Timothy Crump is dead, and Noel Estevez is incarcerated. The ripple effects of this tragedy affects not just these two young people, but their families, their friends, their neighbors, schools, and communities; and the media generalizes the issues and lumps the incident into three words: “BLACK”, “LATINO”, “BRONX”. Stereotypes are affixed, and further burden all, but on our TVs and in the news, the ways this tragedy could have been avoided are seldom discussed, and remain unfamiliar, and underfunded.
Fortunately, new “old approaches” like mediation and restorative practices are being tried and proven successful by inner city communities in Oakland, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the state of Minnesota. New Zealand no longer has, or needs, a juvenile “justice” system. Violence is not necessary, but chosen, and people are trying other ways to deal with conflict, and with bullying.
And fortunately for New York City, and the many other Timothys and Noels in our midst, the Office of School and Youth Development of the NYC Department of Education (DOE) is paying attention to these other ways, and this summer teams of teachers from schools all around our city will be trained by the DOE in mediation and classroom use of restorative practice for use. Next September too few, but still a good number of schools will be exploring how best to use this training to stem the epidemic of violence our young people face.
More attention must be paid to these efforts and more financial support given if we are to hope for a real calming of the fever, and all of us, not just Bronx young people, will need to learn the skills and make the commitment to talk it out when we feel angry and in conflict with others.
Lyn Pyle & Aisha Norris, Co-Directors
MT Safety with Dignity
Bronx, NY
