Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

Time for a solution

Boston is one of the nation’s safest cities — for some of its citizens. Of the 74 homicides that took place in Boston in 2006, only six victims were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks, however, accounted for 63 of the murder victims last year.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the city’s murder rate is the high incidence of shootings by young black males. Almost all of the murder victims were males (67) and more than half (39) were between the ages of 14 and 25. In addition to those who were killed, scores more were wounded by errant gunfire from drive-bys.

The numbers show that Boston police have been ineffective in their attempts to solve these murders. Only 38 percent were solved in 2006, 29 percent in 2005 and 36 percent in 2004. Police officials consistently complain that their clearance rates have been hampered by a lack of cooperation from the black community. The news media have incorrectly dramatized this lack of communication as a code of silence.

The real issue is that the people do not trust the police, and for good reason. Inner-city residents are well aware of the potential for violent retribution when they come forward with information about a crime, and people have little confidence that the police will provide adequate protection after they volunteer what they know. And when officers themselves are accused of impropriety, the famed “blue code of silence” consistently cripples the proper prosecution of citizens’ complaints and the apprehension of those who have gone bad.

A number of the shootings involve disputes over drug transactions. Analysts have determined that marijuana is the nation’s largest cash crop, and is bigger than both corn and wheat together. Its annual street value is about $60 billion, with about $25 billion in retail gross profit. Add to that the revenue from cocaine and heroin, and it is easy to understand why unemployed black males across the country might be drawn to the drug business.

In his 1987 book “The Truly Disadvantaged,” Harvard professor William Julius Wilson demonstrated the adverse impact that increased unemployment of black youth had on black society. “Unemployment rose sharply for black male teenagers during the 1950s and remained high during the prosperous 1960s; similarly, unemployment rates for black men twenty to twenty-four years of age rose sharply during the mid-1970s and have remained high,” he pointed out. Twenty years later, in an age where manufacturing jobs are routinely outsourced, these conditions have not improved.

Urban public schools have been unable to provide the quality of education that would prepare black youth for those jobs requiring more advanced skills. Unfortunately for many unskilled youth, gang life and petty crime seem to be the only self-fulfilling activities.

There has been an abject failure of public policy. Meaningful jobs for unskilled young black males are disappearing. Education for more demanding jobs is deficient. There is a thriving black market for illicit drugs, with the complicity of rogue police officers. And the public is reluctant to assist law enforcement because they don’t trust the police.

This is a scenario for crime and social chaos for which law-abiding citizens are now being blamed. In a sense, the rest of the black community have become victims. The only alternative, then, is for responsible citizens to step up and organize to rid the community of the scourge of homicides and help to set the youth on the path to productive lives.

The Banner calls upon religious leaders, community organizations and elected officials to unite and develop a sound strategy to save the youngsters. A well-conceived plan that has community support will certainly gain from Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Mayor Thomas M. Menino the official cooperation to execute it.

The community can no longer accept the present level of social discord.

“I didn’t know until now
that I was at risk.”