Like other adults working to prevent youth violence, Martinez criticizes a system that punishes young people but doesn't give them any skills. "How are you going to be 17 and you read third-grade books? They are uneducated, unemployable. They have no skills and they're full of hate. Then you put them back in the community where younger kids look up to them." He thinks most of the violence-prevention programs are designed by people who don't know what they're doing. "I go to providers meetings and everyone's patting each other on the back, saying what a great job they're doing. That night a kid gets killed. You have to get in the trenches. It takes time and effort." He believes gangs and drugs are realities that are here to stay. "The way you deal with gangs is to bring them to the table. You work with the leaders and the soldiers will follow. They can follow them to San Quentin or to Cal State Hayward. I always say the big yard at Cal State Hayward is better than the one at San Quentin. Bring the leaders to me."
What I know is for True. Public School Teachers are bound to Fail. Only when they have shared history with the kids AND they get paid a salary on par with their nearest surburban counterparts OR they get complete control over thier classroom (within reason).
Peep what I found in the Oakland Tribune. A teacher in the 'Town breaks down what it means to be successfull WHILE in the trenches. "Each one of them reminds me of a kid I grew up with," Martinez later said fondly. In his efforts to reach his students, he draws from his own background as an "ex-con, dope fiend, alcoholic," in his words. In his East Oakland neighborhood, going to the California Youth Authority is a rite of passage. "I never met anyone who said, `Hey, let's go to college,' " he recalled. "When you go to the Youth Authority they don't ask you to join a gang. You will join a gang. There you just learn more about the criminal element."
Wow. Is all I gotta say and big up to Brenda Payton, the author, Gilbert Martinez, the teacher at Calvin Simmons Middle School.
8 comments:
I saw you wrote about rising violence in Oakland. Check out this article about installing radar sensors on rooftops to pinpoint gunfire. How about just investing in schools and after school programs????
http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_4366408
T Reynolds
I worked at D'Avila Elementary in the City before it closed for community service in high school, helping out teachers and shit with their wild ass kids. I mean I was a bad little kid, but these kids were waaaay worse than me. 2nd graders from the Moe throwin' up blocks n shit, talking about weed, up on all the gang shit, talking about pimpin' girls, fights happened everyday and usually with every class. I remember one kid asked one kid askin' if I smoked and said to bring some someday... I was like "da fuck?" In second grade i was playin Sega, street football and dreaming of being a 49er one day, these kids are dreaming of growing up and being gang members. Meanwhile you got one teacher for every 30-35 kids and their only help is a high school student like me who doesn't have any experience with the kids and just kinda kicks it with them like a big brother and my presence usually made them rowdier even when I was trying to help. Shit was so disorganized and eventually closed a year or two ago. It's sad but true, that some kids are beyond help. Instead of spending all this money on wars and helping the rich get richer, the govt. needs to refocus their priorities. Public education NEEDS to be better in urban areas, colleges NEED to be cheaper and more accessable to people of all classes, races and backgrounds, because in today's world college degrees are a must. Until shit changes who can blame these kids for hustlin' and shit? When they have hope for college and they can step out they're front door and make racks on they're block with the quickness, why would they go to school? Smell me? shit's fucked up.
Hi T.
I will peep your article.
Thank you for stopping through.
~lmf
MAAAAAAACCCCCC JAAAAAAAAAAAAY.
I wanna go home.
But I can't.
So when you post I get my bay language fix.
"In second grade i was playin Sega, street football and dreaming of being a 49er one day, these kids are dreaming of growing up and being gang members."
-----------------------
This is the distinction.
They go from the womb to the tomb now.
Ain't no inbetween.
yeah, i miss the bay hella bad too. i met a couple bay kids out here, but nothin like the ones i fucksed wit in the city. i did see frisco had five murders in one day the other week, so i'm kinda coo of that. but otherwise i hella miss the bay, but it'll always be home.
"They go from the womb to the tomb now."
treal talk, you can add: 'n no one - including themselves - seem to care until it's too late' after that. shit is wild. i also meant when there's no hope for college. hopelessness is the catalyst for all of this, people just don't care about anything including their lives. everyone i messed with had been to jail or the pen, most didn't care and lived like jail n shit was inevitable. when u in a state of mind like that, shit's a hard cycle to break.
yeah, i miss the bay hella bad too. i met a couple bay kids out here, but nothin like the ones i fucksed wit in the city. i did see frisco had five murders in one day the other week, so i'm kinda coo of that. but otherwise i hella miss the bay, but it'll always be home.
"They go from the womb to the tomb now."
treal talk, you can add: 'n no one - including themselves - seem to care until it's too late' after that. shit is wild. i also meant when there's no hope for college. hopelessness is the catalyst for all of this, people just don't care about anything including their lives. everyone i messed with had been to jail or the pen, most didn't care and lived like jail n shit was inevitable. when u in a state of mind like that, shit's a hard cycle to break.
Hopelessness is more Dangerous than 10 Tech 9's and key of coke onna 15th.
For trill.
We've been sold a bill a goods. We were better off before. I'm not saying the movement was wrong. What I'm saying is we should have dropped "the movement" when it was taken over by "the man". After Martin and Malcolm were taken out we should have regrouped, but instead we just marched to the beat of the political party that gave us more welfare money.
Consider this: Many kids join gangs because they get more love from the gang then at home.
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