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Disarming Violence: Three Choices By BILL HAMILTON Commentary

Tuesday March 29, 2005

Sometimes news consumers should take a breather, stand back, and try to make sense out of what we are hearing. By juxtaposition maybe we can learn more than facts. I would like to consider three stories side by side: the 59th Street/ Shattuck Avenue neighborhood activist, Patrick McCullough, who shot and wounded a young neighbor who was allegedly part of a North Oakland drug gang; the young Ashley Smith who “disarmed” the Atlanta gunman with religion and pancakes, and my own story. 

How does a “good citizen” deal with the criminal element that threatens our life or our way of life.? That is a question that we all must face from time to time. Although from different circumstances, Patrick McCullough and Ashley Smith had different answers to that question.  

Ashley was held hostage by her gunman for just a short time. Her quick decision to treat her captor as a human being and relate to him as an individual and not as the enemy saved her life and possibly many other lives. Everyone was very lucky that she did not try to use a gun. On the other hand Patrick and his family felt like they were being held hostage in their own home for many years by neighborhood drug dealers. It seems that the relationship between Patrick and some of his neighbors grew more and more contentious over the years until it resulted in a shooting this year. Could there have been a different outcome?  

My own story could be illuminating. I was part of the Splinter Group woodworking cooperative in a very marginal neighborhood of West Oakland for 20 years. We were surrounded by grinding poverty, crime and “gangs of drug dealers.” For many years the surrounding crime and social pathology resulted in many broken windows and some break-ins. Unlike our friends in the streets we only experienced property losses. Over time we recognized that those drug dealers were young jobless kids from the neighborhood who had parents, brothers, sisters, and friends many of whom were killed or in jail. We would see them come and go. Their world was a war zone and we were right in the middle of it during our working hours. 

Because we did not have the resources and were unable to move our shop to a better neighborhood we decided to try to reach an agreement with our young entrepreneurial neighbors. We invited the leaders into our shop for a talk. We told them that we were in business and that we needed to have a safe and secure place to work. We suggested that they also needed a safe and secure place to work and live. We made a deal. If they conducted their activities in a business-like manner we would not call the police. 

Even though many kids were still hanging out and dealing they became our friends and toned down their more obvious illegal activities. Some kids (the lucky ones are now adults) worked for us and their families looked out for our shop. Never once in the 35 years at this West Oakland location did anyone in the Splinter Group ever use or want a gun. We did not threaten them and they did not threaten us. We used the Ashley Smith method, but without the pancakes or the religion. This last year we were unwillingly forced to move out of that West Oakland neighborhood and we miss our friends. Those kids are just like everyone else, they want work, education and hope. 

 

Bill Hamilton is a Berkley resident. 

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