Avondale seeks answers to youth violence
- 5 of 41 Cincinnati homicide victims in 2014 are juveniles
- 15 of city's homicide victims are black men ages 19-29
- Experts: Sustainable jobs vital to reduce violence, drug trade
AVONDALE – On a day of talking about gun violence and absentee fathers Saturday, the words of 19-year-old LaTarence Matthews rose above the well-intended banter of experts speaking to other experts.
After meeting Saturday morning on Burnet Avenue with street outreach workers – many of whom have felony records – Matthews, of Downtown, praised them for credibility and understanding his tough situation.
Then he said, "When I'm falling down or thinking about doing something dumb, like robbery or burglary, I will call them and say, 'Can you help me out?' "
Matthews and two 18-year-old black men, including his brother, stopped in at Stag's Barbershop for an open community discussion later Saturday afternoon but did not seek the floor to speak and were not recognized. The barbershop talk, sponsored by Stag's and the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, sought community input on solutions to youth violence and coincided with three other community events in the neighborhood.
Rashid Abdullah, who works for the commission, in cooperation with Avondale-based J.C. Battle & Sons Funeral Home, pushed a casket at the corner of Reading Road and Forest Avenue. Inside was a mannequin head of a black male with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. At the same time, members of Avondale's Worshipers Together in Christ church handed out free hot dogs, chips and cold soft drinks to passersby. The events had a strange symmetry.
"We're all about promoting peace and God's love," said church member Ness Tubbs, 31. "There are no coincidences in Christ."
Less than a mile from that corner, the location of the Lincoln statue, the fifth annual men's conference on fatherhood wrapped up at Zion Baptist Church. Sponsored by the church and Shelton-Reid Inc., the event, "Men in Spiritual Warfare: Fathers Reclaiming the Glory of Our Sons," was well-attended by about 50 men, yet – like the barbershop talk – appeared to miss its target audience of young men. Most of the men at the church were older, well into their 40s and 50s.
"You see the societal and economic impact of fatherless children in the black community," said Earl Blanks, executive director of Shelton-Reid. "Seventy percent of children born in the African-American community are born out of wedlock. A third of black males born since 2001 will spend time in prison."
The overarching concern in the community is the deaths of young black men in Cincinnati. Of the city's 41 homicides to date, 15 have been black men between 19 and 29.
Cincinnati remains on track to match a troubling trend of the increase in juvenile deaths. In 2013 and 2012, roughly 1 in 7 Cincinnati homicide victims were juveniles, compared to an overall rate of 1 in 10 from 2000 through 2011. So far in 2014, five of the city's homicide victims are juveniles: a 3-month-old black female who was punched, an 8-year-old white male shot by a friend, an 11-year-old white female shooting victim, and two 14-year-olds shot and killed – a black female in Avondale and black male in Walnut Hills.
Saturday morning on Burnet Avenue, Mike Mitchell, 18, of Downtown – Matthews' brother – said he wished he had known street outreach workers before he served time in juvenile detention. Instead of police being called after a fight at home with his brother, they instead could mutually agree to call an outreach worker to help resolve the dispute. The young men said many shooting incidents involving young black men occur out of revenge for even the smallest slights.
Inside Stag's Barbershop during the afternoon, a distinguished assembly of anti-violence leaders spoke passionately but primarily to each other. Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati City Council member and 27-year police veteran, said judges need to stop sending black men to prison for "low-level drug offenses, branding them as felons and handing them life sentences."
"People want to know where our fathers are," said Thomas, who is running for the Ohio Senate. "They are sent through the criminal justice system. Ten years after they are out of prison, they're skilled in HVC (heating and air conditioning) and trying to get a job, and the company doesn't want to hire felons."
Torrance Jones, a former felon now working as a job placement coordinator at the Urban League of Greater Southwest Ohio, said a job-readiness program recently helped a released felon train for construction and land a $16-an-hour job.
"That's one success at $16 an hour," answered Victor Garcia, a pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and founder of CoreChange, a community-based organization working to reduce poverty. "That needs to be multiplied by the thousands." ⬛