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The NAACP has a long and glorious history of
fighting for the issues affecting the plight of African
Americans. In the past, the organization battled lynching,
racial discrimination and focused on legislation, lobbying
and educating the public.
What is the organization doing today to address contemporary
issues such as a criminal justice system, which profiles,
arrests and incarcerates black males at disproportionate
rates? What does the NAACP have to say about the prevalence
of low performing schools in our community or the
exponentially high rates of unemployment for African
Americans?
I
spent several hours speaking one on one with local NAACP
president Ray Wood to discuss his philosophy and vision for
bringing about institutional, political and community change
in Toledo?
The following is part two of our conversation:
Perryman:
How would you describe the agenda for the Toledo NAACP and
its priorities?
Wood:
I would say the number one issue for the NAACP is
black-on-black crime and gang violence. The education of our
African-American community would be number two. And,
if kids are not doing well in school then they don’t have
very many other options. So mass incarceration would be next
and then jobs. Jobs not just for our black men, but also
jobs for our African-American youth. We have to give them
something to do. You can’t just say to them, “Listen, don’t
be in a gang.” They’re making a living selling drugs and not
having other options. So I would say that those things will
be our priorities.
Perryman:
So what activities are taking place right now?
Wood:
Well, actually I’ve been having meetings since the end of
last year with some of the gang members. You’ve got to get
to point A and make contact, earn their respect and hear
what they say before you can go any further. I made a real
serious connection with a young lady named Deirdre. She
brought gang members and they respected her. And there were
others, like Ronnie Robinson who has been involved with
gangs and trying to have shelters and safe havens for them.
Deirdre and Ronnie have been able to bridge the gap for us.
Councilman Tyrone Riley and Council President Paula Hicks
Hudson have also been involved with our efforts. But, even
with all of that, it’s still about what other options do we
have to give these young people opportunities.
Perryman:
And that’s the critical piece. Because, from what you’ve
said, you’ve already started to build a foundational base of
rapport and trust with the gang members. But all of this
could dissipate if nothing materializes because their issue
is hopelessness. It is about promises being made over and
over that are seldom, if ever, fullfilled. So, I mean until
you come through…
Wood:
Several years ago there had been a shooting just like we
seem to be having every day and it hasn’t stopped. I guess
Jack Ford was mayor at the time. And right here on Dorr
Street and Detroit Avenue, he had hot dogs -- some sort of a
summit up there. And just as you said, promises were made
and the people waited, but nothing ever came from it. Those
gang members I’ve been meeting with made sure that they let
me know that. They also let me know that they really do want
someone to do something about their situation. And then,
the other thing is that a lot of the young mothers of the
gang members, they’re not necessarily discouraging them from
that lifestyle, because whatever they can get by selling
drugs -- and these are some great entrepreneurs. A lot of
them bring the fruits of that activity back home. Now
they’ve got a flat-screen TV for mom.
Perryman:
Absolutely. They have not been able to get a job, so a lot
of them make their own jobs and support their “communities”
with those funds. So, having been excluded by the
mainstream, they have their own society and even mete out
their own justice in their world.
Wood:
Yes. It’s their own community. And often they are more
dedicated to their community than a lot of us are in ours.
And they’re more unified. Because we’re here, we’re there,
we’re over there -- There’s a lot of self-serving. But those
guys, and they know who’s got their back and who doesn’t.
Perryman:
They know. And I would even go as far to say, that the
majority of the shootings – I don’t know what percentage,
this is anecdotal -- but I would surmise that the overall
shootings are the result of business dealings and their own
code of justice. My sense is that they’re not necessarily
coming and messing with the general population for the most
part.
Wood:
And I don’t know why people don’t really get that piece. A
lot of that is within their inner circle. Some of it is
random, but a lot of the more intense violence involves
business deals gone bad or turf battles.
Now, how do we address that? I think that, first of all, we
collectively have to come together. We need to have some
involvement from law enforcement. We have to have
engagement, but it has to be the right people. It has to be
people on that side of the house. And I guess Deirdre’s had
some death in her family with a brother and a cousin getting
killed, and she said that the only person who really cared
for her when they were running the streets, when they were
in the gangs, was a police officer who would pick them up,
take them home, tell them exactly straight but not come
across like ‘I’m the authority and this is what you better
do.’ People don’t care how much you know until they know
how much you care. And no matter what level it’s on, people
will recognize if somebody really cares or if they are just
going through the motions of doing their job.
Perryman:
You and I frequently have different perspectives on certain
issues, but I wholeheartedly agree that that we must have an
involvement from law enforcement. But before we get to that,
let’s talk about the root causes of gang violence. Maybe the
root cause will dictate solutions, or what role law
enforcement or the criminal justice system might most
effectively play.
Number one, these gang members, as we’ve discussed, are
disconnected from mainstream society, so they go and start
their own. So you’ve got gangs which are a group of people
who have been rejected by the mainstream. And, being a
deacon in the Baptist church and familiar with the bible,
you know that before David (the “apple of God’s eye”) became
king, he had a band of “outlaws” who followed his
leadership. In essence, what they were, were gangs. They
were a group of disrespected people who didn’t fit in with
the mainstream. And so they formed their own society. What
drives this? Why are they not fitting in? Why are they
rejected? There are a lot of things that could contribute.
Poverty, for instance. But more than that.
Wood:
There’s a lot of root causes.
Perryman:
There’s mental post-traumatic stress from the violence that
they’ve witnessed in their lives and that they see on
television. The lack of educational resources compared to
what is available to the suburban schools. And possibly
their learning styles – maybe the people who teach them
don’t connect with them and so maybe its a lack of
connection with Eurocentric pedagogical styles. We’ve got to
find some way to deal with the lack of jobs and with the
disparities in the criminal justice system.
Now, we have taken all these young black men out of the
community and left women to run it and raise children while
all these guys went to prison, mostly for selling drugs to
make money. Instead of rehabilitating them, they were
placed in an environment that taught them how to be more
criminal, cold and ruthless because that’s the way you have
to act in order to survive in prison. Lenora Barry tells me
that thousands of ex-offenders are returning to the
community and have can’t get a job so that many of them end
up going back. They arrive on the doorsteps of the community
with an institutionalized attitude, the subculture that they
developed in prison and brought it back to the streets and
to the community.
Wood:
Yes. It has become a badge of honor to go to prison and come
back out. Some of it is part of the initiation process. To
be incarcerated, even if it’s just a couple of years, it
seems to me, would change the desire to be locked-up, but it
only solidifies it.
Perryman:
So we can’t entirely blame the kids. We have created much of
this ourselves.
Wood:
Yes, we have. So we throw our hands up and it’s kinda easy
to talk about this issue and it seldom goes anywhere.
Everybody’s piping in. Everybody’s making good points, and
then next week there is nothing. I mean that’s all we seem
to do in this is come together. And to meet just to meet is
ridiculous. Because in the end, it’s about results.
Perryman:
How do we obtain meaningful results?
Wood:
This is the only thing that I can think of, because I still
believe that there’s so much power in black churches. God
gave it. And yet, people here are so afraid of Allan Block.
Allan Block ain’t nobody. It is the black churches, and
churches in general, that have the power. But, since we’re
talking about our community and our issues, let’s have a
summit with the gangs. Somehow we’ve got to put aside our
egos and differences and have a summit where the true power
is. Some people may hold this against me and I’m okay with
that. I’ve had people tell me that they’ve got no place for
the spiritual aspect of this work. But, I think that God is
in everything. God is all in all. The church’s involvement
has worked before. And it can help provide the results we
are looking for today.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
Influencing Change:
Protest or Presence?
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