Crime Reduction Meeting

Community leaders, residents and teens will meet March 1 at the library in an effort to cut crime. Teens are encouraged to attend and share ideas about making a safer community. The format will be town-hall style.
 
"We want to bring the community together to make it accountable once more and to be our sister and brother's keepers," said Father Lawrence Ventline of Harrison Township, who is facilitating the brainstorming sessions.
 
Cindy Taylor, chair of the interfaith task force said that "this is a great way for teens to get involved and make a difference in their community. Too often, when making decisions and plans for our future, we forget to include the people who are impacted most by those decisions. We don't want to make that mistake."
 
Imam Abdur-Rasheed said that "Currently, we are witnessing the ill-effects of a cultural fad that started over 30 years ago — called hip-hop. It evolved into gangsta rap, a more vile profanity-laced rant (rap) that continues to affect how teens see themselves today. The vernacular used in the musical presentations incite and glorify criminal behavior — like drug dealing, for example. Moreover, this music perpetuates a mindset that abhors moral thinking and actions (both viewed as being soft) but loves the aura and lifestyle of the thug.  Consequently, we're seeing violence and crime run rampant like a train with no brakes. In short, we must stop this train!"
 
Contact Cindy Taylor at 313-405-9645 with any questions.