A SCARED CITY CAN’T WIN

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God bless the freedom to express ourselves! Enjoy the following submission by Mercado Indanti.

A SCARED CITY CAN’T WIN

by Mercado Indanti

As a result of a viewing a recent interview of Dr. Al DiChiara, a professor of
sociology and noted crimnologist, one could infer that most of Hartford, CT’s crime
problems were because of fear. The cause of that fear might well be the city fear of
the head of that city government, Mayor Eddie Perez and his reactions to those fears
he had to face in guiding the city. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ‘we have nothing
to fear but fear itself.’ This was said after

FDR’s predecessor, Herbert Hoover had stated that the needless fear over the stock
market crash of 1929 had driven the country into what became The Great Depression.
Whatever the reason for Mayor Eddie’s fear, he currently reacts vindictively to
being scared. In his earlier days in social activism within organized gang structure
Perez reacted more courageously to being scared.

Dr. DiChiara seems to blame the area’s crime problem on parents’ fear to step-up and
raise their children properly. This reminded me of President Barack Obama’s Fathers
Day Message – June 6, 2009 speech’s excerpt, that is why we need fathers to step up,
to realize that their job does not end at conception, that what makes you a man is
not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.’ This statement is
applicable to all people and should be practiced by as many as possible. The doctor
also inferred that Hartford’s clergy were not very manly in facing Hartford’s crime
problems.

In the case of the clergy’s courage the word “some” should have preceeded clergy. In
the interview we were introduced to different and more pervasive definitions of
crime. One included more than the general offenses that we are more familiar with,
and that was the principle of rule breaking. The other, social harm, was an extended
concept of crime which I hope is antithesisal to the Indian philosophy of “No Harm.”

Dr. DiChiara was asked, that discounting his alleged crimes, if Mayor Perez’s early
background and evolving vindictive personality had created among the city’s youth a
mindset that crime was alright. His response was that the youth most likely didn’t
know who the mayor of the city is nor the members of his council. Hopefully, this
lack of awareness is not the result of the Hartford School Board and local media’s
proficiency in educating.

When asked if this same perception of Perez had caused certain communities to be
fearful and hopeless in their reporting of criminal activity, DiChiara replied that,
generally speaking, this reporting was being done, but there wasn’t enough
information to advance those offenses along the prosecutorial process. This lack of
information is simultaneously factored with statistics to show that crime is going
down and that there are fewer drugs on the streets. Could this mean that some people
are scared to fully prosecute? Has vindictiveness at the Mayor’s level caused
venality within certain council persons and city departments? Is it fear in the city
or is it corruption? My guess is that the city is afraid to deal with difficulty in
instituting the changes necessary for the city’s growth. These changes, like the
handling of the criminality in a near habitually depressed local economy, a less
skilled workforce, and the inevitable reduced financial importance of a insurance
industry that will change because of healthcare reform are extremely difficult
problems to solve without sinking to committing crime and/or causing social harm.

This city may or may not get past mayor Perez’s alleged crimes but they must erase
the systemic effects of Perez’s vindictive reactions to running scared. Perhaps he
will recognize the detrimental effects of his reactions have had on City Council men
and women, or how they are now seemingly, or are in fact, corrupt and venal. Perhaps
this self recognition will convince society that the mayor has begun his
rehabilitation and is deserving of some degree of
grace if not leniency.

I agreed with Dr. DiChiara and President Obama that parents must not be fearful and
must face their responsibilites. DiChiara’s position on the clergy being scared
must be tempered. You must consider that part of their fear might not be the
Goliath, that is, crime, but the limitation of the effectiveness of their sling
shot. Would not a policeman arrest Goliath if the pastor approached the giant during
a march and the giant became violent? The Church’s fear of government reprisal by
the government because of its clergy and laity praciticing activism to whatever
degree, is creating a tragic social stagnation. Should the clergy risk their
non-profit status and if so for what cause? Is risking the souls of our children,
our more frequently muderous children, worth a representative reduction in church
coffers?

Correspondingly, government and industry cannot be paranoid about the effect of the
states’ or the feds’ operations. This leads to pre-emptive attacks of political
warfare and vindictiveness, which in turn leads to corruption. Show the average
citizen, the small businessman, the youth and the worker that leadership is
vindictive and the environment becomes a state of fear, scared men, or worse, a
scared city. And elements of that scared city will feel vindicated
by turning to crime and corruption and definitely social harm. A scared city can’t win.

The answer to the problems of parenting, sheparding and managing a public service
enterprise demands that one exhibit courage while performing these tasks. The answer
to the problems of managing a public service organization is to be able to
communicate information, messages, and peoples’ needs and wants to a multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic and multi-interest audience called “the public.” And, to that segment
of the public called the citizens of Hartford. CT the message is, if you place
courage in every portal, than you can truly believe that you have nothing to fear
but fear itself.