Something Is Wrong: Exploring the Roots of Youth Violence
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SOMETHING IS WRONG: Exploring the Roots of Youth Violence Edited by Mariame Kaba, J. Cyriac Mathew, and Nathan Haines Layout and Design by Caitlin Ostrow PREFACE—Why this Curriculum Guide? This curriculum guide is inspired by a simple and profound question from an incredible young woman named Shania1 who was struggling to make sense of the senseless. I sat in a peacemaking circle with her in early October, a little over a week after the killing of Derrion Albert. Derrion Albert, 16, a student at Fenger High School in Chicago died on September 24th 2009. This fact is sad on its face but it would have garnered little attention beyond that of his friends and family if his death had not been captured on a cell phone video. The video shows Albert’s fatal beating as he walked into a melee, allegedly two gangs fighting, on a Chicago street. The video shows a group striking him with boards and kicking him as he lay on a sidewalk. This tragedy captured the attention of the national media and politicians. For the young woman who sat with me in early October, the animating question was “Why?” “Why Did Derrion Die?” Shania said that one of her closest friends had known Derrion and that her friend was dev- astated by his loss. Her friend wanted revenge; she was demanding that the young men who were accused of killing Derrion be given the death penalty for their actions. And yet, Shania was conflicted. She wanted to comfort her friend who was obviously hurting from the loss of someone dear while not losing track of the humanity of those young men who had been accused of killing Derrion. On that October day, those of us in the circle who were adults struggled to provide any sort of adequate answer to Shania’s troubling and important question of “Why Did Derrion Die?” Those of us who work here in Chicago with youth (as teachers, youth workers, mentors, organizers, allies, etc…) are finding ourselves at a loss about how to help young people process the root causes of the vio- lence in their lives and to ultimately heal. When young people ask: “Why Did Derrion Die?” the answers developed by us, as adults, feel unsatisfactory and ultimately lacking. As such, we believe that there is value in helping to foster spaces in communities across the city where young people themselves can develop their answers and search for relevant remedies. The Chicago Freedom School, Project NIA and Teachers for Social Justice have partnered along with other vol- unteers to develop a curriculum guide in order to contribute to the ongoing efforts by young people and their adult allies to analyze the root causes of youth violence and to create local solutions. At a time when frustration is running high and many are expressing a sense of powerlessness in the face of pervasive violence, this curriculum guide is an offering intended to make a positive contribution to the dialogue about violence in the lives of young people. In the words of historian and community activist Bar- bara Ransby, our goal is to help “young people to channel their righteous rage” towards the actual sources of their oppression. There have been many Derrions in Chicago over the past few years. This curriculum is dedicated to all of the young people who have succumbed to violence. We honor your lives. In Peace and Solidarity, Mariame Kaba Founder and Director, Project NIA Co-founder and current board chair, Chicago Freedom School Co-founder and adult ally, Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team Note: Questions about this curriculum guide can be directed to me at [email protected]. 1. Shania is a pseudonym intended to protect confidentiality. 3 TaBLE OF CONTENTS SECTION ONE Preface—Why this Curriculum Guide?. 3 Table of Contents. 5 Introduction. .7 Considerations for Facilitating Discussions. .9 Acknowledgements . .15 Curriculum Unit Details. .17 SECTION TWO: UNDERSTANDING OPPRESSION Understanding Oppression (shorter version). 25 Understanding Oppression (longer version) . 29 How Do We Relate? The Relationships Between Forms of Oppression. .35 Root Causes. 39 The Ecological Model . .43 The Race. .49 Power & Violence. .53 “It’s Not Just One Thing”—Young Women’s Oppression and Liberation . 61 Tommy’s Story: Understanding the Roots of Violence. 69 Popular Education Exercise: Roots of Heterosexism. 75 SECTION THREE: TYPES OF VIOLENCE ENCOUNTERED BY YOUNG PEOPLE ** The National Center on Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) defines several types of violence: community, school, domestic, and media. Youth Homicide in Chicago. 81 Beyond Beats & Rhymes. .93 Media Literacy Curriculum. 101 The Youth, the Media, and Violence. 113 Plantations to Penitentiaries: The Prison Industrial Complex. 123 Locked Up. 131 Gangs and Violence: Historical Context and Root Causes. 