New, alternative strategies must include partnerships among and between local communities, parents, schools, law-enforcement, government agencies and most important, Black leaders, in other words the total community. Common ground has to be clearly defined and accountability built into all community building efforts.

Parents and surrounding communities need sound information, education and decision-making authority in order to participate as equals on important concerns. New leadership models should also include reassessing values and strategies with a strong emphasis on youth leadership development consistent with the goals and objectives of the respective community groups.

Inferior health services have an indirect but significant bearing on Black on Black violence and lessons should have been learned from Martin Luther King Hospital’s tragic demise. However, there is little indication and no assurance that Black leadership or the surrounding community is advocating substantively different approaches for reopening King Hospital.

Black on Black violence is the culmination of sustained oppression and prolonged hopelessness among the Black population. This has been reinforced by anger and distrust manifested by sporadic community outrage but more often by crippling indifference. Altering the reality of Black on Black violence requires new thinking, behavior and collaboration within Black communities designed to create a new reality that unapologetically benefits the Black population.

Larry Aubry n can be contacted at e-mail

Published in : Op-Ed, Urban Perspective