0 0 0 ! 8B he Statement Wednesday, April 7, 2010 PERSONALSTATEMENT GRAPPLING WITH SILENCE BY SCOTT ELLSWORTH Like many new teachers, I am constantly seeking ways to get my students to engage with the material and to bringthe problems of the real world into the often-artifi- cial confines of the classroom. Here at the University, where I teach a course called "Crime, Race, and the Law," I've had an easy time of it. My students are bright, alert and open to new ideas. But during the winter 2009 semester, they also learned an unexpected lesson, one they are not likely to soon forget. In my classes, my students and I grapple with the complex ways that race impacts the nation's criminal justice system. And two semesters ago, we enlisted the help of a number of guest speakers, including a federal prosecutor, a retired judge, aparole officer and a trio of public defenders. But none of our visitors had been as eagerly awaited as our last scheduled guest, a young man known as Anto- nio Phelps. A minor character in "Getting Ghost," Luke Bergmann's book about African-American drug dealers in Detroit, Antonio grew up along the grim streets of the city's west side, a poverty-ravaged moonscape of single family homes and vacant lots, shut- tered schools and shattered dreams. In a city whose public school sys- tem graduates less than'half of its students, Antonio had started deal- ing drugs by his thirteenth birthday, and by the time he turned twenty- one, he had been in and out of both juvenile lock-up and adult prison. Free once again, Antonio had been looking forward to his upcomingvisit to Ann Arbor. But as it turned out, he wouldn't be coming after all. Like many newly released ex-con- victs, Antonio had found his previous lifestyle to be either too alluring, or, in a city where unemployment hov- ers at around 30 percent and jobs for cides in Detroit, Antonio's murder will likely never be officially solved - a chilling reality that the city's overwhelmingly African-American population is all too familiar with. But white Detroiters living in the suburbs, on the other hand, probably won't hear of it at all. In the subur- ban editions of the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press that I picked convicted felons are almost impossi- up the next day, the only crime with- ble to find, practically irreplaceable. in the city limits that received any Last - spring, he had apparently attention was one involving the body been dealing drugs again in his old of a young white woman found inside neighborhood when he was informed an abandoned house.. But the flipside - "Instead of finding the customer, that is, had Antonio's - likely murderers been Antonio and a female companion white - is equally unsettling. Unlike the ... found only death." case of Oscar Grant, the 28-year-old Afri- can-American who that a reliable customer was wait- was shot to death by a white transit ing for him at a nearby street cor- officer in Oakland, Calif. on Jan. 1 ner. Instead of finding the customer, 2009, the murder of Antonio Phelps Antonio and a female companion won't generate any protest marches - a young woman whom, it seems, or calls for Congressional action. had merely been looking for a lift to Unlike the 1999 slaying of Ama- a nearby grocery store - found only dou Diallo, it's unlikely that, a decade death. later, candidates for public office Shot twice in the head, undoubt- will be asked for their position on edly by rival dealers, Antonio died Antonio's death. Unlike Jasper, Tex., instantly. or even Jena, La., the often-deadly As with two-thirds of all homi- streets of the west side of Detroit won't likely become anyone's rally- ing cry. Instead, the uneasy truth of the matter is that young African-Ameri- can men killing other young African- American men in the United States isn't just not news anymore, it has also fallen out of public discourse. Despite the fact that homicide is still the lead- ing cause of death for black boys and men between the ages of 10 and 24 in the United States, we, as a nation, have turned our heads the other way. Consumed by other problems, we now have other things on our mind. My students certainly do. With the semester winding down, and signs of spring finally starting to appear across campus, they have already started turning their thoughts to graduation and summer jobs, law school and spring football. But a late young drug dealer named Antonio Phelps - someone that my students had read about but will never meet - will leave them with one final tutorial, an object les- son about how the nation sometimes responds to some of its most intrac- table problems. It's called silence. E - Scott Ellsworth is a lecturer in the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies. ACTIVISM From Page 5B new forms speaks well of the tremen- dous dedicationofstudents torightthe wrongs