The City Game--We have Raised a Generation of Cowards

A teen basketball player was killed, and two other teens were injured when a gunman opened fire in Canarsie just after 3 p.m. Friday, blocks away from their high school. Shaquille Jones, 17, died from a shot to the head; a 16-year-old and 19-year-old were wounded and taken to Brookdale Hospital where they are listed in stable condition. Shaquille Jones was a junior basketball player for the Shouth Shore High School Vikings.

We have raised a generation of cowards, whose minds can no longer process conflict resolution, respectful debate or peaceful dialogue. All these young kids, both male and female, know how to do is lash out and hurt and kill at the slightest slight or the most trivial disagreement. These Soul-less creatures are a new hybrid of human being/robotic machine whose capacity for empathy and compassion grows weaker and smaller by the nano-second.

Many observers feel that these kids are just mimicking what they see going on in the world they were born into. With global wars, suicide bombings, "Virginia Tech" style mass-murder and the alarming rise of family killings, many point to a nation gone mad. They say that a feeling of tragic hopelessness permeates our society and has seeped into the open pores of these young children.

There was a time when a human life was one of the most sacred and precious things on this Earth. Sadly, if you look around at all the carnage and destruction going on around the world, you come to realize and understand this is no longer true.

Police don't yet know what motivated the shooting of Shaquille Jones, which occurred just after school was let out. According to the news reports, there was an incident at a nearby bus stop—in which someone fired shots—minutes before the three teens were shot.

My first story against youth violence published in 1994, 'The City Game' was about a gifted All-American high school basketball player, Sam Johnson, who dies tragically on the streets of Jersey City. Sadly, young 17 year old high school basketball star, Shaquille Jones, was gunned down on the killing fields of Brooklyn last Friday.

Rob Batista and former Gov. David Patterson give H.S. Commencement Address

I was humbled and honored to give the East Brooklyn Community High School graduation co-commencement address along with the honorable former New York Governor, David Patterson. Here is the gist of my words to the students:

Let me first start off by thanking every one of you for inviting me, and giving me the honor and privilege to speak to you today. And let me also congratulate you on this wonderful and monumental event in your lives. I know for some of you, it wasn’t easy getting to this juncture and the fact that you are sitting here today is a testament to your strength, courage and character.
You do not know how much gratitude and appreciation I have in knowing that many of you graduates have read and enjoyed my two books ‘Street Angel’ and ‘Brooklyn Story’.
Life is worth living, if we are for-giving.

As well as congratulations, I wish you four special things: Inspiration, responsibility, confi-mility, and peace.
1. Inspiration: Inspire yourself, inspire others; put yourself into position to be inspired. Whatever it takes to be an instrument of inspiration, do it. When we ourselves are inspired, it is easier to inspire others. When people are inspired, they act more positively: there's a pronounced spring to their step and twinkle in their eye. They become fulfilled with a sense of optimism and hope. Stay inspired.

2. Responsibility: Be accountable and responsible for your actions. If you make a mistake that causes problems for others. Be accountable and accept the responsibility that it was your fault. Do not try to blame other people for your mistakes. If things do not go well in your life; if things happen that cause you to feel the world is against you, look into the mirror and do a self-reflection and realize it’s you who may be the cause of your shortcomings. Be responsible, because everything starts with you.

3. Confi-mility: Which is a combination of the words confidence and humility. Be clear that we all need a mixture of both. Confidence is essential. When we look at all the people we admire: from President Obama, to Jay Z., to Oprah Winfrey, to Michael Jordan, what they each have in abundance is supreme confidence. Intelligence gets you through the door, but confidence gets you to the next level. Confidence and self-esteem usually outshine any physical flaw that you may have. But the other side of the confidence coin is humility. The art of being humble. Not being arrogant, but being respectful towards all others and, in essence, subjugating your ego, is what maturity is really about. Arrogance and ego can bring you down just as easy as any illicit drug or insane vice.

