About a month ago, yet another study came out to proclaim lead as the guilty party. It's not poverty or lack of opportunities or anything that might implicate all of us with our apathy toward the areas we dare not enter in the city. Instead of crossing over and seeing inequality in development and in opportunities, instead of firmly stating that violence cannot be justified but at least we can point to its source, instead of standing up to violence with firm law enforcement but also with the understanding and the will to change the conditions that contribute to neighbors hating each other, instead of all that, we blame lead. This science-fiction object that turns some into violent zombies with no capacity to choose right from wrong. As in all good science-fiction stories, lead will affect a brother, while his sister spends her life savings bailing him out once a month. It will affect a student in a lead painted classroom, but another student will graduate with honors.
The victims of violent crime don't buy it, and neither should anyone else. By concentrating our attention on lead, we neglect our role: to come out with a real solution to violence and its reasons in Baltimore.
2 comments:
Hi...only my second time visiting, but I sure do like your blog. You've got my Wednesday afternoon Battle of the Blogs vote. Also hope you'll let me "advertise" on your Entrecard widget.
Roxy
Thanks, RDH(?). I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'm doing here. It's a process. Happy to do the EC thing. (and thanks for the vote).
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