Safety in Numbers

There are few things in this world that horrify me as much as children who kill. In today's AP news stream, a 17 year old was sentenced for killing his mother and wounding his father with gunshots to the head because they wouldn't let him play Halo 3. A few weeks ago, an 8 year old in Arizona killed his father and his father's friend with no apparent motive. According to the FBI, twenty-one children ages 5 to 8 committed homicide in the 10-year period ending in 2004. Quite often, these children are the products of abusive homes but in rare and extremely disturbing cases, there is no evidence of abuse whatsoever, nor is there remorse on the part of the child.

This trend scares the hell out of me. Why? Because every day I go to work with children who fit the description of remorseless youth from abusive homes. Their stories will make you sick to your stomach. Stories of abuse, neglect, and warfare from their war-torn home countries. Stories of hideous and filthy living conditions with several families crammed together in apartments just down the street from our center. Stories of drug addicted parents who prostitute these kids out for drug money. At the elementary school we run the after school program in, 100% of kids qualify for free or reduced lunch and according to the principal, at least 1/2 of all students have suffered sexual abuse. Most days I don't know whether to scream or cry, and neither do the kids.

So we have an "at-risk" population here, to say the least. And we have violence. Last summer we faced a growing number of teens bringing in box cutters and knives they called "shivs" without understanding the jail house connection to the descriptor. This fall we've had to call the police 8 different times to break up fights including one that involved a teen member who beat up his girlfriend in our facility while she was holding their baby despite staff intervention. We've had to call the police many more times than that to break up fights in the park across the street which sees frequent drug activity. So we've instituted safety drills for staff. Most of them revolve around the theory of huddling in groups in a locked room with the lights off. Safety in numbers.

It is a frighteningly real possibility that someone will bring a gun into our center. We've had them at the park, we've had them in the parking lot. We're waiting to have one brandished inside. We now have the Chief of Police on our Board of Directors to try and get a handle on the issues we're seeing. Hopefully he can help. All I know is the first time he toured the building and was introduced to me, he came into my office, looked at the window to the hallway, and told me to get that covered ASAP. A gunman would be able to see me as soon as he or she came into the building. Sweet dreams everyone.

So violence is everywhere. I could quit my job, hide under my table and never read a newspaper again, but I could just as easily be hit by a car crossing the street, so what can you do? I hope some piece of what I do makes a difference with the kids at this center. I hope it helps them become functional adults. But who knows? Too many news stories have prominently featured alumni getting arrested. I'm actually not surprised anymore when staff point to the crime section of the paper and say "oh yeah, he used to go here".

If you're the religious sort, do me a favor and say a prayer for these kids. They need all the help they can get.