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January 26, 2010
HIP HOP-NYPD GUN AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION SUMMIT
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
Here was a group of high school students that refused to accept the status quo that adults wanted them to acknowledge. One of the key points made, corroborated by a woman who spoke out , was that the police are not as actively policing their neighborhood after 6 P.M as they do during the day. The woman said the police seem to arrive on Linden Boulevard when someone gets shot. A police officer answered, telling the audience that some work shifts are lighter than others. People kept trying, in their own way, to teach the youth that the city was safer than it was in the 1980's during the crack epidemic, but the youth were not convinced. We do have 30,000 police and I think 10,000 people policing the schools these days. The truth is that all of the adult panelists have done things, including some amazing things I am sure, to turn their communities around, but they add up to moderate results. That is why the conference is really badly needed. I offered a hundred solutions. Okay that could be a slight exaggeration, but my work speaks for itself and if I do not have exactly one hundred solutions it does not even matter. The GED initiative for gang members that I mentioned is one thing that must be done now across the United States. I am thankful that Mario Van Peebles showed GED Test Preparation in his video. Yes, GED is where people who decide to leave school should end up fast and Chris Rock earned his diploma that way. Many others in the video did, too.
Not a single panelist reacted to my comments about mobilizing gang members toward the GED. We could have been safer and more educated in the last twenty-five years since the crack epidemic. We could have been safer and more educated since the drug epidemic of the 1960's. Too much money has been put into policing communities that often are still not policed effectively and not enough money has been put into GED. Of course I mean into productive GED. We have to put six to ten more millions dollars into GED testing each year. We have to double or triple the number of GED diplomas. The transition from three African-Americans in college for everyone one in jail to three in jail for everyone one in college is the result of community leaders that did not know what they were doing and elected officials that probably knew even less. Change is in the wind and the high school panelists and the people who have worked in the community can do one great thing that is the solution, accept the fact that every member of every family needs a diploma. The needs of the community will be realized best when people wake up to this fact.
Police in Suffolk County have been made aware of this event and my video on You Tube.
MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
New:
www.mygedhotline.com
www.ahorre.com/ged
www.ahorre.com
www.geocities.com/gedhotline
www.aspira.org
Profesor Martin Danenberg January 26, 2010 07:45 PM