Keith Matthews on the violence

Here's my Jan. 18 column, repaired with the correct name of CMB:

Maybe you've seen the initials on walls or Dumpsters or somewhere else around town.

C.M.B.

M.O.B.

They stand for the names of rival gangs — MOB is "Money Over Bitches," while CMB is "Cash Money Ballers."

CMB's turf is the north side — Washington Heights in particular. Its colors are black and red.

MOB is referred to as "south side," but it's more of an "anywhere but the north side" kinda group. Its colors are black and blue.

Kids all over town know this stuff. I figured you might want to know, too.

I've gotten several backgrounders on the gang situation here since undertaking a series of stories about the roots of the 2005 outbreak of violence in Battle Creek.

Word from police and on the street is that last week's shootings apparently were gang-related.

One side went on the offensive for its own reasons, and the other side responded, I'm told.

Keith Matthews finds himself living this stuff as outreach director at the Boys and Girls Club of Battle Creek.

He's on the streets trying to bring in the kids that need help, working to strengthen the bonds between kids and the people who want to help them lead good lives.

Matthews speaks clearly and calmly as he plainly lays the blame for today's situation.

"Black men," he says. "It's our fault."

"Black men," he repeats.

"It's our fault."

Long silence.

"Our black men have to show the way, and we're not doing it," he says.

"You can't blame the Kellogg Foundation — they've done everything they could do for us. You can't blame the Battle Creek (Community) Foundation, you can't blame United Way. They wanted to dump everything in (Battle Creek Public Schools Superintendent Charles) Coleman's lap, but if you read an article from 1995, we had these problems before he got here. Now, they want to dump everything in (Police Chief David) Headings' lap, but we had those same problems before he got here."

It's not enforcement, or education, or do-gooders, in other words. It's just like Carl Word of the Urban League said in this space on Sunday: Parents need to step up and take responsibility.

And Matthews narrows his focus to black males.

"It just tears my heart out to ask people to do something that they just should do naturally," he says.

"It's almost making yourself into a maverick or a little Malcolm X because you're telling people what needs to be done. ..."

I finish the thought for him: "Which is your basic duty in the first place."

"Exactly. And it shouldn't have to be said, but it needs to be said," Matthews says.

He says the former Washington School, where the Boys and Girls Club opened in the fall, is a fortress against the violence. Indeed, while members of both gangs participate in the club, Matthews says, there's not even a hint of tension there.

While Matthews wants to outlaw gang colors at the club, it hasn't happened yet. Still, he knows the kids and feels certain of the safety of the club setting.

When things get heated on the basketball court, the game stops and the young men are engaged in a discussion of the right way to resolve a dispute, says Tim Reynolds, the club's executive director.

Both Matthews and Reynolds have street cred — a term that, now that I've used it, probably is passe. That is, they have community respect that transcends their official roles.

As each night at the club winds down, there's a telling period of time, Matthews says.

"Every night we have 10 to 12 kids that can go home, but don't want to go home," he says. "They're trying to figure out what friend's house they can stay over. What aunt's house they can stay over."

Matthews remembers growing up in another era where everyone looked out for one another. Today, he says, it's more like, "I've got mine, now you get yours.

"And if that's the mentality that we're gonna have, then these young people are gonna continue to kill each other, and basically what we're doing is allowing them to commit genocide — black-on-black crime."

Comments

[Deter Xcress]

Accolades.

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'The small-minded man thinks that small acts of virtue are insignificant in the good they do, and so he refrains from performing them, and the small acts of wickedness do little harm, and so he does not abstain from performing them.

The result is that his wickedness becomes so great that it cannot be concealed, and his guilt becomes so great that it cannot be pardoned.'
*
I Ching

[fleasonadog]

An excellent column.

We are fortunate to have Bob Warner's voice, pen and conscience in Battle Creek.

I would not put all the 'blame' on black men. And not on the organizations, or the schools.

There is still an economic, social and racial divide in this country.

And we are making progress...but slowly on tearing in down.

I hold out hope for the generations that will follow us.