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Framing Speech given for Black Canyon
C.L.O.U.T. Crime Summit
Saturday March 27 2004
By Rev. Deborah Lerner
I came to this church to preach my first sermon on July 1, 2000, only to find that our youth room had been broken into, vandalized, and looted the previous day. That was just the beginning. In spite of our trustee's best efforts to protect us, we have dealt with a steady stream of crimes on our property. The crowning blow for me was finding a crude crack pipe outside my office window, where children often play. It was fashioned from a bulb stolen from the lights out front a bulb that cost us $40 to replace.
That did it for me. Valley Interfaith Project helped me call together a group of clergy from the area, and we quickly discovered that we all had similar concerns about the decline of the neighborhoods surrounding our faith communities. A group of concerned citizens began meeting to learn why this decline was happening, and what might be done to reverse it. A year ago we held our first crime summit here, with over 100 people in attendance. From that meeting Black Canyon C.L.O.U.T was formed: Community Leaders Organized for Urban Transformation.
We began learning about root causes of crime and deterioration in neighborhoods. We began to notice things that had escaped our attention before: how in other parts of town, freeways are lushly landscaped and decorated with works of art; how in our part of town the freeway is an ugly concrete gash which divides us from the rest of the city and in some sense allows us to be forgotten; how in other parts of town, the kinds of crime and deterioration we experience here are simply not tolerated, because the citizens of those areas are alert and organized and willing to work together to ensure that their streets are well maintained and the parks are inviting and safe and the business community thriving. With each discovery we became angrier, and more motivated to engage in rebuilding the kinds of neighborhoods that you moved here to live in: healthy, thriving, safe, beautiful neighborhoods. We became committed to restoring a healthy climate for business and commerce and employment that can sustain families of all kids.
We discovered that the best neighborhoods in this city or any other city are those where people know each other well enough to watch out for each other; where neighbors let Mom and Dad know when their teens step out of line; where people sit on the front porch and observe what is going on around them and do something about those things that should not be happening.
Perhaps most importantly, we learned that crime is not really our biggest problem here. It is only a symptom of our biggest problem. The real problem is that we have allowed civil society to break down on this side of the freeway. We do not have relationships with each other here in which we share concerns about the things going on around us and work together to improve our quality of life. We have given up our franchise. We stay away from the voting booth as if our vote would make no difference, even though in this state and city at this time a few votes can make all the difference in the world. Our governor was elected by a mere 12,000 votes. In other words, to some extent we have abandoned our birthright!
We are inheritors of a great tradition of citizenship; of immigrants who came from around the world to find a better life in this country and found ways to act together to right wrongs and overcome injustices. We are the children and grandchildren of those who spent their lives working to enable women to vote; and those who marched for civil rights, for our benefit.
The question before us today is whether we will honor the magnificent legacy that has been given to us, at great cost to many, or whether we will choose to squander it for another night in front of American Idol or West Wing. We stand at a crossroads today, and we must choose our direction: will we take the high road, or the low road?
If we take the low road, we might as well go home today, pull the chairs in from the front porch, and be sure the door and the bars across the windows are locked. This road leads us to act as if we are not connected to those who live around us, and do not need them or care about them. It leads us to woe the day our neighborhood became multi-ethnic and diverse, and to refuse to reach across cultural boundaries. It leads us to work with city, county and state officials in a fragmented, self-concerned way, one small neighborhood association at a time, cutting small, private deals to get what we think we need the most, no matter what happens to the folks in the next square mile. It leads us to point at the police, and our public officials, and blame them for not taking better care of us.
The high road leads us toward acknowledging and believing that there is a common good for which we are responsible. It leads us toward building relationships with those around us so that we can define that common good and find ways to work toward it. It leads us to conclude that this area is worth investing in. It leads us to acknowledging and celebrating the diversity of culture and language and ethnicity that have come to dwell among us, and embracing all the cultures that now make up our community. It leads us toward developing meaningful, open, accountable, and public relationships with our elected officials. Most importantly, it leads us toward a basic transformation of our community.
These things will not happen overnight. We have to be willing to hang on for the long haul.
The most powerful weapon we have to engage in this struggle is our vote.
Working together, wisely, with a unified voice and vote, we can do anything we need to do.
Before Phil Gordon was elected mayor we asked him, "What do we have to do to transform the climate of this community.² He said simply, "First get 100 people in the room.²
Well, here you are! We're ready. Are you?
Today we're going to hear from our Mayor. We're going to hear some of your stories, and get to know each other better. We're going to ask some of the folks in our city and state government to make open, public commitments to helping us revitalize this area. We're going to acknowledge the centrality of education in revitalization by hearing about an important override election for the Washington Elementary School District, one of the two elementary school districts in this area. We're going to give you an opportunity to request a ballot for this very important election, and provide the means for you to register to vote, if you have not done that already.
Then we're going to ask you to make a commitment to the future of this neighborhood.
Finally, we will celebrate our time together with a community picnic. This is not just for fun. This is a chance for you to meet some of your neighbors and hear their concerns the first step of many toward building a healthier community together.
One of our elected officials who has a long history of working with and supporting ordinary folks as they seek to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods is our Major, the Honorable Phil Gordon. He is here today to encourage us in our journey toward a healthy community.
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