Location: St. Leonard’s Ministries
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013; 5:45-7:00 pm
I had heard about this program
through Aly when I was at ‘The Great Debate’. Having enjoyed that one, I
was keen to attend and found myself in a new part of town, trying to locate ‘St. Leonard’s House’. Once I found the place, the next challenge
was getting inside since there was a gate which needed some effort to
open. Once I managed to do that, I found
some men and was directed to an activity room. I met Alex, our Volunteer
leader and Wilson, who had come here based on my recommendation of ‘The Great Debate’. Alex, who has been doing this program for over 5 years, told us about the place
we were at.
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| Gun Control: Is it possible? |
According to Chicago Cares and
St. Leonard’s Ministries website, ‘St.
Leonard’s House provides residential and case management services to men who
have recently been released from prison and are looking to make a fresh start
towards rebuilding their lives.’ We
also learned that ‘the residents are
helped to reassess value systems, to reorder priorities and to develop socially
and legally acceptable patterns of behavior’. Through all of that, the recidivism rates for
former residents were an impressive 20% as compared to the state average of
over 50%. Alex told us that the
discussion topic for today was going to be ‘Concealed
Weapons’ and we would debate with the residents the pros and cons of
carrying guns. Having debated this exact
topic with the women at ‘Rebecca Johnson
Apartments’, I felt ready, though this was going to be interesting due to
the men’s past and all that they had been through.
I sat at a table and the other
volunteers did the same, picking a table and waiting for residents to join in. A gentleman named Ernie sat down at my table
and the rest of the room was getting full as well. For an icebreaker, Alex asked all of us to
name our favorite food. Lot of the men
picked pasta and some even said Puerto Rican rice. When my turn came, I said that I loved
chocolate and yes, that is a food group.
At this, I saw a lot of men nodding their heads in approval. We were ready to begin and while we had been
handed a sheet with discussion points, there really wasn't any need for
it. I asked Ernie about his opinion and
he said he was against all forms of guns.
He said that the Government should ban everything, not just automatic or semi-automatic guns. I said that while it was the
outcome, how we should go about doing that.
What was the process going to look like?
Before we could get into that, we
were joined by another gentleman named Winston.
I posed the same question to him and he was the complete opposite of
Ernie, and totally for the guns. I asked
him why and he looked at me unflinchingly and said, “To kill people. To protect my
family from break-in and the gangs on the street”. Okay, this was not going to be easy. I learned that Winston owned several guns. I asked if he was worried about someone
finding them and he said some of them were hidden, though he always kept one
nearby. Winston talked about the 2nd
amendment, which I personally have not read, but gets mentioned a lot in
discussions such as these. I asked Winston how he had started with guns and he said that he had always been curious –
about guns and drugs – and that’s what led him to the guns…and the drugs as
well.
Ernie seemed to be getting
influenced by Winston and talked about gangs as well. He said that it’s getting worse than before
and it would be inaccurate to assume that over time we would eliminate
gangs. I said gangs are not the only
reason people are drawn towards guns.
What about mental illness, something that we had discussed during the ‘Great Debate’ program. Winston said that it was not the main reason and
kept directing the topic towards gangs.
I told them that if this was what they wanted to discuss, we shall do
so. I said that I believe in eliminating
a problem by first identifying the root cause.
So why shouldn't we spend some time doing the same thing for gangs. So let’s start by asking, why are there
gangs? Winston and Ernie both said that it
was because kids were facing a lot of peer pressure to be the part of a gang
and also had families that they could protect if they had the backing of a
gang. There was nothing that could be
done to prevent gangs.
I said let's continue asking the
‘Why’ question to reach the root cause. So why do
we feel that kids look at gangs as an outlet.
They said it’s because of poverty and lack of education. I asked why the kids drop out of school and
they said it is because there are no jobs for them after high school, and they
just give up. I asked why there are no
jobs and the answer was that all the jobs were being outsourced. Now we were getting somewhere in terms of
identifying the root cause - perhaps it was unemployment. I said could
we do something to change this trend of outsourcing so that the jobs stayed in
this country? I asked them, “What if I promised every kid that they
would have an opportunity for a job after high school, would they finish their
education?” Winston said it was never
going to happen and my point was that it absolutely could and all we needed to
do as a society was to come up with a solution.
