STRONG FAMILIES NEEDED TO HALT CITY VIOLENCE

No longer is our beautiful Peoria the unchallenged second city of
Illinois. But in one respect, at least, it may have become the first
city of Illinois, and that is in the number of homicides per capita.

There have been, so far, 13 killings by my reckoning, all of them by
gunshot and the overwhelming majority consisting of young black males
killing young black males. Gangs, drugs, sex or what is known as
disrespect are the usual motives, but there is something more behind
them. To pursue this further is not going to be politically correct
and risks raising the cry of racism, but it cannot be brushed aside so easily.

For the sad reality is that the collapse of the family - the black
family in particular - is behind so many of these senseless killings.
Where is the father? I do not have the statistics to bear this out,
but in too many cases, he is long gone. The kids are being raised by
the single mother, who must work out of necessity. And she is
probably not going to a high-profile job, but rather one in which the
hours are long and the pay is meager.

So who is there when the kids get out of school? Who makes sure they
do their homework? Who goes to the PTA meetings? Who makes sure there
aren't any guns in the house? Who monitors TV? Who keeps track of the
companions the kids are running with?

To be sure, there are many heroic single moms, but raising, feeding,
providing for and watching over our young is not a one-person job.
Kids need a father, a man who guards and guides them and loves them
in a uniquely manly way. Take him away, and the gang fills the void,
drugs take the place of fatherly love and violence becomes a
substitute for affection. In the absence of discipline and social
restraints, it becomes far too easy to pick up a gun and blow the problem away.

This disastrous epidemic of young men shooting young men will not go
away as a result of more policemen on the beat or men in red berets
patrolling the neighborhoods, but with a rejection of the rap
mentality and a return to family values, which is to say the dad in the home.

People such as myself are not going to solve this problem, but rather
black parents who insist that their sons, in particular, accept
sexual responsibility and practice fidelity and who provide the
example with their own lives. Many are doing this and are as
frustrated as anyone over these killings. While it is not exclusively
a black problem, it needs a black solution. It is not so much an
economic solution that is needed as a cultural and a moral one. Stop
the violence. Let's reaffirm the importance of the family in putting
a stop to this killing environment.

We have enough black basketball players, rappers and hamburger
flippers. What we need are more black attorneys, black priests, black
newspaper editors, black fathers who have time for their wives and
children and who are an example to us all.

On this anniversary of the 9-11 disaster, when hatred became real and
dwelt among us, we have to counter what lies behind the rage with an
awareness that life is precious, that kids need a mom and a dad, and
that the only real answer to the madness of bombings in Iraq and
shootings in Peoria lies in the enlightenment of education and the
healing power of love. Unfortunately, the name of one gang pretty
much says it all. It calls itself "No Luv."

Jerry Klein is a columnist with the Journal Star.