The Forgotten Public Health Crisis: A Culture of Sacrifice
“When more and more young people plan their funerals and not their futures — it spells alarm for the rest of us’’ — Gregory Boyle
Across the nation — we are battling two public health crises — one with a much more vigorous response and the other with much less urgency.
As our communities continue to battle with this pandemic — they collide with a plague of staggering shootings and fatalities — prompting our Canadian government to invest $6 million dollars to fight the war on guns and gangs.
According to the recent data provided by Homicides Canada (2020) — there has already been 390 reported homicides across our country— with 285 deaths being male victims. The Toronto Police Service alone has reported 296 shootings — with a total number of 133 individuals being injured/killed as a result of gun violence (data retrieved as of August 17, 2020).
However, the race against time is about saving lives and points to much deeper issues that can no longer be solved with band-aid solutions.
We seem to be in a deep state of depression — a culture of sacrifice. A culture with no bounds or limits. Young people are willing to look at life through a lens of desperate finality. A lens rooted in despair and despondency, that usually results in shattered lives and communities. Not only for the victims — but many times at the cost of their own lives. The reality is — marginalized and disenfranchised communities impacted by gun violence do not bear risk equally. This public health crisis poses a serious mortality threat and continues to overwhelmingly take the lives of young black, indigenous and racialized men. These deaths are a predictable outcome of our nations lack of political action to recycle outdated strategies.
Most of today’s gun violence is connected to cycles of retaliatory violence between young men who are willing to take it to extreme measures to resolve their conflicts. Unable to articulate their inner turmoil that was once settled with fists and words are now articulated through gunfire. Today’s “perpetrator’’ is most likely tomorrow’s “victim’’. I was once told by a young man, “we are all victims, just waiting for our turn’’. A sad reality and double dose of uncertainty for many young men willing to stare at death right in the eye.
‘’A deprived community creates deprived individuals’’
The Canadian dream for many young individuals does not include aspirations of ‘’gang involvement’’. For many — this obscured vision of the future becomes their only choice to embrace a life of equal opportunity that most of our institutions and systems fail to provide.
A deprived community creates deprived individuals. The existing social and structural vulnerability continues to surge a culture of sacrifice among young people. Our ultimate war is not on ‘’guns and gangs’’– but the war with the systems that fail to do all they can for young people — then turn around and unjustly blame them.
It is time — we scatter “seeds of change’’ in the most fragmented and alienated communities. Any conversation away from investing in our communities only points to our own lack of vision and clarity. We cannot create an antidote for gun violence without confronting the existing social, economic and racial inequities. We need to take risks — proper risks that look beyond law enforcement strategies and CCTV surveillance. We need to be more inclusive and imaginative — actively challenging the current premise of corrective measures that seem conventional — yet short-sighted from the broader issues. The race against time demands a balanced and focused approach informed by research, community and the voices that are most impacted.
However, Premier Doug Ford has made his stance clear, “My message to the criminals out there hasn’t changed: We’re coming after you, and we’ll throw the book at you and we’re going to put you behind bars,”.
This alarming notion only points to the continuous failure of a system that deeply relies on costly back-end solutions to clean up their mess.
By making law enforcement the solution to violence — we place to much burden on police officers who are not equipped and prepared for this task. They cannot replace the power of community-directed initiatives that build resilient individuals and thriving communities.
Unfortunately, police become the ultimate punching bag for other failed systems. When our Canadian government fails to provide individuals with the resources for survival and equal opportunity — they automatically become ‘’police problems’’.
Addressing gun violence is not solely about preventing death and loss — but preserving meaning, life and vitality in our very communities. Anything short will only result in an approach that is all smoke and mirrors — at the cost of many young lives.
Our message hasn’t changed either — invest in our communities and front-end solutions. We can no longer pretend — that we can police our way out of gun violence.
Not anymore.
Mandi Pekan is a Registered Psychotherapist — specializing in Trauma, Urban Violence and Community Development. Her work is central to dismantling perceptions of youth gangs . She is the Project Director for The Street Resilience Project — a community-based research focused on humanizing the experiences of young racialized men involved in street-level violence..
