Why do the benefits of urban violence outweigh the costs?

I'm not asking if the benefits of urban violence outweigh the costs. They do, otherwise we wouldn't be where we are as a community. If we continue to pretend this isn't the case, there will be no progress. Only when we are willing to accept responsibility for the reality we are co-creating does something new become possible.

Looking at the question from the victim/perpetrator side, I can't help but conclude that we do things that we believe are (in some twisted way) in our best interests. What then does it say about us that in a nation as blessed as America, many youth find lives of violence the path of greatest advantage? If every one of those young people recognized they had better opportunities, they'd take them. Their recognition is the operative idea here. The existence of an alternative opportunity is irrelevant if someone doesn't recognize it for what it is or have the skills to take advantage of it (this is the same reason that everyone knows how to lose weight but we still manage to have an obesity problem). What would it take for every urban youth to recognize and act on the opportunities around them? Maybe the discomfort of knowing we live in a world where urban youth are slaughtering each other daily is outweighed by the discomfort inherent in doing what would be necessary to end it.

Which leads us to the question from the 'everyone else' perspective. The observations are even more grim. Maybe I'm an urban resident that is exhausted by the seemingly intractable nature of the problem and have, out of emotional exhaustion, simply stopped paying attention as the city burns around me. Or I'm the suburban resident that gets to say, 'I told you so' about those urban core people and their problems each time the murder count ticks up a notch. Or I am the local politico that has another event to speak about that lends me credibility regardless of whether or not I take a personal risk to address the issue or ever really acknowledge how much I'm benefiting from my role as stater of the obvious. Maybe the people who are benefiting the most are paying the least cost. Whether out of self-preservation, self-hatred, self-righteousness or self-promotion, we have all carved out a niche of benefit from the situation. These youth remain responsible for their actions. But we all share in the responsibility.

What to do about it? Maybe they just need us. What would be possible if we stopped waiting for the non-profit to fix it, or the bigger government to fix it, or even schools and churches? What if there is no replacement for us getting personally involved? What if they are most likely to only recognize and act on the opportunities they see as normative? Isn't that the case for suburban youth and rural youth? They certainly aren't smarter or more gifted. Maybe what suburban/rural youth see as normal and the "normalcy" presented to urban youth are two very different things. If that's the case, are we willing to do the uncomfortable or are we content to observe the predictable? Would we see urban violence cut in half next month if everyone in the region spent three hours per week with an urban youth they're not related to?

And if we aren't personally involved in their lives to help them identify and act on opportunities, who will be?

That's a question to which I think we all know the answer.

Inaugural Note

My intention in creating this column is to inspire inquiry into the the conversations that we have grown comfortable with but that are destroying our community. To be clear, the intention is *not* to cast aspersions, point fingers or reveal the "right" answers to anything. I intend merely to ignite a new inquisition guided by an unwavering belief in the collective wisdom and collective action of the American public. If you feel agitated, annoyed or uncomfortable, please allow the inquiry to marinate for a while and return to it later; these feelings aren't counterproductive but growing angry or choosing to dismiss the conversation instead of working through the discomfort is. Thank you for reading.