Dean Borgman, “Urban Violence,” Ch. 11 in Hear My Story: Understanding the Cries of Urban Youth, Hendrickson Publishers, 2003; pp. 205-228.

OVERVIEW

Dean Borgman dedicates a section of his book on the needs of youth to various types of youth violence, from child soldiers in war zones around the world to school shooters in the suburbs to suicide.  His chapter on urban violence is therefore intended both as an explanation of that particular type of violence and as a contrast with the other types.

He begins by contrasting the urban setting—where resources are  strained with other needs—to the suburbs where a greater proportion of the community's resources can be dedicated to youth.  The fact that America's patterns of income inequality often break down along these urban/suburban lines lends a particular character to the violence in urban areas. 

The model of violence in suburban areas is for a particularly isolated and disrespected individuals to lash out in pent-up anger.  In urban areas this disrespect is spread throughout the community by the lack of economic opportunities, institutional racism and other disadvantages.  Borgman describes the different ways that urban and suburban people view each other, and gives an account of the details of life in urban areas.  He explains how the dearth of resources such as banks, jobs and recreational leagues creates a community-wide shortage of status and respect, and youth then fight over what status they can get their hands on. 

Borgman illustrates this system by explaining the various cultural symbols and motifs of urban youth culture, as well as the role of crucial factors like the prison system's relation to urban violence.  He tries to make the account as personal and humanizing as possible, dedicating about as much space to real-life examples and stories as to explanation.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. In which of the two worlds described in the beginning of the chapter do you live?

2. Do all urban people live in the same kind of community? Are only a small minority of urban youth’s prone to violence?

3.  Can urban dwellers be unaware of all that goes on in the ghetto and on the streets? Must all urban youth be familiar with the code of the streets and how to handle violent threats?

4.  How willing are the human race, your country, and you to deal with the radical divide between the haves and have-nots?  With racism and ethnic divisions?

IMPLICATIONS

1.  The well-being of inner cities is in the interest of all, from urban to suburban to rural, and from poor to very rich.

2.  Gross disparities between child care, early education, and community opportunities must be closed in the interest of national human resources and the cost of the criminal justice system, prisons and welfare.

3.  We must both understand and try to change toxic social conditions that produce youthful violence, and hold individuals and communities responsible. The polarizing and paralyzing gap between liberal and conservative perspectives on social problems must be bridged for the good of all.

4.  While attending to systemic change, we must encourage those who work with high risk youth and support their work.

Peter Bass   cCYS