FORT WORTH- As the national media spotlights inner-city violence in Chicago, other U.S. cities--like Fort Worth, Texas-- are working to maintain a low crime rate.
Last month, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram reported that the city's crime rate had dropped 7.2 % from January to July 2012--compared to the same period in 2011. However, homicides increased over 50% from 19 to 29.
Yet, the city's police chief Jeff Halstead told the local media that the crime rate remains relatively low even with a continuous growth in population. [The most recent figures show that over 750,000 people live there.]
Regina Seaman, a 45-year-old consultant, moved to Texas from Rochester, New York in 2008. Until last year, she lived in nearby Arlington before settling in Fort Worth. The tech-savvy grandmother says that the city is "not the most violent," but she acknowledges that cities such as Chicago and Detroit are in far worse shape.
Seaman writes about social issues on her blog, Regina's Family Seasons--which was born out of her passion for writing. In fact, she used her love for writing to keep a group of teens occupied when she worked as a youth services manager for a small nonprofit agency in Rochester. They started a newsletter to bring awareness to issues in the community.
"The program was awesome and we started distributing the newsletters to community organizations and got other young people involved," Seaman recalls.
The youthful grandmother believes that urban violence should be addressed by first looking at how to keep the youth busy doing positive things. In her opinion, the community must allow their actions to speak louder than words.
"[The community] needs to be genuinely concerned and prepared to help if necessary," she explains. "If 'Johnny' says he is having a hard time with math--offer to assist if you are good in math."
Seaman added that the "code of silence," in which community residents fail to report crimes due to fear of retaliation, creates a counter-productive effect in the war on drugs and violence.
"Communities cannot fight crime with one hand and beckon it with the other."
: Beyond The Windy City){kind=link}
1 Comments
Looking at it from your perspective I sound so intelligent! LOL! But the issue of violence is one that will not go away, and "we" cannot pass it on to someone else to address. We as a people, as a community (Churches, schools, stores, community activists, etc) need to get involved and do what needs to be done to save our streets and our youth!
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