Memphis must reverse poverty and social isolation to control crime

July 07--Delvin Lane is right.

Lane, who runs 901 Bloc Squad, a Memphis violence-intervention program, told reporter Marc Perrusquia in his six-part series, Wounded City, that the city's gun violence problem is an epidemic.

Being that he is a former gang leader, Lane can relate -- which is why his organization is attacking that epidemic through building relationships with youths who are likely to succumb to it.

Those would be males aged 13 to 23, males trapped in communities where homicides are six times the national average, and where the drug trade and gangs have rewritten the rules of normalcy to the point where they either see violence as a rite of passage or as a fixture that they're bound to brush up against.

Yet while Lane's program, which is funded through public and private dollars, has shown some success -- it helped reduce violent crime in Frayser by 54 percent and in South Memphis by 23 percent during its first two years -- the program struggles to find adequate resources and mentors.

And it's struggling because, unlike Lane and others, too many people are content to view Memphis' violence epidemic as confined to certain areas instead of seeing it as a threat to the entire city.

That must change.

For that to happen, the city must work to reverse the poverty and social isolation that are fueling the gun violence epidemic. Parents who work numerous jobs -- many of which are part time and temporary -- likely have a tough time convincing their children that a job that doesn't pull them out of poverty is a better choice than what the street offers.

Even if that street work requires a bloody, bullet-ridden resume.

Secondly, everyone must realize that neglecting to adequately fund successful violence-prevention programs, or to deal with the structural problems behind the violence, is to neglect the city's future.

Census figures show people aged 20 to 24 make up Memphis' largest age group, or 8.5 percent of the total.

Yet Memphis also has the highest percentage of disconnected youths -- 21.6 percent. That means that more than 1 in 5 people aged 16 to 24 are either not attending school, have dropped out of school or are unemployed.

In other words, they're rudderless -- and ripe for finding their moorings with a gang or a gun.

Certainly, disconnected youths play a role in fueling the violence rate. And the violence feeds into an epidemic that could hobble Memphis' future at a time when it needs more young people contributing to the community and paying taxes -- versus being killed, or imprisoned, or choosing gang life over school or college life.

So now is not the time for programs such as 901 Bloc Squad to be grappling for resources. This is a time for the city to replicate such efforts, as well as make urgent new pushes to deal with the poverty and underlying issues feeding the violence.

But, most of all, the healthy percentage of young people here ought to compel everyone to see them as part of the city's potential.

It should compel everyone to view the rampant violence as an epidemic that threatens Memphis' destiny, and not just the destiny of South Memphis, Frayser or other communities that are struggling with this scourge.

A scourge that can imperil the city's future -- as well as the future of its young people.

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