Dr. Boyce and Rev. Al Sharpton on the Death of Derrion Albert

I spoke with Rev. Al Sharpton in our weekly meeting on his radio show, which you can listen to below. After discussing the controversy between President Barack Obama and New York Gov. David Paterson, as well as the pending bankruptcy of Ebony magazine, we turned our attention toward the most critical issue of the day: the death of Chicago teenager Derrion Albert. We both shared grave concern over this incident and what it reflects. Father Michael Pfleger, Rev. Marcia Dyson and many others have sent a continuous SOS to the nation over the growing violence among Chicago youth. It finally took this incident to shine the spotlight on a place that has been experiencing its own urban version of Sept. 11.

It's time for us to sit up and wake up. This violence didn't start with Albert's death. There are young people dying in Chicago every day, and we all need to make the violence stop. Here are quick thoughts on the issue:

1) President Obama is from Chicago, so I am sure this bothers him. I can't imagine that the president isn't filled with concern about the deaths of young black men and women in Chicago. I would like to see visible acts on the part of the president to ensure that the violence among Chicago youth is being dealt with in a constructive way. Arresting more kids may be the Bill O'Reilly way of dealing with black men, but that is not the solution that works best for our community. The creation of jobs and after-school programs is one way to attack the problem, for there should be no young person in the city of Chicago sitting around with nothing to do. It's one thing for kids to choose to be delinquent, but another when a child starts off wanting to do the right thing and is sucked in by the negative energy around him.

2) For many young black people, it's not as simple as "making the right choices." Every young person who has become inspired by a Bill Cosby video about simply "doing the right thing" is then smacked with the reality that they are being asked to swim upstream in a culture that glorifies violence and drugs, while disrespecting educational achievement. Teenagers are heavily influenced by peer pressure, which has been shown to affect a person well into adulthood. While it is easy for us to tell a kid to simply do what the rest of the kids aren't doing, we should realize how ridiculous it is to expect 10 million kids to be strong enough to deviate from pre-existing social norms. Stronger entities, such as BET and urban radio, can play their parts by reducing the glorification of violence that occurs in hip-hop music and some elements of hip-hop culture. Media plays a powerful role in defining what our youth believe to be important.

3) Are we doing our jobs as adults? The truth is that much of the violence affecting our young people is the result of bullying. The kids who have nothing to lose make things difficult for those who are trying to do something better for themselves. If you can only imagine going to school every day knowing that you might die before lunch, such stress negatively impacts your willingness to focus on learning Shakespeare. When a child mentions that he or she is being bullied and lives in fear, it's up to us as adults to do whatever necessary to make that child safe.

The city of Chicago should have safe spaces and well-marketed avenues of conflict resolution for those teenagers who feel threatened while traveling to school every day. A child should not feel that he or she has to join a gang in order to be protected. We should be protecting our children ourselves. Even if the youth are not asking for help, support should be pushed upon them. It is not normal for a teenager to die.

The murder of Derrion Albert was tragic, but it is my hope that it will open our eyes. There is a child somewhere who died while you were reading this article, and the news won't say a thing about it.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University, a leading black speaker and author of the forthcoming book, 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.

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