Milton Hinton: Social scientists agree that 'black-on-black' crime is more accurately viewed as 'poor-on-poor' crime.
City, state and federal elected officials last week formally announced a $16.2 million federal grant to improve roads and infrastructure in Camden near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
A ceremony about the funding came soon after the murder of 8-year-old Gabrielle Hill Carter, a crossfire victim of the city's roving gun battles. Gabrielle was preparing to start the third grade when she was gunned down while playing outside her residence. I have previously addressed what the community must do to quell Camden's violence, but elected officials are also failing residents with their lack of leadership and initiative.
In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson mandated a broad study and investigation of the social issues plaguing America's cities. A bipartisan commission produced the "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," also known as the Kerner Report.
The report concluded, among other things, that segregation and poverty created a destructive environment in the inner-city that was foreign to most white Americans. To quote Kerner: "What white Americans have never fully understood but what 'Black Americans' can never forget, is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it."
The statement above is a very powerful synopsis of the environment too many black Americans still find themselves in today. It also describes the conditions into which Gabrielle Hill Carter was born and tragically died.
Elected officials of the City of Camden, as well as those of Camden County, have seemingly turned a blind eye toward the devastating level of gun violence in the city. Those who blindly follow stereotypical explanations will erroneously proclaim the violence as "black-on-black" crime. But many social scientists agree that it is more accurately viewed as "poor-on poor" crime, which can be significantly decreased if those in charge have the inclination and will to do so.
Nowhere in our area, except in a predominantly black and Puerto Rican environment such as Camden, would such devastation be allowed to continue without swift yet lawful intervention by law enforcement and elected officials. Show me another community in South Jersey where drug addicted women, mainly white, openly prostitute themselves on a main thoroughfare with minimum law enforcement contact. Watch what would happen if I walked down the street in Wenonah, Haddonfield or Voorhees Township smoking a marijuana joint, or I stood on a corner all day and half the night, exchanging small bags of heroin for cash with motorists from the suburbs.
Camden's elected leaders' inaction has led to pervasive unemployment, poor city services and unrestricted criminal violence. This failed political structure jeopardizes the safety and well-being of the city's most valuable, most vulnerable residents -- its children.
Residents victimized by the governing body charged with their protection will use violence as a solution to what they view as insurmountable problems. This is true no matter whether they are in Camden or in Appalachia. Conservative writer Kevin D. Williamson, in a 2014 essay, described Appalachia as "the white ghetto," noting that some parts of the region have a homicide rate greater than those found in major cities. Impoverished Appalachians suffer from the same ills as Camden residents, with the same deadly results.
If Camden's leaders desire to push back against poverty and provide residents hope and opportunity for upward mobility, they should build a factory, and then train and hire city residents. If the goal is to stop the violence and drastically lower the murder rate, build three factories and make it easy inexpensive to start a legitimate business.
These leaders must not continue to sit idle, saying and doing nothing of any substance. Too many residents, especially children, are now at risk.
Milton W. Hinton Jr. is director of equal opportunity for the Gloucester County government. He is past president of the Gloucester County Branch NAACP. His column states his personal views, not those of any organization or agency. Email: mwhjr678@gmail.com.