By Eleanor Boswell-Raine,
Globe Managing Editor

Urban America is infected with a voracious social plague that is claiming the lives of young people every day, sending crime statistics soaring. East Bay communities in and around Oakland and Richmond are in the grip of an epidemic that respects no map’s boundaries and boldly spreads its virus across a broad swath of neighborhoods. Up and down the Interstate 80 corridor, families and communities are losing their young people.
   East Bay crime statistics contain staggering evidence that the largest number of homicides involve black males killing black males between the ages of 18 and 25. Identities of perpetrators are guarded by a “no snitching” culture and families fearful of retaliation. Neighborhoods feel helpless to put an end to the madness. Friends and family members have exceeded their threshold for pain and are numbed by the audacity of living within the circle of violence; too many of their youthful relatives, friends and church members have been gunned down on sidewalks and streets.
   So what can communities do to turn the bloody tide of a growing youth sub-culture that appears to be getting younger, whose answer to daily disputes is a bullet and whose respect for human life flies in the face of civility?
    Whose responsibility is it to put a stop to youths engaged in violence? What’s the magic formula? Three-parts prevention and one-part enforcement? More government- and privatefunded programs? More police enforcement? More parental involvement? Censoring of music that romanticizes the culture? More intervention volunteers? More involvement by the faith community — out of the pulpit and into the streets? All the above? More?
    The Globe’s commitment is to keep the issue of black on black crime in front of our readers on a weekly basis; provide a consistent flow of information to raise awareness of what we can do as individuals to contribute to solutions; educate and separate fact from fiction; and outline challenges and mark progress toward solutions by various community efforts and organizations, both public and private.
    The Globe has engaged a team of writers and photojournalists led by “Seeking Solutions” Editor David Muhammad (former executive director of the Oakland-based organization The Mentoring Center and present director of community commitment for Washington, D.C.). Muhammad’s expertise in the field, familiarity with efforts underway in Alameda and Contra Costa counties and continuing Bay Area involvement, as well as his journalism background, make him the ideal editor for this series. Please turn to page 2 for the first installment of “Seeking Solutions.”

Read the three Crime Series articles:
Blood in my eyes  - The Story of a Young Oakland Woman >>
What's working: How to develop an effective program >>
Examing Black on Black Life by David Muhammad >>

Or download the entire Crime Series .PDF (584 KB) >>