Attention For Baltimore

To my son Tommy,

Recently some big names have been weighing in on crime in Baltimore City.  You would think this is good and I suppose having a bit of the spotlight shining on our city's concerns is always welcome.  But it is also ironic and sad at the same time.  To some of these names, Baltimore is either a skeleton in the closet or a quick sounding board for more votes.

Our current Governor Martin O'Malley (and previous mayor of Baltimore City) has dreams of running for President of the United States in 2016.  The problem is his campaign crew most likely pointed out that he can't distance himself from the crime rate of one of the largest cities in his state.  It is like a boil on his bottom that any opponent can point out.  So he is pressuring the current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to "clean up this mess".  Just last year he penned an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun where he praised the current mayor (found here ) saying she did great following his Believe campaign.  Now in his lastest op-ed (found here oh my how much changes in a year) he says, and I of course paraphrase and put imaginary words in his mouth, "When I was mayor I just threw everyone in jail and crime went down" which is for the most part accurate but whether that made city life better or worse is certainly up for debate.  Usually people would pick sides on that debate depending on what side of the city line they lived in.  Mostly only those who lived outside the city with no real skin in the game were the ones applauding the effectiveness of these civil liberty abuses.  I am not sure I would lump myself in with the applauders because I have much more common sense, but being white and living in the county at the time I certainly didn't pay it much attention.  The whole concept sounds like a great idea in theory if you don't have to live it.  Either way the tactic was enough to lower crime rate (at least on the books) and make him look tough on crime and get him elected from mayor to governor.  Now he just wants to do it again long enough to get himself elected up the chain to POTUS.

To add to that, we are starting to gear up for another gubernatorial election with a couple declared candidates.  The current Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and the Attorney General of Maryland Doug Gansler both seem to say that if we elected them governor it would be better for Baltimore City.  I guess they think they can make some quick campaign promises and snag a few votes or preempt the current mayor from running for governor too.  I am not sure I buy it and think that once either got elected governor they would forget about the city until the next election.  To be honest though, I am only starting to look into who these people are and what they did so far.  I didn't even realize there was a third candidate declared, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Heather Mizeur.  But when it comes time to vote, rest assured, I will be better informed on any decision and not just base my vote on the media blitz that we are about to endure.

So all this renewed attention has once again focused on our lovely city.  Everyone has an idea of how to fix our crime rate.  There will be some grandstanding and maybe some big show and political arm bending and then everyone will get elected to wherever they are going to end up and we will see you all in four more years when we can yell and scream and point fingers for the same old problems that we won't solve andget re-elected.  I wish my letter to you could offer some real and concrete solutions for the city that you will most likely grow up in for the next 13 years till you head out to college.  All I can offer is some intuitive feeling that it somehow starts in the heart and soul of every citizen of Baltimore, be they cop or criminal or average joe, and that somehow starts with you and me.

 Of course, it also starts with me getting informed and realizing they redrew the legislative districts and figuring out just who I am anymore and who represents me.  We used to be Maryland Legislative District 41 but evidently now due to a redraw that took effect in 2012 because of the 2010 census are Maryland Legislative District  44-a, a fact that had eluded me until a recent (incorrect) twitter post of mine.  About 3 blocks down the street it is still district 41 if you are on the north east side of the street.  Sometimes they make it so hard.  I should have realized this change when I got my voting sticker last year but after waiting in line for so long I didn't give it much thought.  I guess that is the price we pay for living right on the border of the city and the county and some gerrymandering wasteland.  Oh well live and learn and learn again when they change it.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Battle Of Baltimore

To my son Tommy,

Today is the 199th anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore.  We went down to Fort McHenry the birth place of our National Anthem and a key to our ability to defend Baltimore during this battle in the War of 1812.  We went down with your grandparents and aunt and cousins.

It always helps to know what your forefathers had to endure and sacrifice to keep us free.  We have a great opportunity living so close to such history.  The National Park Services have done very well at the fort and created some moving tributes.  We got to see demonstrations of canons and muskets and got a small glimpse of what war was like back then.  This really struck me today for some reason.

For a moment I could be transformed back to the fort.  I could hear the tremendous canons booming and imagine bombs bursting above my head raining down shrapnel.  I could imagine holding a line,  shoulder to shoulder with my brothers in arms, armed with a musket and only relying on our courage and our beliefs to make up for that weapons inaccuracies.  For a moment I realized how horrific war must be.  Then the presenter said something that made it worse.  He compared how inefficient these weapons being shown were compared to modern day weapons.  My heart sank thinking of all the war after that war and all the war that still might come.  When will we learn?  

I think every politician should be required to go once a month to one our nation's monuments for our brave and for our fallen and for our dead.  They should go not to instill a sense of rah-rah nationalism, but to go and hear the whispers of the ghosts that lived through the horrors of war.  They should go and remind themselves of the sacrifices of the past.  Those who sacrificed before did so for a very clear and lofty reason, the defense of freedom.  If the cause du jour is of lesser merit, perhaps the true American spirit will touch their heart and influence their decisions.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Disrespectful Eyes

To my son Tommy,

I would like to share a quote of a quote I found in an article written by crime reporter Justin George for a Baltimore Sun website about the violence this year in Baltimore.  (it may have been in print to but I found it on the web)

Owens said he knows what’s causing the violence. It’s not drugs or money, though they are fuel. Triggers are pulled over “respect” — and it doesn’t take much.
“It can be words,” he said. “It can be eyes. Eyes can be disrespectful. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true.”
Turn the other cheek today and someone will take advantage of you tomorrow.
“At the end of the day, if someone feels disrespected, what’s the first thing they think about?” he said. http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2013/08/crime-story/#7 

I thought this was very telling and gave more insight than I could ever find about the problems that face our city and our community.  The quoted young man has lost three of his friends to violence in three years.  His story and the story of his lost friends and the insight from his words made me extremely sad.

The media and the politicians and the police force all point to this and that and that and this as the cause of our problems and tell us how they will solve it.  But my question is how do we cure it? How do you reach into someone's heart and teach them that true respect starts with respect for themselves and respect for life?  How do you show someone that you don't need to posture and be tough and have street cred to survive when they have a million examples of just the opposite?  Prisoners who are just trying to survive their time learn to always look down and not make eye contact in case someone misconstrues disrespect.  Are the Baltimore streets no better than a prison?  How can we teach that you don't need to kill to seem strong when our own nation is considering missile strikes so it doesn't seem weak?  I don't know the answers to these questions but I know as a society and a community these are the questions we should be focusing on, instead of which child actor is twerking her dignity away.

I promise to raise you with enough self-respect that you won't even consider taking a life for the disrespectful (real or imagined) way someone looks at you.  You will respect God, the law, life, and most of all yourself more than your pride or how others think of you and how you look.  You will not throw away your life or the life of others because you thought you would seem weak for inaction.  If we could get every father in Baltimore to make this same promise, this same pledge, perhaps then we could start to make a difference.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo