4 Police murdered in Oakland: Solutions to the violence

The problem of violence is a dynamic problem and therefore the solution must also be dynamic. Earlier today on KPFA's The Morning Show former Oakland City Councilman Wilson Riles spoke with Aimee Allison about the implications of the incident that took five lives, four policemen, last weekend. I offer condolences to the friends and family of all the slain. As unkind as it may sound however, we've seen this before and we will see it again if we do not respond accordingly.

In order to respond we must know what the problem is. The problem is not violence. Violence is a symptom of a more fundamental causality. The fundamental cause is hopelessness. If you speak to any number of youngsters who have or are currently involving themselves in criminal activity they know they will likely get shot or go to prison by the time they're twenty-five. The question is why would anyone continue a career path that they know will kill them or get them incarcerated?

The Morfa Pit at Taibach, Port Talbot, Glamorgan Wales, was well known to be a particularly gassy coal mine. In 1863, 30 were killed in an explosion and 38 more men in 1870. Given the obvious dangers and well known fatalities, why did families all over the world allow their husbands and sons to work in coal mines during this time? Coal mining was a familiar option, money was good, and there was plenty of demand. So in the early hours of Tuesday, March 10, 1890, when about 250 men were working underground, 87 died because of another explosion. Most of the balance of men returned to work at the next possible opportunity.

Therefore, the fundamental cause is spiritual as hope is faith based. However, hope of what? Faith or hope in sociological progress, happiness, freedom, peace of mind. Most of these objects again are faith based. God must be a part of the solution. But let's look at 'hope in sociological progress.' I had a white male acquaintance years ago who often said, "I'm going to med school." After being repeatedly teased for performing poorly in his AP English class he had a turning point. He started smoking marijuana which led to poor performance across his other high school classes; bright guy too. Long story short the cops pull him over after high-school graduation and discovers x number of ounces of coke. His life could have been completely over right then. However, the cop takes this kid to his dad who is well respected in this particular vanilla suburb and he gets reprimanded by his father. His father gets him cleaned up, twists a neighbors arm (who works at a State University), enrolls him into a university, he graduates, goes to med school, and so far my acquaintance appears to be living happily ever after.

The moral is as long as a man has a tangible vision he is less likely to choose a perishing route. But as soon as those options, resources, or dreams are taken out of his sight he is in danger of perishing. And so there were five homicides Saturday night. How many more until we learn our lesson. We must sacrifice as a community in order to be safe and to grow as a community.

Today in the barber shop a young black male barber told me that he's, "tired of armchair" talking heads that "have all these ideas for people who they don't live around." He said, "Don't hand me a flier to something that aint talking about nothing." He mentioned that community activists need to show, "consistency." It was a passionate speech condemning the church's and financially successful—career blacks who have moved so far from the ghetto that they are unable to reach back to give a hand-up to the ensuing generations. Here are my suggestions.

In time past Oakland had a host of extracurricular activities.

• Music lessons
  
• Sports programs directly and indirectly connected with formal educational institutions
  
• Mechanics classes
  
• Carpentry
  

Bring these back and add to them

• Office suite classes
  
• Administrative training
  
• VOIP training
  
• Wireless field technician
  
• SWEEP tester
  

How?

Political and educational systems pose a challenge. I suggest we partially ignore them. Use the churches, temples, and mosques as classrooms after traditional school hours. Use homes of welfare, Section 8, and SSN recipients who have time to host vocational classes as classrooms also. Those with the above or other vocational skills must be willing to give two hours a week to children between the 3^rd and 12^th grades. To be clear teachers will not be paid initially. This is about sacrifice and community.

Those who have money to give may give for the purpose of (or in the form of) equipment, textbooks, computers, etc. Churches are non-profits so that's a tax write off.

Those who work in higher learning institutions must share their knowledge and documentation of the process for college entry.

The above laborious vectors can be taught at a low cost and enable graduating students to earn a decent wage. The reason few of the above programs still exist is economical. That doesn't mean the money doesn't exist. But the financial will to support the above programs in low income communities does not exist in local government. We must financially support ourselves.