You said “that the hot dogs and rallies bring people out of their homes to where leaders in the community who care and want to serve, can meet them and let them know where to access the role models they so desperately need.”

RESPONSE: For starters, the role models are Olgin Williams and his children. See #40 comment by Think Again.

Next, the role models you suggests are NOT at those rallys and those rallys are NOT the proper place for the proper role models to influence the behavior of those who violate the peace in the streets. Those in attendance are politicians politicking, paid by grants & awards jack-legged preachers, law enforcement officials, city employees and Olgin Williams many, many children–they are not the most effective role models needed for the people we are trying to reach.

The problem in this city is we think we can raise the inner city children instead of raising the inner city parents up. The City of Indianapolis diversity initiatives have skipped a generation of black adults who are in their 30’s to 50’s–Adults who are educated, street smart, ambitious and who truly have a passion for the community but who have been neglected. We’ve intead focused on the past 20 years or so on annual segregrated events to prove we treat our blacks fairly without realizing how concentrating our diversity inititaives into such programs caused us to neglect other initiatives spearheaded by this generation of blacks. This has left them negative and without hope and caused some to use their ambition, intelligence and street smarts to commit blue and white collare crimes. Their children then suffered and are now the ones killing without emotion, stealing and selling dope. These are the children we are now trying to raise with the Peace in the Streets, a failed program for 4 years now.

We’ve been perpetuating a fraud, with visions of phoney success and phoney outreach packaged in slick 4-color flyers and corporate brochures and phoney diversity celebrations. Its so easy to continue this because it so much FUN! Blacks like to party right, so lets just give them what they want. Blacks want to be socially accepted by whites right. So we’ll invite them to a black or diversity function.

We MUST be better parents/leaders to our constituents and just say we CAN’T PARTY RIGHT NOW! The singing and dancing must stop and the work must begin.

Peace in the Streets is just a party for the children of the parents who we’ve neglected by having corporate america and every other institution in the state focus on annual diversity events. Our FOCUS should be on the lost black generation in Indianapolis–the parents, women, business owners and professionals 365 days a year by teaching them how to bootstrap themselves or giving them the tools to spread their passion and mission, then THEY will be daily role models for their children, family and neighborhood. These individuals are NOT at the Peace in the Streets Rally because they were not allowed to help shape the inititative into one that is effective. They are NOT going to waste their time hanging in the streets with no structure.

Finally, the role models these kids need are those who have bootstrapped themselves from the same streets we are trying to clean-up. Not those from the streets who make a living off the government dole and have hitched another ride to a new mayor who is naive to the ‘hood’.

Sorry to be so blunt, but we’ve got to stop the non-sense!

Believe me, both are. And neither is up to the job. By a long damned shot.

At least I think so, judging by their public statements. They both talk like their mouth is full or marbles.

And they repeat tired old platitudes better than Rev. Jackson.