Call to arms: Murder story is a sign we need to do something, now

We talk all the time about crime and what it does to communities and to families.

We debate the ways to stop it and the consequences of doing nothing.

We call on our city officials, our law enforcement personnel and our schools to do something to reach these children before it is too late.

And we talk about the factors that have gotten us to this point in the first place -- drugs, gangs, lack of education, poverty, welfare and broken homes.

And then we hear a story about a good man who made it his mission to help people, who friends say was all about giving back, who became the victim of a shooting -- and that the perpetrators could very well have been three young people under the age of 19.

They were not old enough to drink.

They were not even really of legal age to do anything.

But now they are charged in connection with a crime that could send them to prison for life.

And the community has lost a good man.

What a tragedy.

There is reason to be angry -- that crimes like this occur, that we cannot seem to figure out the way to stop them and that our police, our sheriff's deputies and others are in danger every day trying to protect our community.

We want to find the answer.

We just don't know where to start.

But the important thing to remember is that we have to -- start.

This latest story is just one of many over the last year, and we are not the only community facing challenges like these.

Those who are in the know say it is getting worse, that there are more and more lost teens and families riddled with drugs, alcohol, violence and neglect.

We have to do something to reach these children before they become teenagers with records, before their options are limited, before they have abandoned the chance to seek out a better life.

And, we are sorry to say, before they become murder victims themselves.

We can talk all we want about stiffer penalties and gun control. We can also pretend that there are not young people who are involved right now in gangs and drugs.

But if we really want to make our streets safer -- and to keep ourselves safe -- we have to face some hard facts -- children who live lives on the street or in housing projects know nothing else.

There are community groups right now trying to give these young people the direction and support they are not getting at home.

And there is story after story of educators and administrators who have guided young people to the possibility that they can choose a different path.

Add to that neighborhood heroes and pastors and church families and we have an army -- a real chance to change the paths that these children lead.

It starts with a real discussion -- without the blinders, without saying only what is safe.

Then the next step is to reach out to the children we haven't lost yet.

That way we might not have to read about another lost life of someone who devoted his life to helping others better theirs.

And we might not lose another teenager to the prison system.

There is no time to waste.

Published in Editorials on October 25, 2015 12:06 AM