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Two decades later, morning star baptist violence still resonates by 123wert sdfsf
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Two decades later, morning star baptist violence still resonates |
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They gathered to mourn a young man, another young black man gunneddown by other young men. In the Mattapan of 1992, in a city ravagedby drug and gang violence, the grief had become a familiar litany. But when the violence crossed the threshold of Morning Star BaptistChurch that May night 20 years ago this week, and a stabbing andshooting during a solemn funeral turned the sanctuary into justanother street corner, Boston reached a breaking point. "Everyone recognized a line had been crossed,""said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown.
"You just couldn"t sitidly by anymore."" The brazen crime became a pivotal moment in the city"shistory, setting in motion changes that are still felt today. It catalyzed a clergy that by its own admission had failed to graspthe dimensions of youth violence. The Boston TenPoint Coalition, analliance of ministers and lay leaders, was born. Preachers wentinto the neighborhood to minister to troubled adolescents. It gave youth workers and community activists renewed urgency intheir fight to keep teenagers away from drugs and violence.
And it built common cause between ministers and the police afteryears of mutual distrust, giving rise to the acclaimed communitypolicing strategy that led to a dramatic, unforeseen decline inviolence known as the Boston Miracle. "It was a major turning point for the city of Boston that hadnational implications,"" said the Rev. Eugene Rivers, afounder of the TenPoint Coalition. "The church mobilized in away no one expected."" In the years to come, violent crime, which peaked in 1990 with morethan 13,600 reported cases, dropped steadily, and last year fell toits lowest level since the late 1960s. Homicides fell from 152 in1990 to 31 in 1999 before rising again in the 2000s.
For many church leaders in Boston, memories of the funeral attackand its aftermath remain fresh. The victim, Robert Odom, had beenkilled in a drive-by shooting at a dance party, by teenagers angryover a cover charge. Members of rival gangs attended Odom"sfuneral, and soon after it started, a dozen teenagers chased a19-year-old mourner up the aisle, beating him with folding chairs,cornering him in an alcove, then stabbing him. As people fled, a bullet whizzed through the church. No one waskilled, but the melee laid bare a gang culture in which no placewas sacred.
"The young people didn"t respect the church as aninstitution, because the clergy were not on thestreet,"" recalled the Rev. Bruce Wall, a key figure inthe clergy alliance. "They didn"t see the church as asacred place. They just saw a rival gang in abuilding."" Francis M. Roache, police commissioner at the time, credited Walland other preachers for rallying the community.
In the ensuingweeks and months, their outreach helped community policing effortsto take root. "It was a very jarring incident that brought us allcloser,"" Roache said. The department had already made a number of changes to itsapproach, bolstering a drug-control unit, assigning more officersto the schools, and creating community watches across the city. Butwhat happened at Morning Star gave the effort sharper focus, hesaid. To many preachers, the church violence was an unmistakable signthey had not done enough to keep teenagers from a life of crime,and a forceful call to action.
"It was a wake-up call for preachers,"" Brownsaid. "We were looking at youth violence as a law enforcementissue, and thought it was not something we could impact. MorningStar was the death of that innocence."" Within days, more than 300 clergy members gathered at Morning Star,where the Rev. John Borders pointed to the fresh bullet hole in thewall.
People were angry, but determined, and the coalition quicklytook shape. Looking back, clergy members marvel at the sense of purpose thatemerged, and how it soon led to hope. "It was either going to be a collaborative response or anineffective response,"" said Ray Hammond, pastor ofBethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and a TenPoint founder. Youth programs launched an aggressive campaign to reach the youngmen responsible for the violence.
Clergy members began walking thestreets, often side by side with police officers, to target gangmembers, drug dealers, and wayward youths whose lives might go ineither direction. At the time, the alliance between ministers and the PoliceDepartment was a milestone, and paved the way for an enduringpartnership. "The idea that black clergy would team up with Irish cops,that"s revolutionary,"" Rivers said. Morning Star also shifted the debate in the black community, Riverssaid, and forced black leaders to turn their gaze inward. "It made the black clergy say, ‘We have a problem andit"s not white people or police," "" Riverssaid.
"It was not racism that went into Morning Starchurch."" Despite the striking progress after Morning Star, the anniversaryalso serves as a painful reminder of how much work remains. Urbanneighborhoods remain chronically poor, with widespreadunemployment. Since a low mark in 1999, homicides have doubled, to63 last year. So far this year, there have been 16 killings, doublelast year"s pace.
The rise in violence calls for renewed urgency around crimeprevention, ministers say, a comprehensive approach that targetsdysfunctional families and neglected children from an early age. "The frustration for many of us is that we know a lot moretoday about how to identify the young people and families that areat the heart of the violence,"" Hammond said. The Morning Star neighborhood remains dangerous, and in 2010 wasthe site of a rampage that left four people dead in the street,including a woman and her 2-year-old son. Evoney Chung, who has lived on Woolson Street since the late"70s, doesn"t remember much about the funeral atMorning Star. But she knows that she drives her kids everywhere,even to the corner store, because she"s afraid to let themwalk.
Police are a constant presence in the neighborhood, she said. Shehopes they are getting to know the kids who need their help. "I want to see them out on the street, not at the top of the street with their blue lightsflashing,"" she said. But one of Morning Star"s lessons, ministers said, is thateven things that seem hopeless can get better. "Morning Star showed that things didn"t have to be theway they were,"" Hammond said.
Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two weeks FREE. Peter Schworm can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter @globepete . I am an expert from Construction & Real Estate, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as playground safety surface , playground safety surfacing.
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