For example, could we work with all the industrialists of this county to
try and eliminate outsourcing? I told
them that the reason companies outsource is to save operating costs. Could we as a society bear the higher cost of
manufacturing in order to eliminate outsourcing; especially if we knew it was
going to fix the problem for future generations? As an example, would anyone at this table be willing to buy
a pen which typically costs $1 for $5, in order to keep those jobs in the
U.S.? How many in the room, the
neighborhood, the city? I argued that
just as the environmentalists ask us to save the planet for future generations,
why we couldn't do the same through jobs?
At this time we were joined by
another resident, who sided with the other two in talking about the problem with the gangs and guns
not going anywhere. I said I was not
interested in gun control anymore. I was
trying to go to the root cause of the problem here. I said let’s keep a long term goal here, a 50
– maybe 100 years target. Elimination
of guns is not happening overnight. It
was like getting off drugs. You do it
slowly and then after a period of time, a difficult period of time, it goes away. I told them that I firmly believed if we
implemented a process to eliminate guns, we would get there in a 50 year
span. Winston said that the kids would
still get illegal guns. I said, “Would you give up your legal guns if I
eliminate illegal ones?” Winston did
not have an answer to that.
With all this talk about
outsourcing, I was prepared for a question, and it finally came. Winston said that it looked like I was an
immigrant and why was it that I came over to the US. I said I came for education. He asked why I never left. His intention was to get me to admit that I
was in some ways escaping the poverty of a developing nation. I said that the reason I never left is
because this place is my home and just like you take care of your home, I was
prepared to give back to the nation and do everything I can to improve it. I said that 6 years ago I helped create 18
jobs in this country and they all exist today.
To this Winston counter argued that even though the jobs exist, people like
him will never get there. Bingo. I finally had him. I said that’s the exact point I was trying to
make. Develop those skills, stay in
school, and get the education - so that people like him could be eligible for these
jobs which people like me create. Winston said that they do not have these opportunities since even if the jobs stay in
this country, smart people like me are always going to take them away. I said I make no apologies for smart people,
because they are as important for the development of this nation as is its
blue-collar workforce. I said I was
instrumental in an invention of a medical device which some day is going to
save countless lives. I worked hard at it and I succeeded, because I was good. If
he wanted to get there, be prepared to work hard in a honest way, not stay with
gangs.
It was time to start summarizing
our discussions and Alex went around the room and asked each table to nominate
someone to speak. The groups touched
upon all the relevant arguments ranging from lawful ownership to complete ban
and many talked about the importance of education. When our turn came, I said we spent all of
five minutes discussing gun issues and the rest was trying to get to the root
cause of the problem. I said we are
looking at 50-100 years before there is any meaningful impact, but if we start
addressing the root cause right now, we can make it a better place for the future
generations.
.JPG) |
| A line that can certainly be bridged |
Before we left, Winston shook my hand
and said it had been a good debate. I
said likewise and it seemed like he understood what I was trying to say; and to
some extent respected that. It was interesting that during the summary session Winston was drawing a line on the paper which had the discussion points. He said he was trying to invent a new game
where we were to find a path between the words such that the line was as
straight as possible. Perhaps it was poetic that a line of sorts had been drawn between Winston and I on this topic, but it was not insurmountable,
and towards the end we had managed to bridge the gap.
Wilson dropped me home and I told
him about the rough time that I had with the guys initially, but how we had
managed to discuss the issue for an hour rather than just dismissing the other
person’s views. Wilson told me that we
had to consider the background of most of these men and in fact the
neighborhood we were in. He pointed to a
corner and said that this was the ‘most
dangerous spot in the US’, based on the amount of killings that happen
there – a corner which I would have passed on foot if I were headed to the train station. Wilson said that I had an open mind and thus
was making a difference through my interactions with people during these
projects. Then late at night he sent me
a long email where he talked about all the difficulties that he sometimes faces
on his projects, and only through empathy could we make the people understand
us... understand our mission. Wilson had
started the email with a quote from ‘Star
Trek’, which summarizes debates such as these and which I have reproduced below. He went on to say that I had become a better
volunteer that night because I had encountered a difficult task, and l had left
the project with all in the room a little more enlightened He concluded by saying, “I believe you have passed that test my friend.”
"I am pleased to see that we have
differences.
May we together become greater than the sum
of both of us."
- Sarek of Vulcan
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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