|
|
 Tracy Litthcut
Dir. of Youth Services & Recreation
Boston Community Centers
 How can you tell me about how to deal with a gang member if you haven't been out there to be scared when these guys drive by and commit a shooting? How are you going to tell me how to deal with a family when you walk in that household and there's no food in the refrigerator, there's no furniture, there's nothing in there, because the mother sold everything because she was on drugs, because the father's not there. How are you going to tell me how to deal with a gang when this girl, 16 year old girl has disappeared from her home for two weeks and she comes home and her mother spanks her, beats her, for disappearing for two weeks? And that 16 year old girl gets on the phone and calls her boyfriend who is a leader of the gang, who comes back an hour later, kicks the door in, puts the gun to the mother's head and tells the mother "Don't ever touch my girlfriend again." And that's her daughter. How are you going to tell me how to deal with this and I've never seen you cry at a funeral of a kid who got shot in the head two or three times, a kid that we were just working with, was getting ready to put into college, or into another environment. How are you going to tell me how to feel when you've never been out there and never done this? When you've basically sat behind a desk and never experienced what it's like and what families have to experience.
The adult has to have confidence in themselves as an adult. Once again, these are nothing but kids. And I think adults have to get away from that perception of what they see on TV. That these kids are all uncontrollable, they're all carrying guns. If they have the black hoody on, they're going to talk to you in a way that you can't relate to, or they're going to be very disruptive. You don't have to be black to work with black kids, white to work with white kids. All you have to do is be dedicated, committed, have a good heart, and be yourself.
The thing I think about too with this group that came together initially was no one had an agenda, but to save lives of kids. And I really felt that when the Kennedy School came to the table, that they didn't have an agenda at all, but to help us to save the lives of kids. And that's the only agenda that I had at that time because I couldn't attend any more funerals. For my first four years I went to over one hundred funerals. I couldn't do it any more. It was taking me out of this field of work. It was taking me out of everything mentally because I had never experienced anything like that in my life.
There were kids at times who would put curfews on neighborhoods, and the first priority I had for my workers is safety. And I was really nervous sending my worker out, in a street area when these kids said "If anybody is on the street after nine o'clock in this neighborhood, we're going to put a bullet through him." And they shot one of these kids that was out there after nine o'clock and almost killed him. So before I sent my workers out there, bling, bling, "Let me call the gang unit." They got on the phone. We called them. They got out there before we knew it! The gang unit is an animal of a different breed. They showed up on the scene and sent the message, "Curfew? Oh no, there won't be any of this here." They explained to everybody what the real rules were. And then it made it very easy for my workers to go back out, and for me to feel safe about my workers being out in those neighborhoods. When they did that, it really helped me carry a lot of weight with my people in the community because the police would respond to anybody that was trying to make a difference.
I think we have a very, very optimistic future ahead of us. I think as you saw today, we're not resting on our past laurels. We're not resting on tradition, we're trying to build one. And I think what we're doing now is we're trying to continue with the positive things that we have started. We still have a long way to go. We still have plenty of lives to save.
In the early 1990s, there was always a group of consistent faces that were at the homicide scenes. So it kind of got to the point where we sat down and talked because we all had mutual respect. And I think that’s what makes it so different now. Because we were all out there when it was bad.
The other night we had a meeting over at the Ella J. Baker House in regard to getting more people involved in what's happening with the kids. Years ago, people would look outside their doors, outside their windows, but wouldn't come outside to get involved in the kids' life because they were intimidated. At this meeting, I couldn't believe it. The clergy brought out 75 men, black, white and Latino, who want to work with gang members -- I've never seen that in my life before.
What I've learned over the years is that first and foremost, you can't do it all by yourself. You have to work in collaboration. But in order to do that, you have to really come to the table and be honest and genuine about wanting to work together. Not come in with an ego. Not come in with all your past luggage and saying "Well, this is what we've done. This is what we want to do and this is how we want to do it." You have to be willing to let someone else at times come up with what they might think the vision is and be a team player. Be a part of the team and really make things happen.
If you don't have that consistency in you, if you don't have that drive in you, don't get in my way because I'm going to run over you to get what I need for my families and my kids. I'm very aggressive and I want nothing, NOTHING but the best for the people that I serve. That means if I get Celtics tickets, I don't want to be up in the rafters. I want floor seats. I don't always get them, but I'm gonna fight for them. If there's an opportunity for education for the population I work with, I don't want training. I want Master's degrees and doctorates and undergraduate degrees. If there are opportunities for jobs, I don't want my kids whacking weeds. I want them in learning environments, making $8.50 compared to $5.50. And I always push for the best. And I think that we need to focus on trying to achieve the best we can because all the professionals that I work with have always achieved that for themselves. |
Tracy Litthcut