Our Children Need Our Help

A blog on the Times Union Website, by Kenneth Braswell, David Miller, and Philip Jackson

First published in print: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

On Sept. 25, the body of Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old student, was found on a Chicago street corner. His vicious beating -- he was punched, kicked and struck with 2 by 4s -- left an indelible mark on our psyches. His death reminded many of the 1954 murder of Emmit Till in Money, Miss., though Till's assailants were white and the suspects in this case are black.

In New York City's first murder of 2010, a 21-year-old father was stabbed to death on a Brooklyn street, just hours into the new year.

Both deaths show the need for decisive action. Newspapers publish story after story of black and brown boys and young men murdered each year in our inner cites. These incidents expose the nihilism, benign neglect and acts of cowardice masquerading as bravado, that permeate so many of our communities where there is an absence of positive male role models.

Read more online at: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=890815&category=COMMENTARY