141 The Columbine School Shootings: A Rare but Important Event . 153 Police Violence: Fear and Loathing among Youth of Color . 165 American Casino: Economic Violence in the U.S.. 183 Why We Fight: War & Militarism. 207 SECTION FOUR: ARTIVISM “Shoot ‘Em Up”…Cultural Youth Genocide. 219 The Usual Suspects. 225 Something Is Wrong—“Why Did Derrion Die?” . 231 5 6 Section One SECTION FIVE: YOUTH-LED RESEARCH AND ORGANIZING Exploring the Roots of and Community Responses to Violence. 251 Asset Mapping Our Community. 261 Survey Your Community . 273 Research Through Interviews. 283 Know Your Options. 289 Why Should I Care? . 301 Baby at the Door Steps: Taking Action to Address Social Problems. 311 SECTION SIX: CURRICULAR RESOURCES Introductory Violence Activities. 317 The Death of Derrion Albert: Living and Dying in America. 327 The [Wednesday] Papers . 329 Race, Prison, and Poverty. 333 Selections about Police Violence from Opposing Viewpoints. 341 SECTION SEVEN: MISCELLANEOUS Framework for Exploring the Roots of Youth Violence. 355 Glossary of Terms. 361 Results of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence . 369 Tips for Facilitating Small Groups. 373 Principles for Allies to Young People. 375 About the Contributors. 377 INTRODUCTION Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where one class is made to feel that society is organized in a conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. —Frederick Douglass Since the mid-90’s, the rate of violent crimes by youth perpetrators ages 12–17 has been steadily declin- ing2. So what explains the mass media’s fixation on sensational cases of violence perpetrated by youth? So- ciologist Mike Males believes that those in power have an interest (economic, social, and political) in en- gaging in fearmongering with respect to young people. He suggests that the “politician-media-institution campaign on ‘youth3 violence’ is bigoted and devoid of genuine concern for youths.” “Real concern,” he writes, “would involve lamenting the major causes of violence against youths.”4 We are at great pains in this curriculum to avoid linking an entire population class, in this case young people, with a negative behavior practiced by only a few of its members because this would indeed be bigotry. This is a curriculum that rejects the traditional conceptualization of youth violence as mainly peer to peer violence. In order to truly understand youth violence, it must be re-defined as violence in the lives of young people. Only in this way can the real scope of the problem be grasped and eventually addressed. Most of the perpetrators of youth violence are adults who do harm to young people in a number of settings (at home, at school, in the streets, and at the highest levels of government through detrimental policies). Violence is a real problem for many young people, though not always or even usually in the form of the sensational incidents that tend to dominate the headlines and create pressure for solutions. As mentioned previously, youth encounter violence in every arena of their daily lives – at home, at school, through the media, or on the streets of their neighborhoods. This curriculum guide adopts a holistic approach to ad- dressing violence in the lives of young people. Because violence is so prevalent and ubiquitous, these con- ditions serve to make it seem normal and acceptable even while we desire peaceful lives and a world free of conflict. All of us must make sense of the culture of violence in which we live and of the many messages either glorifying or vilifying it. Throughout this curriculum, we offer a look at some of the roots and prac- tices shaping the culture of violence in the U.S. and provide youth with an opportunity to explore its toll on our overall well-being and sense of humanity. The Frederick Douglass quote cited above speaks to the reality that violence is the glue that holds oppressions in place. It is impossible to understand violence without deeply probing and analyzing oppression and how it works. This curriculum attempts to do just that. It also highlights the gendered and racialized nature of youth violence which is often seen as primarily male and mainly affecting youth of color. We know however that violence in the lives of young people is pervasive and impacts youth in all walks of life. With this acknowl- edgement, we do not discount the fact that youth of color experience higher levels of oppression. Therefore it is not surprising that they also do suffer a disproportionate amount of violence. Violence in the lives of young people is complex, multi-faceted, and deeply embedded in the social inequalities that permeate our country 2. America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009 3. For the purposes of this curriculum, the term “youth” includes children and adolescents under 18. 4. Mike Males (2004) Kids & Guns: How Politicians, Experts, & the Press Fabricate Fear of Youth.