Brookfield Basics

I have thought about this subject for a while but always managed to find a reason to avoid it. But recent events locally and nationally have forced this issue to the forefront.

The local issues relative to gangs and violent behavior are apparent to anyone who has followed the news in the last few weeks. Nationally, a summit meeting was held in Los Angeles this month, which was attended by international law enforcement authorities. The subject of the meeting was the problem of violent street gangs. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared the problem of gangs to be the primary cause of murder and violent crime in his city, and that they were a plague of "international proportions". He went on to say that the major contributing cause of gangs continued to be "lack of opportunity and poverty".

So why should we fortunate ones living in Brookfield and Elm Grove concern ourselves about gangs? I already mentioned recent local events, and any perusal of the local news that goes beyond the sound-bite level gives us plenty of reason to understand that we had better be concerned about this issue.

Here is where I will stop stating the obvious and begin addressing more controversial topics. It is time for America's leaders to start talking about the PRIMARY cause of gangs, namely: the dissolution of the family in American society. Leaders from all walks of life should be talking about it. It should be talked about in our Churches, in our businesses, in our private civic organizations, in our national, state, and local levels of government, and yes, in our schools.

I am not denying economic conditions play a part in this problem - they most obviously do. And we all need to be about the business of supporting some charitable agency or organization that effectively addresses this. One such organization doing a phenomenal job in our own backyard is the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. But until we summon the courage to identify and PUBLICLY TALK ABOUT the primary reason, we will continue to be ineffective.

It is my belief that the dissolution of the family is the largest social ill in America today. I have had the opportunity to write and speak about this matter at some length in the last year, and have yet to encounter any significant disagreement on this point. Gangs are nothing more than organized bodies of young men resulting from the fact that there is no other meaningful structure in their lives. Our youth, and in particular young boys and men, need structure. If there is no structure in their home they will find it elsewhere. One needs no University degree in sociology or psychology to understand this.

Now here is where things get difficult. Mr. Villaraigosa is right; the problem of gangs is an international one, and as such, it crosses all borders of race, ethnicity, and class. There are African-American gangs, Mexican gangs, Euro-gangs, Asian gangs, and white gangs. But it would simply be inaccurate to ignore the fact that, while gangs exist everywhere, they exist most prominently and dangerously in America's large urban settings. It is too easy to say this entire problem is the result of economic deprivation. That would mean that ALL poor people, regardless of where they live gravitate to gangs. This is not the case. It is in fact young men from parentless homes, and in particular from fatherless homes, that are the fodder for gang recruiting and training.

Please note I am not talking about cases of separation where one or both parents maintain contact with and involvement in the lives of their children. And I am not talking about the heroic examples of single moms or dads who raise children of grit and character against almost overwhelming odds. What I am talking about are entire masses of young urban men of all ethnicities, who are only too happy to impregnate a woman and then disappear. I am talking about kids who are raised with no authority figure present at any point in their lives. I am talking about kids who are, quite literally, alone. Such a scenario is a sure recipe for disaster, and we should not be surprised when alternative forms of the family such as street gangs, rise up to take the place of the traditional family.

Now it might be a fair criticism of me to say that you think I am being too "comfortable", too "middle-class", too "suburban", and let's just go ahead and say it, too "white" in my outlook; and if you make that criticism I say to you, "fair enough". But for those who do, I wish I had the opportunity to introduce you to the 23 year old MPS teacher I had a long discussion with a few weeks ago. This fine young man is white, but he is also ear-ringed, nose-ringed, and about as "un-suburban" as you can get. As far as I am concerned he is a modern day hero. I write about the effects of the implosion of the family. He described to me how he sees it and lives it, and how he wages war against the devastating cultural affects of i