What Will President Obama Do About Violence?

Barack Obama fulfilled part of Dr. Kings’ dream Tuesday November 4th.  The 47 year old president-elect will be the first African-American president of the United States of America, and the first president who has spent his entire adult life working on behalf of matters that are significant to the urban community.

As a community organizer, he worked in low-income neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. A city where riding the bus home from school, leaving a movie theater at a shopping mall, or attending your own birthday party at a relative’s house, can get you killed by gun violence.  Blair Hold was killed riding the bus home from school; Willie Williams III was killed leaving a movie theater, and Siretha White was killed attending her birthday party at her aunt’s home – all three under the age of 21. 

In Chicago, 24 Public School students were killed b gun violence before the end of the 2008 Presidential Primary.  It’s the same story nationwide.  What will President Obama do about this violence?

In March 2008, Obama told EBONY Magazine, “There are a couple of things that we can do. We can enforce our gun laws more effectively to keep handguns off the streets.  We can set up after-school programs so that young children have a safe place to go.”

Obama intends to expand early-childhood education and improve the pay and support that are provided to teachers.  he wants to have a system to deal with ex-offenders – i.e. provide transitional jobs and social services to help reintegrate ex-offenders into society. More importantly, he wants to trace the point of origin of illegal guns, and hold the people dumping the guns into urban communities accountable.  lastly, Obama has vowed to speak directly to parents and to the youth about discouraging violence. 

Now that you know what President Obama will do about violence, what will you do?

by Cedric Dean, author

of “How To Stop Your Children From Going To Prison.”

Tags: And, Chicago, Do, Obama, President, Streets, Violence, What, Will