Looking for Peace.....in Florida.

There has been a lot going on in Florida over the shooting death of a Black youth by the name of Trayvon Martin.  Old Southern feelings creep up and some people stand up while many sit back and watching.  The Trayvon will be missed in our society because we will never know what he could have been or what he could have done but one thing is for sure as a society we expected him to die young.  Yes we did because we still believe, as a society, that a youth of color with a hoody on is up to no good and that’s what the shooter thought as well.  We cannot continue living like this because the simple fact that the shooter has yet to be arrested sends a very LOUD signal to everyone on the street that they don’t matter. 

Some people have come out to ask why the White church has not come out in rage about this action and some are saying that it’s because it’s not the first time this has happened.  Some might be so caught up in their religion that they don’t see why they have to say anything in public because they’re praying about it!  I respect prayer and know that it needs to happen but if people DO NOT have the will to change or take action then the prayer serves as a “lets feel good about ourselves” moment. 

People should be angry but the problem is that it’s the same people over and over again.  When will we all be able to look at each other and realize that the pain suffered in Florida should be felt in Montana? There are too many lives being lost today out of ignorance and when we don’t take the time to correct that then who is to blame for further violence?  We are flooded with images of negativity and we like it as a society because it gives us an escape from our guilt.

Being mad, upset, pissed, or angry is not being out of Peace instead it plays a huge role in your Peace because without those emotions we wouldn’t be able to know what is wrong.  I urge you and your family to really look at how you live, how you relate to your neighbors, how you relate to your community, because it will take us all to create Peace.

I don’t know what it is to lose a child and my heart breaks for Trayvon’s family I just wish that our society cared enough that it wouldn’t have to take an online petition to seek justice….I really thought we lived in a better country.

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....for me.

Peace for me is you being at Peace with your life and helping others find their Peace.

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....over the years.

Today the police superintendent of Chicago said that he did not want to blame the warm weather for all the shootings that took place last weekend.  He said that the gang problem in Chicago has taken years to become what it is today and that the solution was not an overnight event.  I think this is the first superintendent to ever say that in public because usually they would just blame the warm weather.  What makes this superintendent different from others?  He seems to speak his mind without crossing the line but I get a sense that he wants to do what is right. I may be completely wrong but I have to follow what I preach and that is to believe everyone is good.  I do not hide my dislike of authority but I know it needs to be in place and I respect that.  I’ve met good and bad cops but like any other solider in a war they have to follow commands and that is not always in the best interest of the community.

It is true that it has taken years for the gang problem to be where it is at and if we compare what else has gone bad at the same time it should be clear as day what’s wrong in our communities.  The public school system has gone down, whole communities have gone down, employment, industries that used to be in Chicago are no more, etc… All of those things are controllable through local government so what is obvious to me is that local government was not doing its job so well!  I was at a funeral home last week at 5708 W. Madison Chicago, IL and the last time I was there across the street was an empty lot and an abandoned building or so it looked.  But today there’s a new police station there where the empty lot was at and in the middle of the street there is a planter of sorts it almost looks like a smaller version of Lake Shore Drive.  Why did the city think that the area needed a planter in the middle of the street?  Millions are spent on these planters every year and no one says anything because we all agree that the city looks nice!  REALLY!?  So when someone gets shot do we still think money is well spent in a planter?  The area did need some improvement but it was YEARS of denial from the city that help create the potholes and broken sidewalks in that community.

The superintendent is right it has taken years for things to become the way they are and I wonder, how many more years will it take for the people of Chicago to confront the corruption in our city?  Maybe if we plant more flowers and trees in the middle of every street things might get better, right? 

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.................

Over the weekend in Chicago over 41 people were shot and about half dozen dead (according to the Chicago Tribune) including a beautiful little girl, it’s not the best weekend. 

I began to read the news reports online and clicked on the comment section and wasn’t surprised with what I found.  When it came to the shooting death of the little girl it was pretty much unanimous that people wanted the shooters dead.  I understand what it is to lose someone and quickly feel the need for an action that will make me feel better because that’s what it’s really about it’s never about justice.  Many of these people might have zero connection to that family but still grieve for that family and they want to hurt these guys.  On a different shooting when it was another drive-by where a couple of young boys got hit people changed their tunes to “well look at where they live they shouldn’t be standing outside…” or “let me guess those boys were NOT gangbangers?  Yea right not in that neighborhood!” Why do we have such different feelings about what child gets shot? 

I saw someone post on face book asking a candidate what he would do about this violence if elected and I don’t think that is a fair question.  ONE candidate cannot save an entire community from violence it will take each and every one of us to do that.  Someone else posted saying that we should “gas them all…” another one suggested “…police cars on every corner where there’s gangbangers…”  So our best reactions to a shooting are, gassing humans or placing a squad car on every corner we suspect has gang activity?  I know that there’s a ton of after school programs, faith based programming, Boys and Girls clubs, other youth focused agencies but, is there an abundance of love and compassion for people in our communities?  It’s obvious that there can be but a tragedy has to take place before it is shown and that is a serious problem.  I’m in no way blaming everyone else I too have responsibility in all of this and will be the first one to raise my hand in guilt but I’m trying my best.

