Democrats should stop demagoguing the "gun" issue on "how" people are dying and focus instead on "why" people are dying.
When guns are involved, there is an 84% homicide rate for Black youth under the age of 18, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. The use of guns for suicides among the same group is only 9%.
Conversely, for white youth under the age of 18, 66% die from guns in suicides, while homicides involving guns represent only 24%.
Suicides and homicides both represent a "lack of hope." Mental illness, resulting in not wanting to live anymore, is about having no hope, and gang-related drug crimes in a struggle for economic survival is also due to no hope in the American Dream.
Could the media's proliferation of stories on mass shootings be a reason we are seeing more and more mass shootings? It could be a bona fide unintended consequence.
For example, in July 1964, in Harlem, New York, we had our first major race riot. It was covered extensively by every news network. Eventually, nearly every city with a measurable Black population had a race riot too.
To prevent copycats per mass shootings, is there a better way to communicate the news without sensationalizing the horrific events and spotlighting a demented and soon-to-be infamous perpetrator?
After all, about 250 Americans die every day from COVID-19, according to a recent article in the Washington Post, and hundreds of Black youths get killed every night from gang-related drug violence. Neither would be getting the same attention as mass shootings.
On mental illness, we must think creatively.
A lack of social intermingling is a common denominator among perpetrators of mass shootings. Counseling or just talking to folks can make a big difference. When I was growing up, there were very active recreation centers, after school activities, clubs, and church activities for youth. There were centers where one could participate in arts, crafts, games, or physical training classes. Socializing can be one of our cheapest remedies for overall good mental health.
Second idea - just as we advocate for every American to get CPR training in order to assist someone who collapses to the ground, everyone could receive some form of "intervention training" to identify and/or assist someone who is going through mental distress, until mental health professionals can be deployed.
Homicides are a different challenge. To a degree, the cause is economics or the ability to provide for one's family - survival. There is little to no crime and even fewer murders in zip codes where people earn a good salary for meaningful work. That should be our goal and model.
When it comes to employment for middle-class Black individuals with a college or professional degree, do we see fairness in hiring, firing, promotions, compensation, and training? We trust that such employment practices are fair, but as former President Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust but verify."
A lousy employer's illegal employment practices have a negative ripple effect on the Black community. Logic would have it that if the best and brightest African Americans are blocked from the American Dream, they begin to wonder what hope is there for the average Black person.
Most people in inner cities are forced to get their education at underperforming schools, which are more segregated today than before the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. (Ironically, the Congressional Black Caucus and their blind allegiance to teachers' unions, which block "school choice," are partially to blame.) Thus, where do the people find work? The streets and gangs are waiting for them. Guns allow them to conduct their business. The result is just more deaths, murders and prison sentences.
A life of poverty and government dependency awaits many of the women and their children.
Decades ago, the military was the place people would go to get on track. That option seems to have diminished for many inner-city youngsters. One would have to assume that the standards for entrance during my era -- Vietnam War Era -- have been changed.
A turnaround in these communities starts with good paying jobs and rewarding careers for qualified African Americans who have a top-tier college and professional school education and/or experience. This will start to close the Black/white wealth and income gaps while providing positive role models. Subsequently, it would result in a more integrated society as minorities could afford to get out of the inner city. This would improve race relations and ease polarization.
Lastly, there are 400 million guns in our country today. They are simply part of America's culture.
The history of guns and gunpowder are part of the history of European dominance. If the Native Americans had guns, we could be looking at a different America today.
Slavery in America would not have existed if it weren't for guns. They allowed slave traders to capture Black people in Africa and slave owners in America to force slaves to remain and work on their plantations.
Guns are just part of our history.
We need to change what would be in people's minds and hearts. That will reduce the number of gun deaths.
We must think outside the box. "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" is the definition of insanity. People who do not understand this possibly need an "intervention" themselves.
Gary Franks served three terms as U.S. representative for Connecticut's 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and New England's first Black member of the House. Host: podcast "We Speak Frankly." Author: "With God, For God, and For Country." @GaryFranks
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