of the world they live in. Today, the spirit of the 60s activ- ists lives on within dozens of campus organizations dedi- cated to peace, racial equality, gender equality, immigrant rights, gay rights, civil liberties, social justice, environ- mental justice and drug legalization. But one group that specifically chan- nels the community-organizing core of activism is the University's School of Social Work. The fact that activ- ism is now practiced and preached in University classrooms is just one more positive developmentsince the '60s. "We are a profession with a code of ethics," said Liz Gonzales, a graduate student in the School of Social Work who helped organize the confer- ence. "Meet people where they're at, empowerment, choice." For Gonzales, being a social worker means listening to people, finding out what's keeping them down and fixing it. "You need to sit with a person and hear their story, hear what's going on, hear how systems are holding them back from moving forward, from being successful," Gonzales said. Such an approach would certainly please Haber, who still believes that listening to each other is the only way to end all the violence and exploitation, from the wars inthe Middle East tothe wars in our own hearts. "You won't make peace without a meeting," said Haber. "If we're going to have peace in our little part of real- ity, what are the questions that have to be resolved? What are the prin- ciples of resolution that bring justice and restore what has been out of bal- ance, and makes you at the end feel like everyone has come out better? The whole war system has to be dealt with." Haber is still working to facilitate these meetings. His dream is to hold a gathering in Meggido, Israel - the location of the Christian apocalypse as described in the Book of Revelations - where he hopes to preempt the war to end all wars with a peace to prevent all wars. As for his home town of Ann Arbor, Haber is working to bring the city community and the student popu- lation closertogether, especiallyon the issue of the Ann Arbor Public Library's now defunct parking lot, which he hopes to transform into a common area. The face of activism may have changed. It is of course the very nature of radicals tobe excited for the future rather than clingtothe past. But Haber and his friends are still warriors for peace, justice and equality. His words for the conference attendees were short and simple, yet elegant and apro- pos. In so many ways, he still epitomiz- es the burning passion and undying dreamof the student activist. , "I hope you all will be part of the choice for the new society rather than the quiescenceof ratifying the old soci- ety," he said. With student activism still growing, he won't have to worry about that any- time soon. MESKO From Page 7B to instill the importance of edu- cation for her son and to this day, Mesko works hard on his school- work, making time for his studies despite having to juggle football and academics. "During exam weeks, I would have group meetings or study with friends until two in the morning ... and then I (had) to wake up at five in the morning to go to a 6 a.m. work- out," he said. "Investment bankers, they work 100-plus hours a week but they're sitting at their comput- er. I'm running and lifting weights with the same amount of sleep." If he does end up in the business world, Mesko said he would most likely work for a consulting firm or something in the financial district, and maybe eventually start his own business. He also keeps the option open of potentially working around his football career. NOW, MESKO HAS a chance to be an NFL punter or, if he choos- es, to enter into the business world. Either way, he's ready for both. The first time Carr saw Mesko punt, he knew there was something different about the kid. "What I knew was, this guy had incredible potential and guys like him don't come along every day," Carr said. "It didn't take long to see that he was also very dedicated. When he didn't have a good punt it bothered him. He had a great pride in being the best. In my judgment, he had all the intangibles in addi- tion to the great physical ability." Though the road to Mesko's cur- rent life may have been tough at times, he and his family can look back on their struggles in Romania and smile, knowing things are bet- ter now. Michael and Elizabeth made a decision to come to the United States for their son, and he's made the most of his parents' sacrifice. "Their willingness, just leave their whole family behind and pack up for a whole new life, a lot of it was for Zoltan so he would have more opportunities in his life," North said. "It's a great story and you see Zoltan knows that it's such a chance that he's in this situation that I think he really does everything he can in his life to seize that opportunity." 0 FAN THE DAILY ON FACEBOOK