Change the 'hood

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Concerns about violence in Winnipeg's North End have intensified recently. Spurred on by reports of shootings, there is a growing sense that the problem is intensifying, and that meaningful solutions need to be found. The favoured strategies reflect a get tough on crime approach, producing calls for a "swift crackdown on violent street gangs."

Too often the voices of the people who have intimate knowledge of and are integral to the problems in Winnipeg's inner city are not heard. It's time we listened to what six aboriginal men -- all of whom have served time in prison and have spent much of their lives in a street gang -- have to say.

The six men don't completely disagree with the get-tough approach. They accept that committing crimes means doing the time. As one said, "I'm a gang member. I do what I do. I am what I am. There has to be laws for people like me." But they were emphatic that prison will not solve the violence in the inner city.

None like prison. But doing time is a badge of achievement in street gang circles. Besides, prison also "teaches you street smarts" and "turns you into a better criminal."

Prison makes tough people tougher. One man told us he "grew up in prison." To survive, he had to be prepared to use violence. He did. Another described the irony: "They put us in a society [prison] where violence is prevalent and tell us not to be violent."

This summer the Winnipeg Police Service flooded the North End with officers, to the point where "it's like the military in the North End now."

As Colleen Simard affirms (Free Press, Sept. 5), everyone who "fits the description" -- young, male, aboriginal -- is targeted. Policing is aggressive, sometimes violent, and often accompanied by racist epithets, they say. The six say this simply angers residents being targeted because they "fit the description." As for street gangs: "All you're gonna do is slow us down a little bit. And the next day someone else gets out [of prison] and the same shit starts again."

Would a gun amnesty help by taking weapons off the street? "Buying a gun these days is almost easier than buying a gram." Street gangs use guns because the trade in illegal drugs is a "dog-eat-dog" business that's "all about money," and "you can't be seen to be weak." In this environment, a gun amnesty would fail.

What about a truce among the street gangs? "Not for a second!" Street gang leaders all know each other, and do talk on occasion: "We've all gone to prison together since we were little kids." But there is no trust. "There's too much bad blood." More importantly, even if a truce was agreed to by the main gangs, there are now too many smaller gangs that would not feel bound by it.

Will the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy, which involves intensive monitoring of the highest risk auto thieves, work if applied to the street gang problem? The men saw this not only as a Band-Aid solution, but one created for a different problem. "You can't take this Band-Aid off and put it on that wound."

These men were adamant there are no meaningful short-term solutions. "You can't take an Aspirin for the North End and it'll be over in half an hour."

Street gangs grow from poverty, with all its familiar consequences: addictions, family disintegration, childhood neglect, abuse. These are the result of historical social forces -- deindustrialization, divestment, colonization -- largely beyond the control of individuals living in the inner city.

One man described being eight years old and having to be home each night by 2 a.m. when the bars closed and his parents returned home. He started drinking regularly when he was nine. Another watched his father cut up illegal drugs on the kitchen table. "When you're young and see that, it's all normal."

Hunger was also normal. One described breaking into a storage building with other kids and stealing potato chips when there was no food at home.

But doesn't the fault lie with the parents? The reply of these men was hard-headed. Yes, this is bad parenting, but it gets us nowhere in simply saying parents should do better. For them, that is the way it was, that was their world.

That world hasn't changed. One told us, "Go to the North End at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. tonight. You'll see eight- and 10-year-olds running around unsupervised." "That's the next me," he said. "That's the next brother."

"Those are the ones you have to help to slow the violence," we were told. "You need to help those little kids get off the street."

One described recently being in a North End store. Two small kids were there, dirty and poorly dressed. They were trying to scrape together change to share a sandwich. He gave them $20. Why? "Because that was me. I was that dirty Indian kid. I didn't have nothin'. I had to steal it." Unfortunately, the kids then say to each other: "Did you see that guy's wad of cash?" And the cycle continues.

We take seriously the phrase oft-repeated over our two days of conversations: "If you want to change the violence in the 'hood, you have to change the 'hood." Anything less is not "tough" enough. Anything less perpetuates the cycle that produces street gangsters, and the violence that is an inevitable aspect of the gangster lifestyle. Anything less is actually being "soft" on crime.

These men deeply resent the lack of resources in the North End. "If you look at the city of Winnipeg, where's the biggest problems? In the north side. What's in the north side? Nothing."

Let's start by investing in jobs. Many street gang members want to work, but simply cannot walk into a mainstream job. Their physical appearance, demeanour and rough language just wouldn't fit. But they will take up legitimate work when the right kinds of jobs are made available. Putting these men to work benefits not only them, but also "the young ones 'cause they're seeing it. And it's going to benefit the community because then they're bringing their pride to themselves."

We can do this by creating jobs to fit them and their reality. We know this will work because there are successful, small-scale examples -- such as Ogijita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK), Inner City Renovations, and BUILD -- now operating in Winnipeg's North End.

As these men, and others like them, take on legitimate jobs, their extended families and communities will gradually be strengthened. More youngsters like the kids in the store will see that there are ways to live dignified lives not ground down by poverty. The soil in which street gangs inevitably grow will become less fertile.

We should continue to send violent offenders to prison. But we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that this will solve North End problems. Filling our prisons with more young aboriginal men -- over 70 per cent of inmates in Manitoba are aboriginal -- will not stop the violence.

These street gang members bring the wisdom of experience that has been missing in the public debate about inner-city violence. They are part of the problem. They know that. But they can be part of the solution if we collectively have the courage to go down a different road. The choice and responsibility are every bit as much ours as theirs.

Elizabeth Comack is a professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba; Lawrence Deane is an associate dean of social work at the University of Manitoba, Larry Morrissette is the director of Ogijita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK), and Jim Silver is a professor of politics at the University of Winnipeg. For the full, 14-page report see: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/manitoba/

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 11, 2009 A13