle of violence that is clearly spiraling out of proportion.

I brought the topic to the attention of my 11th grade students today in class and every one of them had an opinion, a question, a comment about it, but were actually mostly asking me what I thought about it all. It amazed me because THEY are the ones who live it! I told them how much it disturbs me to have to listen closely to the names of the victims, or to hear students retell stories of gun shots fired minutes after getting off of the bus in broad daylight. I didn’t grow up in an environment like that, so I can’t relate - and I don’t know what the solution is. And they don’t either. But they are the ones the Angels, the police, the teachers, the neighbors are looking to for answers. They are the ones who have to stop the cycle. For their generation and the next and the next…but when asked “what do you think? what is it like to be you? what do you want to say about it?”, they seemed surprised that I was even asking, as if I were the first to want to hear it. In the age of the online democracy and the access they have to such a huge audience, wow, the implications of their messages could really be powerful. If only they had the confidence to say it, to film it, to ask it, to solve it…I guess that is what the Angels are up against as well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 4:24 am and is filed under reflections. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.