4. Peace: In a world that seems to be getting more and more violent and destructive every day, I pray that you become beings of light and peace. To have the clarity and perception to know that it takes two to argue, two to fight, two to beef. If you do not feed into the negative karma of arguments, fighting and violence, then, trust me; your life will be a whole lot easier. And to do that, the first thing we must understand that Peace Begins Within. In closing, I will recite this short poem I wrote called, peace begins within…

Peace Begins Within

How do we find peace in a time of war?
How do we show love in a time of hate?
How do we find a way to show kindness
And not be taken for weakness?
It begins within
It begins with loving yourself into a peaceful tranquility

We are all children of God, sublime creations of our Creator
Our bodies are living temples and testaments to his plan
Once we become like our Creator
And start loving ourselves like He loves us
We begin to realize that by killing another
We are killing our self
Our Self
Self-Love----Love-Self

Love is the eternal answer to the eternal question
Loving yourself permeates love for other human beings
In the angelic faces of our children, I see God
We must show them
Peace begins within.

Memorial Weekend Violence Highlights The Battleground In The Streets

There is no running or hiding from it, now. There is no way we can bury our heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening. There is no way we can escape the fact that our city streets are the new battlegrounds and killing fields. Ironically, on this Memorial Day weekend, on a day that we honor our war dead, an insane rash of violent senseless murders have exploded into our consciousness and left mothers, fathers and relatives shaking their heads and asking, why?

It started Thursday night in Newark, an off-duty cop was killed in a drive-by shooting. Then over the weekend, 3 young men were shot dead in 3 separate incidents in the same city. Then early Sunday morning in Brooklyn, a young single mother named Crystal Sweet (pictured left) was shot multiple times with her boyfriend and his brother. On Sunday night, Claudia Millan, 28, was shot point blank in the face while holding the hand of her 2 year-old son. 16 year-old Johnny Moore was shot several times about 11 p.m. Sunday across the street from his home in the Paterson Houses in The Bronx. Then, back in Brooklyn, Calvin Louis-Juste, 24, who had just earned his master's degree, was shot once in the neck at close range as he went to meet up with friends.

Okay, people, at what point does it start to materialize in your brain that there is a war going on on our streets that is just as Terror-fying as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And just as in those overseas wars, the collateral damage is innocent children, women and men dying before they even have a chance to live. One major difference is that in the wars overseas, our soldiers are at least armed and can defend themselves. In the wars in our neighborhoods, the ones usually dying are unarmed and defenseless. One of the problems is that many of us are so desensitized to violence and murder, that we hardly even react to these horrific headlines. Another fact is that, in most cases, the ones dying are African-American and Latino, and it seems as though, in some circles, their lives aren't worth as much as those of other nationalities.

The summer hasn't even started, so you can expect the battleground of our 'hoods to get even worse as the weather and the streets get hotter. At some point, whether it's because this wanton violence hits you personally or you wake up from the stupor of the latest reality show or sporting match, you will finally notice a generation of kids missing from the parks and playgrounds. And then you will ask yourself, 'where are all the children?'

By then, it will probably be too late.

Gil Scott-Heron Passes Torch to 3 Little Girls

With the passing of legendary poet, songwriter, and revolutionary spirit, Gil Scott-Heron, the torch of the power of vocal reformation has been passed to 3 courageous and talented young girls. These girls send a fearless and poignant message to Lil Wayne, but as true truth-seekers can clearly see, Lil Wayne is a metaphor for an establishment that promotes all things detrimental to a moralistically healthy lifestyle and seems to reject images of peace, serenity and compassion.
Rest in Peace, Gil. Seize the time, young poetesses!

Crips, Bloods, Democrats and Republicans Should Follow Baseball's Lead

On the Los Angeles Dodgers' opening day baseball game against the long-time rival San Francisco Giants, a 42 year old man was beaten into a coma because, in essence, he wore the wrong colors. He wore the regalia of the Giants. Bryan Stow, a 42-year-old paramedic and father of two from Santa Cruz, remained in critical but guarded condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. He suffered a severe skull fracture and bad bruising to his brain's frontal lobes, said Dr. Gabriel Zada, a neurosurgeon. At one point, doctors had to remove the entire left side of his skull to ease pressure on his brain. The pressure is now normal but Stow remains in a coma from his injuries and from sedation to reduce his brain activity.

According to press reports, Stow was in a parking lot after the Dodgers' 2-1 victory when two shaven-headed young men in Dodgers clothing began taunting and swearing at him and two other fans, who were all wearing Giants gear, police said. Stow was punched in the back of the head. He fell down, bashing his head on the pavement, and was kicked before the attackers ran off. They are still at large and a $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to there arrest and conviction.

Last Monday night, there was a pregame ceremony by the Giants and Dodgers against fan violence, part of a concerted response to the horrible beating of Mr. Stow that was unprecedented but wonderfully rendered.

