
Lets Get Real about Violence in Boston
It’s been a violent summer in Boston. Shootings, stabbings crazy road rage seem to be happening on a weekly basis. We are a small city, especially in the summer and to see these concentrated areas of rising violence points to the people most negatively affected by Boston’s boom. As luxury high rises continue to line the city, it is critical we address the people being left behind.
It is encouraging to see the city commit to go deeper in exploring ways to end violence. It’s also critical that the city innovates in this space as well as it innovates in high ed, tech and medical. More marches are need because they help mark the violence with disagreement. Marching helps a community grieve while feeling like they are not taking this lying down, but it is not a strategy to end violence. Coalitions can help identify the people who have been in the streets doing this work with love for years, but they need a new help, new resources and a long term commitment to a holistic fix to this problem.
I happened to witness one of these murders last week and my major take away from this was how resigned to violence we all are. Violence permeates our culture and results in the death of certain people have very little impact. How do we stop something from happening that society seems to not mind that much? We are looking to declare a state of emergency, are we in an emergency or are we feeling the results of an economy based on tailoring to the rich?
To mainstream Boston, neighborhoods Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester are waiting for revitalization. Yet there are potentially thriving communities already living there who seem to living through escalating violence. The street workers, service providers probably have some good ideas to why the rise in violence, but it’s not just up to them. It’s hard to put hope in a neighborhood on the chopping block, people see what’s happening to Boston and how much they are not included in it.
This matters to all of us, because poverty does not go away and when people are desperate they have to make drastically different decisions than they may normally make. Nonviolence, a philosohy and process of not accepting violence is a strong tool to change lives.
After helping 3000 gang members in 26 states choose nonviolent living and entrepreneurship I was invited to South Africa by their central bank, ABSA, to speak of our best practices. I asked her why US nonviolence work interested her and her answer was simple, “we cannot build fences high enough”. South Africa struggles so much with its poverty that people with means imprison themselves to inoculate themselves from the violence it is no long term solution. This seems to be the inevitable result of unchecked wealth and poverty, I think we learned when poor people were sent to eat cake that the disconnect between the haves and have nots is best to not get too stark.
Nonviolence theory is a process and philosophy that changes the person while helping people change their oppression It provide life skills and leads to actions to relieve the suffering of people. It is not only useful when looking for a protest strategy. It is a way of life asking society to reflect on their own violence and work to act nonviolently in their life. It resensitizes us to violence by noting that there is another way.
Training and friend circles are easy resources the city could provide to encourage a more effective conversation on how to end violence and can become part of the mainstream fabric of Boston. This is doable, but it is only doable if we think outside of the box and genuinely identify the problem.
Our city, like so many others, needs integrated societal nonviolent campaign. It might behoove Boston to once again be a beacon to the country and the world, by creating a model for urban centers to address the root causes of violence in its cities, including the racism, poverty and displacement of people. A nonviolence campaign anchored with our cultural leaders and held accountable by the people willing to live more nonviolently could have lasting impact, as it has in Medellin Columbia.
Alongside the traditional response of outrage, meetings and marches, why not try something different. Lets try to bring together culture and community creators to reimagine a nonviolent campaign for Boston, let’s invite those affected the most by violence to heal publicly so we too can witness and honor the acceptable violence we have allowed for in this city and work to reconcile our lofty goals with our desire to keep all Bostonians safe. Boston is not the southside of Chicago, but there is no reason for us to compare ourselves with Chicago about anything. We are the shining city on the hill, we are the city of the abolitionist movements and revolution.
There is no reason to think this violence is going to stop until we thoroughly address two sad truths of Boston income inequality and racism. As long as not everyone sees hop in this city, they will fight with all they have to survive here. That as much our fault as theirs.
