IN 1990, 2,674 American
children younger than 1
were arrested for murder-a 55
percent jump from 1980.
How do we address the crisis
that's destroying our children
and our communities?
Violence is intertwined with
poverty, unemployment,
racism and injustice, but the
response has focused on
punishment rather that
prevention. Yet more-
prisons, tougher sentencing
laws, and more pressure to
treat juvenile offenders as
adults have failed to reduce
violence.
Dr. Deborah Prothrow­
Stith, a physician and a -
sociate dean of the Harvard
School of Public Health, says
she began thinking about
society's inadequate
response to violence when
she worked in a hospi tal
emergency ward. She
remembers stitching up one
young man who joked that he
was going to go out and beat
up the guy who ent him into
the ho pital.
She laughed, she says, but
she was troubled. "We were
stitching people up and send­
ing them out knowing that
they were going to get in
trouble with violence again."
"If you ju t do lung
surgery, you won't prevent
lung cancer," says Dr.
Prothrow-Stith. "If we just
put people in jail, we won't
prevent violence. We have to
deal with attitudes, how we
handle anger, how we resolve
conflict ."
So how do we change at­
titudes, deal with anger and
resolve conflicts? Next week
I will outline orne succe ful
project doing ju t that.
Ho doe
throu h t eye of child?
To orne the orld appe
fe nd fun environment.
But f r too m n ildren re
f miliar ith i violence, ex­
periencing it fi t h nd
victim, perpetrato ,or it­
n e. The luc one ee it
only in the movie nd on
televi ion. According to the
American P ychological
oci tion, n ver ge ixth
grader h een bout 8,000
murders nd 100,000 other
cts of TV violence in hi or
her hort lifetime.
A young m n from Crown
Heigh , ew Yor, tified
at a public hearing held by the
New York State ernbly,
"All my life I been eeing like
murders happen, people get
raped ... hot ... it' over and
over again." In a recent ur­
vey of 260 Oakland, Califor­
nia, junior nd enior high
chool tudents, the va t
majority of tudents aid they
knew omeone who had been
shot.
About half of all American
home have at least one gun.
And in a survey of 11th grade
students in five Seattle public
high chools, 34 percent of
the tudents reported easy ac­
ce to handguns. Six per­
cent owned a gun. One-third
of the gunowners said they
had tired it at someone.
More teenagers now die
from gunshot wounds th n
from all natural causes.
Every day 12 children aged
19 and under are killed with
guns, while znany more are
.."..�ua6.. "I I hldllt4Q�flI
you're thinking tha t 's s t e
day you might get shot," a
16-year-old Oakland high'
school student recently ob­
served.
ADVERTI$E
HERE
CALL
869-0033.
HIGHLAND PARK
c
IRO IC LY,A 0 AID
it ran into oppo ition from Detroit
M yor Coleman Youn ,who In the
6 tate repre ntive, wor ed
clo ely with the Hobart Street
prote tel'S. Schurr id that Youn
oppo ed the ordin nee nd the
fail ure of hi dmini tration to im­
plement it i m ing th ordinance
Ie effective.
Schurr aid that she could not ay
whether ACORN would join the na­
tional takeover of HUD ho in by
the homele that Ca anova
predicted.
Any decision to do that, he ex­
plained, would have to be decided by
the membership and the i ue h d not
been presented to them yet.
properti
utumn.
nov told The Citizen that
HUD Director J Kemp h ded
one rlier prote t by promi in
t t 10 percent of low Income ho -
i would 0 to th hornet ,but
dded t t Kemp bro e hi word.
Detroit re community or­
g nizatio have taged imilar
prote in the 1 on a mailer cale,
which affected the history of m ny
Detroit neighborh
In the 19605 re iden of a mall
block on Hob rt Street moved
homele family into v cant city­
owned house de ignated for urban
renewal.
THE MO T AR re ching
result w a tate law which e b­
Ii hed citizen district councils, a
p rt of overnment, where rea resi­
den would have input in plannlng
urban renewal.
Citizen district council exist
today and one of the le ders of the
Hobart Street protest, Mildred
Smith, erved everal times the
co-chair of her council at University
City "A."
In the mid 80s the ACORN Com­
munity Organization helped move
homele and low income famili
into vacant abandoned housing.
Amy Schurr, Head Organizer for
ACORN in Detroit, said some of the
families were able to stay in these
However, Schurr predicted there
would be sympathy for uch an c­
tion.
"We were ying for a long time
that HUD was guilty of a crime," he
aid, "HUD h been elling 7S per­
cent of its property to real estate
companies, when it was formed to
provide affordable housing for low
income people."
THE PROTEST not only il­
lustrated the housing problems in
Detroit, but the fact that good houses
which could relieve thi were being
tom down by urban renew 1.
Jerome P. Cavanaugh, who was
then mayor of Detroit, ordered police
to arrest the residents, the rights Of­
ganizations prote tors involved and
orne prie ts and ministers, who
came to help, on the charge of
HP D VCO, th non-pro It development en y ere ted five y
a 0 when Chrysler Corporation decid d to move rt of i HighJ nd
P r ope tio 0 Auburn Hill ,i I 0 helpin th city in thi en­
deavor.
HP DEVCO' i tant Director, Perrin T. E nu 1, while outlin-
ing DEVCO' role which includ I ith "up to ix percent
intere t," aid, "We all re at the t ge wh re we n ed to create new
po ibilitie. "
Accordin to Emanuel, Highland P ric over 3 usin
Repre ntauv from 28 of tho e busine e ttended th meeting nd
everal put forth ide th t drew upport.
Sa EETI G, A10
JANITOR SUPPLIES & Hou EHOLD GOODS
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
77 VICTOR
(corner Of John R.)
MICHIGAN BLIND SALESAND INDS.
D
i. It Jl •• ,..J u
" I
_ , .. 11 JJ "" •• i ••• _. ...,.� ... , I ...
......... • J l..Jl
,,,rf .,
Call Or Visit Your Complete "Adult High School"
13321 Hamilton a Davison
. 252-0491
FREE PROGRAMS
FREE GED TESTS
CALL 252-0491
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Highland Park's Adult Education Program is open and FREE to any adult or
out-of school youth, 18 years of age or older, regardless of where the person
lives.
• Get a High SchoolDiploma
• Get a G. E. D. Certificate
• Get Job Training
• Learn to Speak and Write English
• Improve Your Reading and Math
• Job Placement, Counseling
• Computer Skills
• Nail Tech/Manicuring
• Remodel/Rehab
• Computerized Drafting