Dodger and Giants players gathered on the field and paused for a moment of silence on behalf of Stow. Then, Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt took to the microphone and thanked fans of both teams for their support of Stow. What both of these teams did was show that even though they are bitter rivals, they can come together and put aside their differences peacefully. They showed that they can shake hands and understand the fact that we human beings all bleed red and have more in common than we do differences.

If members of Congress, the blue states, red states, put aside differences for the common good of the country and its people--especially its young people, then maybe it will trickle down to other rivals to think peace and set aside their differences. Maybe gangs such as the Bloods and Crips, who ironically, flash the same blue and red colors, can sit down and come to an agreement to work together to change the depressing situation that is prevalent in their neighborhoods.

Peace begins within and starts with people fed up with violence and death and who are willing to understand getting along is a whole lot better than fighting. Tragically, sometimes it takes a horrific act such as the beating of Bryan Stowe to wake some people up and get it.

Once We Stop Glamorizing Gangsters, Things Will Begin To Change

Back in the day, when I lived in the projects in Brooklyn, we had a big, black and white T.V. in the living room. On cold winter days, I would sit in front of that television and watch old movies constantly. One of my first idols was an actor named James Cagney. From the moment I saw him in a movie called ‘The Public Enemy’, I was hooked on his tough-guy persona. In the movie, he plays a cold blooded gangster named Tom Powers; a murderous hood who kills or beats down anybody who crossed him. He even smashed a grapefruit in his girlfriends face. I loved him.

Then I saw a movie called ‘Little Caesar’ with Edward G. Robinson. It was about, you guessed it, a short Napoleonic thug named Rico Bandello who spends most of the movie killing anybody who got in his way. I loved that movie, too.

Now that I’m a grown man, I still enjoy seeing those movies, but I watch them with a more critical eye. I also clearly realize why I loved those films as a child. The reason is the actors who played those parts and how both Tom Powers and Rico Bandello were portrayed. Both Cagney and Eddie G. were two of the most charismatic actors ever to come out of Hollywood. They reeked of machismo, bravado and charm. I now realize that I paid more attention to the way the actor played his part than what the actor was actually doing. I didn’t care who they killed or smacked around, as long as they looked good doing it. It was all about how cool my heroes were. That was all that mattered to me. And as I look back, I can honestly admit that those movies, added to my hanging out on the streets of Brooklyn, distorted the way I handled confrontation, and just as important, distorted the way I related to women.

From ‘The Public Enemy’ to ‘Scarface’ to ‘New Jack City’ to ‘American Gangster’ to today’s latest shoot-em-up, what our young, impressionable males are seeing is charismatic actors doing horrific things. But the thing that remains constant is that Al Pacino, Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington always look cool. So just like I did, today’s young guys glorify the latest “flavor-of-the-week” hoodlum. And maybe not even consciously, but sub-consciously because it’s been said by many that visual mediums relentlessly seep into our sub-conscious and can be extremely subliminal. Young males usually always mimic what they admire. Another thing is, multiply all the new mediums we have available; videos can be watched on laptops, smart phones, IPods, IPads…and countless other gadgets. Our kids are not only constantly bombarded with violent images, but also with sexual images; and sex and violence always go hand in hand.

Two recent cases I read about cause me to believe I’m on the right track. A young prep school girl was arrested last week and charged with conspiracy and gun charges after allegedly helping out her drug dealing boyfriend who was in jail. She even allegedly went as far as carrying around a loaded 9mm gun in her bag. All reports said she was a brilliant student and a gifted athlete who had gone to a prestigious academy in Massachusetts. Her friends all said she was deeply in love with her man who the newspapers portrayed as a murderous lowlife. Now this girl was smart, right? So why would she let herself become involved with a known gangster? Or did the fact that he was a roughneck make him more attractive and appealing to her?

The other case, a day later, did not have as much fanfare and only took up about a four inch column on page 20 of a New York newspaper. “Bronx Boy Shot Dead On Street”. Jose Marte, 16, was shot once in the chest and once in the stomach on East 184^th Street. The article says he was attending a baby shower in the neighborhood and got into a “dispute” on the street with a man who then shot him. Now we know by now that a dispute in the ‘hood can mean anything from bumping into someone, to stepping on someone’s toe, or staring at someone’s girlfriend too long. Whatever it was, a child of only sixteen was murdered because of it.

And if you really think about it, he was probably killed by someone who thought he was Scarface.