Treat people humanely

When conservative talking heads look at inner cities they see trouble. They rant about black-on-black crime. They propose two basic solutions – flood the streets with police and enact stricter laws to send more people to jail.

Kelly Macias of Daily Kos discussing a story by Emily Badger of the *New York Times* says there is another way – treat people humanely.

In particular Badger notes:

Local nonprofit groups that responded to the violence by cleaning streets, building playgrounds, mentoring children and employing young men had a real effect on the crime rate.

These are communities where the people in them worked hard for change with little credit. This community effort may not drive down the crime rate by itself, but it is a “missing piece,” something ignored in national debates.

Macias adds:

Of course, the idea of communities working hard to address problems and transform their reality doesn’t fit the conservative narrative that these are lazy, pathological communities of color who prefer to do more race-baiting than problem solving. But statistics don’t lie.

Badger supplies some of those statistics.

Between the early 1990s and 2015, the homicide rate in America fell by half. Rates of robbery, assault and theft tumbled in tandem. In New York, Washington and San Diego, murders dropped by more than 75 percent.
…
This long-term trend has fundamentally altered city life. It has transformed fear-inducing parks and subways into vibrant public spaces. It has lured wealthier whites back into cities. It has raised the life expectancies of black men. And even in an age of widening urban inequality, it has meant that the daily lives of the most disadvantaged are less dangerous now than they were a generation ago. These poor neighborhoods, [New York University sociologist Patrick] Sharkey has found, have been the greatest beneficiaries of this tectonic change in safety.

Macias concludes:

These findings affirm something that is missing from traditional ways of looking at crime prevention—that understanding people’s social, emotional and psychological needs are a vital part of culture and behavior change. “Any time people’s basic needs are met, violence goes down—that’s not new,” said Noreen McClendon, who directs the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles. When structural racism, classism and capitalism combine and there is money to be made in locking people up, unfortunately, there is no real need for lawmakers to come up with holistic solutions. And it’s really too bad because it’s such a simple lesson. The more that individuals and communities have resources, the more violence can be prevented. It’s certainly not a fix-all, but it’s a start.

I add: So, all you people at the top, what keeps our cities safer – what keeps you safer – oppression or community?