For most of my life I have heard this cautionary tale for black men choosing to overstay their welcome in St. Louis: If you don’t leave here soon after high school you will wind up being shot. Sadly, this has become a more truthful and sinister prognosis for young male residents perishing at a free-fall rate from our community due to senseless street violence. Now, it seems men and women, irrespective of gender or even race, are exposed to this cruel fate on an equal plane. In fact last weekend was a particularly violent one for the community, with eight people killed and 12 injured in a spree of violence that traversed the metro area and left many among us wondering when will the killing stop.
It’s going to take a cooperative effort by our government leaders, led by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and County Executive Sam Page to attack this epidemic of violence.
It’s going to take a cooperative effort by our government leaders, led by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and County Executive Sam Page to attack this epidemic of violence. It’s going to require utilizing innovative solutions that go beyond piling police officers on top of one another to bar attacks by assailants. We need better education not only in our schools but in homes bereft of role models and guidance. We need to prioritize solutions to mental illness for citizens holed up in those dark places that few of us can see into. And we need President Joe Biden’s social infrastructure bill that is hung up in the U.S. Senate to become law before it’s too late.