THE CHALLENGE OF CRIME
The recent arrest of 12 young African-American kids for the killing of 15-year-old Aliyah Smith in Sacramento has left many stunned, wondering what is going wrong with our youth and our society.
Working as a cop on the rough streets of Sacramento, I saw the problem of rampant violence up close. Now assigned to work the court system, I see an endless stream of minorities being driven into prisons. I ran for Sacramento City Council earlier this year because our community and our country are slipping. We are moving in the wrong direction, and minority neighborhoods remain in deep trouble.
A 2007 Bureau of Justice report reveals that “While blacks accounted for 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2005, they were victims in 15 percent of all nonfatal violent crimes and nearly half of all homicides.” Moreover, disproportionate numbers of black youths are committing crimes. What many view as a black community problem is, in reality, an American crisis.
I saw a Sacramento just like many other American cities: too much crime, too many imprisoned, too many locked out of mainstream opportunities and too many dropping out of school. For example, a California
