Two days ago, there was a gunfight at block party in the Toronto neighbourhood of Scarborough. A teenage girl and a young man in his twenties was killed.
The came this article, by the Globe and Mail’s resident contrarian, Margaret Wente.
I know it’s easy to make this point – that the cause is the lack of fathers, the lack of role models. But that is so tired. The problem is cyclical, and once something becomes cyclical, ie. once the first man raised with no father himself becomes a father, then it’s far harder to fix.
So by all means, let’s redevelop public housing, strengthen our policing, hire more youth workers, launch more employment programs, start more basketball programs, help young mothers finish school and teach them how to read to their kids. It makes us feel good to focus on these things because they are things we can actually do something about, and maybe they will make a difference. But let’s not kid ourselves: They’re Band-Aid solutions.
No, they are not band-aid solutions. These are all things that privileged neighbourhoods have in abundance, and it’s what privileged people do in abundance. Do these things enough, and run them ethically enough so that they’re not just make-work programs within the community, and you will see change beyond band-aid solutions. Get these kids interested in reading, writing; get those mothers educated.
But articles like this, in which the problem is defined as almost unsolvable, muddy the waters. What people like Wente don’t write about is the neighbourhoods that do change. Why? Because change happens gradually, and when it’s complete, the violent past is a different memory.
I live in what used to be a rough Vancouver neighbourhood. Yes, there are still a few little rough patches here and there, but on the whole, it’s become nice. Those who cause the problems were forced to go elsewhere, the innocent victims who stayed benefited from the improved schools and services. And we weren’t forced into depressed complacency by opinion pieces such as this.
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