I took my life down a road that was necessary because resources were not available and the community “leaders” lost their faith in doing the hard work that is needed.  That one bullet that can change a life touches so many lives from the person that works at a mine to extract the metal all the way to the cashier that sells the bullet then to the one the bullet enters.  I apologize for saying it that way but we have to truly look at the much broader picture of who is involved here because to simply blame a “gangbanger” for what we all participate in is ridiculous.  You may not think you have any participation in the violence but every day that we do not take action is a day we missed to impact the violence in our communities.

I do not advocate for more police because it is unfair to the police force to have to deal with every single thing in our communities.  I do not advocate for people to arm themselves and take the law into their own hands because we have the Florida incident as an example of how it can go terribly wrong.  I do not advocate for long marches down a street chanting “Stop the violence” because the issue isn’t that people like shooting other people it goes much deeper than that.

What I do advocate for is serious conversations about poverty with an action plan that doesn’t involve millions of dollars spent on a lobbyist to enact a law.  

I do advocate for people of Faith to take a serious look at themselves and take an inventory of your priorities and decide if you are following what you preach.

 

I do advocate for politicians to work full time and be held accountable for that time so that they are spending more time in their communities rather than being in a room arguing that they are right to other politicians waiting to do the same.  

I do advocate for equal and full funding for each and every public school in America regardless of economic and/or demographic background because education is a solution to many of our problems.

I do advocate for review and reform of juvenile detention centers because those places should be about saving our youth from making horrible decisions.

I do advocate for giving the right to vote to our citizens of 16 and 17 years of age because they are informed and proactive in many ways adults are not.

And I do advocate for people to have the WILL for a positive change in our society.  

I think the last one is the toughest one of them all because it challenges us all to deal with our personal issues and we tend not to do that.  This is in no way an easy task or a simple one either but the ingredients are in front of us to make or break our own society, which way do you want to go?

As I wrote this I was listening to the police radio band and heard a call go over the radio like this:

“1752?” “1-7-5-2…”(in response); dispatch—“did you guys find a victim over there?” (1752 response) “No I didn’t find anyone over here……with a bullet wound……oh damn…” in a very sarcastic tone…

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....in an arrest.

George Clooney Arrested!! OK so for the people I call my Brothers and Sisters talking about being arrested isn’t a big deal but I must admit that I am impressed by his pressure on Sudan.  I usually get annoyed that people focus on issues abroad rather than issues here at home but this is different.  Mr. Clooney is actually very articulate when he speaks about what is going on in Sudan unlike many other movie stars that just read a script.  He has traveled there and has really invested a lot of his time to stop the madness in Sudan.  Being arrested is the badge that most activists wear with pride because they feel that they made the “system” respond to their protest.  Others think that if you haven’t been arrested then you haven’t made a point and if that’s the case then my Brothers and Sisters on the street have made a HUGE point a long time ago. 

Mr. Clooney is obviously fighting for Peace in Sudan and trying to save lives the best way he can, with his celebrity status.  He really doesn’t have to because he can join hundreds of his peers and just live it up and drop a check into someone’s bucket and hope it makes a difference.  What I see him doing is taking responsibility for being who he is and using it to help others.  We all have that responsibility in our lives whether we have the money Mr. Clooney has or not.  Some might say that not only can they not travel to Sudan but they don’t have money to donate to the cause to help.  We all have a role to play in life and we just have to be willing to find out what that role is.  What keeps amazing me is the lack of people willing to take an activist role to reduce violence in our youth REGARDLESS if that youth is gang involved or not.  See when you are ONLY willing to deal with certain people you’ll always leave someone else with the feeling of dismissal.  That person you might be dismissing might have the answer to many problems but we won’t talk to them unless they meet our terms first.  Many people say that the youth violence is a social service problem or even a police problem and that’s where the real problem begins. 

Would it be OK if I said to someone “I’m sorry, I cannot help you unless you believe in Jesus Christ.” Or “I’m sorry I would help you but I only help Latino and African American Men I don’t deal with Women or White men.”  It sounds horrible doesn’t it?  We are under 100 years of not only giving the right for Women to vote but also having the Civil rights Bill that took away ( in theory) the “whites only” signs so why do we still put conditions on helping others? 

Dealing with violence in our own land is very difficult because old feelings about the Civil Rights movement are still fresh in people’s minds mostly because we still have people alive today that marched with Martin Luther King.  We don’t need a history book we can just simply ask people like Jesse Jackson about it or Andrew Young among many others that are still alive.  Many of these Brothers were no one of special background in terms of celebrity back then.  There was support from Artist like Harry Belafonte and others that helped the Civil Rights movement but today we almost expect Hollywood to move the dial of morality for us as a society. 

I may not be a movie star, recording artist, painter, poet, or politician but I am a Brother that spent some time with the Brothers and Sisters in the streets of Chicago.  I am aware of my role and accept my role willingly because I know others won’t. 

All I am looking for is to be your Brother.

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo