| Coalition to develop and implement plan of action |
| By C. Denise Johnson |
Published
02/15/2007
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Metro
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Unrated |
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Declares time for talk is past
For Black teens and young adults in the United States, homicide is the leading cause of death. Unfortunately, this is not news to Pittsburgh.
Last year there were 95 homicides in Allegheny County, 75 of those involved Blacks. In 2005, there were a total of 97 homicides. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania holds the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of Black on Black homicides in the nation.
 | TIM STEVENS
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The escalating level of violence in Black communities prompted an unprecedented gathering of community and grassroots organizations and activists to declare that the time for talk has past.
“White people are not killing us. We are killing us,” said Tim Stevens, head of the Black Political Empowerment Project and an organizer of what was basically a call to action meeting held last Thursday at the Hill House on Centre Avenue.
“We have become the problem and we must now find the solutions. We have no other choice.”
Yet with all the adults that turned out in support of the initiative, a teenager offered the most salient observations from a frontline perspective.
“We can’t go to other hoods and be happy with our family members; we can’t be cool with somebody from another hood. Even if you don’t gangbang you are a gang member,” 14-year-old Michael Turner said.
“I’m from Homewood, so technically I’m a Crip; if you’re from the Hill you’re ... a Blood. I like to go everywhere but you can’t do that because you see, we’re watching death before our eyes and we experience a lot. We see our family members getting killed and all we’re doing is absorbing that like sponges.”
“If you kill someone today, I’m killing someone tomorrow—that’s how we take it. Instead of a light shone to our eyes, we’re shoved to the darkness—that’s all we see. We’re just criminals trying to survive,” he continued. “We need stronger educational program so we could let out what we feel with our artistic abilities and our lyrical abilities and our athletic abilities so we can be happy and live out our lives in longevity. Please, let me see beyond 21, beyond 18—we gotta see past that —I’m only 14 and I wishing the same thing. It’s deep because it’s hard for us as people to get by in life. All I want to be is an adult.”
Minister Jasiri X, a member of Muhammad’s Mosque 22 and a member of One Hood, seemed to speak for the assembly as he followed the teen at the podium.
 | JASIRI X
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“How can you not see and feel that? It seems as though we’ve lost our sensitivity to death and violence. At some point every death has to be taken personally. We can’t keep dealing as if we are disconnected from one another.”
The upshot of the gathering was to announce the next step in address Black-on-Black violence—a series of meetings, beginning on Feb. 20 (location to be announced later) to develop an implementation plan to stem the deadly trend.
Stevens said more than 52 individuals representing various organizations signed up to speak in support of the initiative.
“Far too many people have seemingly become immune to the violence and it’s gone unabated,” he said. “The African-American community must take the lead in ending what we have come to call ‘Black on Black violence.’”
The answers lie in creating a self-discipline and duty to community where residents must feel each other’s pain, said Jasiri X.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who attended the meeting, said he could not pretend to understand what crises the young men face, but said he would work with the community to try to stem the ongoing slaughter.
Stevens met with city officials Monday in an immediate follow-up to the support expressed Thursday to a packed house.
The mayor agreed to assemble the external resources needed to implement the agenda culled from the meetings, said Stevens.
“Due to the overwhelming show of support, what we will do is ask everyone to write down their ideas and suggestions to put in a hat and discuss each one and determine which ones can be implemented within our communities, and the ones that require outside resources for implementation will then go downtown,” explained Stevens.
“We intend to hold the mayor, Doug Shields, Bill Peduto and the other officials to their word of support.”
For more information on meeting dates and locations, contact B-PEP at 412-758-7898.
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