Boston, MA. The escalation of violent crimes shakes the city!

Tyler Lawrence, a 13-year-old boy, was killed in broad daylight in Mattapan, Massachusetts, a Boston neighborhood with a high concentration of Haitians and African Americans. The community is outraged.

As Minister, Youth Advocate and Director of Youth Program Development at Mattapan Tech, I am deeply touched by the death of this innocent young boy. Over the past few weeks, the community has mourned the tragic and violent deaths of two young men. This violence is the direct consequence of poverty resulting from structural and systemic racism, which has driven young people of color to despair.

   It is utterly dishonest, hypocritical, and naive to believe that the living conditions of Boston's black and brown youth would produce a different outcome. Those with decision-making power are unwittingly responsible for the ungovernable violence in Boston's black community. Yesterday I met 34 young black and brown people at Mattapan Tech's My Brother's Keeper meeting. The children were scared, they sincerely expressed their fears, worries and frustrations. 25 of them said they thought they wouldn't see their 25th birthday, another 9 said that unless they go to jail, they might not see Christmas 2023. It's sad! After the meeting, I cried when I looked at the photo of the beautiful faces of the young people who predict the probability of their death in the coming months. Young people also said they hope they can live long enough to have a successful education and career; they hope to buy a house for their parents, they hope to have a family and raise their children in a peaceful neighborhood. We expect black youth to grow up safely into successful citizens, which is why Mattapan Tech has created and strives to maintain a pathway to career success for black and brown youth.

The people of Mattapan are frustrated and tired to hear that another youngster has been shot or stabbed every day. As responsible adults, we cannot sit back and see more of our children killed in broad daylight and do nothing. We need to get to the root of the problem and fix it. Street and domestic violence are consequences of poverty caused by systemic racism that has built a fence between black people and economic opportunity. We have the power to break down the fence and let taxpayer dollars flow into our neighborhoods to create opportunities for black and brown youth.

Across the Neponset River is Milton, a village next to Mattapan. Milton is safe, clean, and attractive. The difference between Milton and Mattapan, It is an affluent predominantly white community, the young people of Milton are privileged and have everything they need. It's simple! They don't face the same challenges that we face every day in the black community. In Mattapan Black youth must fight for the basic rights and privileges they deserve. They are discriminated against, mistreated, constantly despised, and rejected by the very people who have the responsibility to support our community.

Moreover, the pains and scars of slavery and racism have been passed down from generation to generation, young people of color are going through a lot of mental anguish, which might lead them to comit crimes unvoluntarely. Boston city leaders must focus on crafting new policies to close the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots." Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. Politicians have their statement prepared for the next tragedy, but no solution offered to nurture hope in our broken society.Those beautiful lives are gone forever. That solution is called equity and social economic justice, in the distribution of wealth. Now is the time for apologies and reparations, but not for expressions of frustration. It's time to start saying, "I'm sorry, I haven't done enough for black youth."

Today, in the aftermath of Covid-19, the living conditions of young black people have worsened, it is now as close as possible that they can get closer to hell. What can we expect when we have a community with no job opportunities for black and brown youth, no access to basic health and mental health care, a community that is best described as underserved and most vulnerable . The most well-known youth-serving organizations in Mattapan are underfunded and, therefore, understaffed.

Mattapan families have to struggle for necessities. Politicians talk about equity, social and economic justice, but the same policies that screwed up black businesses and organizations are still in effect. We have changed the face of government, but changing the faces of government is not enough, we must fight to change structural and systemic racism to integrate black businesses and black organizations into the city's economy. The city has grants of $5,000 for local nonprofits that are well-connected and millions of $$ for large developers and the only people who are on construction sites are white people. $5000 can't do much. Funds should go to communities most affected by systemic racism.

Black community organizations and businesses that provide direct services to youth do not have access to funding that would allow them to hire more youth and create opportunities for Black children. Each city of Boston's grant proposal comes with a preamble to intimidate and disqualify grassroots organizations. where is the fairness? These are the same grant proposal templates that have been around for over 50 years. It's time to review these RFPs and government contracts to include opportunities for small, underserved black organizations and small black businesses.

Under current policies, most grassroots nonprofits do not receive grant money from the City of Boston. Community health centers cannot accept new patients because they are underfunded and understaffed. If you want to hear about the pain and suffering in our community, visit any of the Boston's municipal courthouses anytime to see how many young people have been arrested and how many cities and towns have issued outstanding warrants against them. We are fortunate to have compassionate judges in municipal courthouses, otherwise it would have been more difficult for young black people.

To practice inclusion, equity, and economic justice, leaders must focus on changing old policies that deny the Black community access to economic opportunity. Violence in the city could be prevented by creating opportunities for young people of color.

The parents are thinking of selling their homes to leave town for the safety of their children. Leaving is not a solution, we must not remain silent to put politicians at ease, we must advocate for a better and stronger Mattapan.

We have a great mayor surrounded by many people of goodwill in the city of Boston, but we also know that the guardians of the status quo are still there and are powerful. We must continue to ask our leaders for new policies that promote equity, inclusion, diversity and economic justice. Mayor Wu cannot change a system that has existed for centuries in a few months, but she  has to start somewhere and soon.

Help Mattapan Tech maintain its free job training program for young people. Go to www.mattapantech.org to make a donation. We will not turn our back on our children. Change is not impossible!

Reverend Jean is the founder of Mattapan Tech and a tireless advocate for young people. Reverend Jean can be reached at jacjean1@mattapantech.org