You Keep Saying the Same Thing

Yesterday, at New Orleans Youth Studies Center ( a euphemism for juvenile detention center ), SWS Chaplin and Mentor Bro Al Mims was told by a female participant that he-and by extension, I-" keep saying the same thing " weekly to them. 

His heartfelt message unfailingly hammers respect for adults and being law abiding- period. My message, less compassionate but just as relavant, is that they can't afford the cost of crime and are flirting with becoming statistics. Her complaint recieved a chorus of affirmative head nods, confirmation of collective entitlement mentality. They feel they should be entertained with varied subject matter. 

The fact that they are in a diversion program operated by the district attorney failed to disabuse them of this notion. 

I address participants as a stakeholder indifferent to opinion and mobilized against wrong doing. Relished visible discomfort during presentation happens while addressing their disproportinate murder rate. When young people on the cusp of becoming career criminals allege we're saying the same thing, it means a nerve worth striking has been struck. 

We will continue striking it! 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within Self Urban Fellowship. @nadraenzi on twitter.