Our Children, Our Communities
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Detroit revolutionary philosopher, writer, and activist James Boggs. To explore the contributions of his thinking to understanding our present crisis and what we must do to advance our common humanity, the James and Grace Lee Boggs School and the Center to Nurture Community leadership are hosting a series of events.
The celebrations began on Saturday morning at the Church of the Messiah, just down the street from the home James and Grace shared for nearly 50 years on the east side of Detroit. More than 500 people marched in the 11th Annual Silence the Violence Million Children March.
Pastor Barry Randolph, whose leadership has framed the March explained in his call:
The purpose of the march has been to shed light to the issues facing young people in America today, specifically urban communities. The event also focuses on connecting community organizations making positive impacts in the community, to create Detroit (IN)powerment Village Alliances (D.I.V.A.) across the city.
Community groups, religious organizations, governmental leaders, law enforcement, business leaders, as well as the average citizen, will all gather and participate in this annual event to celebrate community and honor those who have died because of gun violence.”
For the first time, other cities are joining in the initiative, including Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Pontiac, Flint, Highland Park, and Ypsilanti.
Although James Boggs was a man of ideas who urged us to think more deeply, he was vitally concerned with actions in public life. There is no doubt he would have participated in the march if he was still with us. Certainly, his spirit was there as people walked for peace, to share ideas about how to live with more consciousness and care for one another and for the earth we share.
This year’s march held the promise of peace against the pain of the recent murder of DeMarkkus Washington, a member of the Messiah community who had been active in their Makerspace. Like thousands of young people, he was preparing for his prom and graduation from Martin Luther King High School. He was one of seven people shot to death in Detroit the night of May 24th.
Jimmy would have marched to say DeMarkkus’s life matters. We are all poorer because of his death. And we failed him. We failed to create a community where he could sit in a car and talk to a friend and be safe. We failed to create a community that enables all of our children to thrive, to develop to their full capabilities and deepest dreams.
Jimmy said in 1987 in a speech on Community Building:
The level of our human relationships has never been so low. We live in a social environment where there is little or no respect for human or natural life; where violent crimes against those close to you and the abuse of women, children, the old, the blind and the crippled have become normal; and where even those who have increased their access to material things and to high positions restore to drugs and alcohol because they are so spiritually impoverished…That is why the main question before us is “How can we become new men and new women?—willing to accept the challenge to live by the vision of another culture, a new culture which we still have to create, a culture which is based on social responsibility and respect for one another instead of individualism and materialism and on a love for and kinship with the Land and with Nature—instead of viewing Nature as something to be conquered and Land as a commodity to be owned? How do we create a culture that is life-affirming rather than life-destroying, which is based on caring and compassion rather than on the philosophy of the Survival of the fittest?
Jimmy believed the only solution to this violence is in the creation of loving communities. He said, “In order to create this new life-affirming culture, our first priority must be the rebuilding or the regeneration of our communities because it is in community that human beings have always found their personhood…you can’t find your human identity by yourself. It is in the community that our human identity is created because it is in community that Love, Respect and Responsibility for one another are nurtured.
Creating a new public culture begins with stepping toward one another, finding our way to a future that nurtures, loves, and protects all our children. As Pastor Barry said of this moment, “It’s everyone coming together, standing up for our community, standing up for the rights of children and creating the type of community of which our children can be proud.”