Thinking about Martin and TerriThe Press called me for contact info for Martin and Terri. I guess a few of the editors read my blog from time to time. They read about Terri and Martin and want to do a story about their situation. My conversation with the reporter gave me pause again to think about what is going on in Grand Rapids South East Side right now, and who is to blame, or not.
All this thought and worry kept me awake last night. So, in my insomnia, I was up reading
The Corner by David Simon and Edward Burns. Simon and Burns are writers and producers of the phenomenal HBO series,
The Wire. The book is a real life account of life in the rough neighborhood of West Baltimore. It is basically about life in the drug trade from the level of the street. I read a passage last night that haunted me. Here it is:
Consider the corner, for a moment, as something apart from a social disaster, as something that has instead become organic and central within our cities. In the natural world, much is often made of the watering hole, the oasis in the small stand of acacia trees to which creatures great and small come for sustenance. The life-giving elixir brings them all-predators and prey, the vast herds and the solitary wanderers, the long of tooth and those new to this vale. Brick and mortar, asphalt and angles-the corner is not less elemental to the inner cities of America. Day and night they come, lured by coke and dope, ignoring the risks and dangers as any animal in need of a life force must.
Simon goes on to assign different aspects of life on the corner to different breeds of animals at the watering hole. Of course the big cats are the dealers who "rule their turf on reputation." The dope heads and other victims in the neighborhood are the wildebeests and zebras that become prey. There are hyenas...those that commit their crimes in the moment of opportunity and under the cover of darkness. And then Simon says this:
The lumbering elephants? The police, who are heard from a distance and arrive with bombast. They rule where they stand.
What a poignant description of life in a marginal neighborhood...a struggling neighborhood...a neighborhood that has been left by mainstream society and has developed a rhythm of life that is all its own but, to itself, very natural. As I read this passage I stood by our second floor window and looked out at the 4 AM street below me in the shadows of the street light. I looked and listened through my opened window. There was a man and a woman walking, actually shuffling down the street. I heard the man ask the woman, if she knew where to score? She said, "no, not tonight." The man replied, "I gotta find something around here because I don't got no gas in my car." They moved up the street mumbling to each other. I craned my neck to peer up the street to see about 6 guys sitting on the porch of the house on the corner of Madison and Highland as they do almost 24 hours a day. Across the street was a guy pushing a shopping cart filled with cans. Off in the distance I heard some kids making some noise, laughing and shouting something undiscernable. I wondered if these kids were of school age? I wondered if they would show up for class today? All this at 4 in the morning.
Then I thought about Simon's description of the police...they rule where they stand. How true, the police cannot be everywhere. I read this passage to Donna this morning and she said, "Dave, in regard to the police, there is not much they can do. I see it every day in my job. Unfortunately, if the police took out the guys threatening Martin and Terri, the brothers, cousins, fathers, sons, uncles, or even aunts of the people that are after Terri and Martin would come after them. This is not a police issue it is a societal issue, a family issue, a neighborhood issue."
It is easy to see Terri and Martin's situation and say, as I did in my anger and rage, "the police should do something!" But that is not the answer. One wildebeest standing alone at the watering hole is only a snack for the predators that rule it. However, if a whole a herd of wildebeests move in the prey will have to on to another watering hole. As people read about Terri and Martin's situation the correct response should be to pray for them yes, but also to join them in the struggle. I know of several houses on their block that are available for a song...anyone interested in moving into our neighborhood, and simply being a good neighbor?
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