BMC-WEST ROXBURY PROBATION CHIEF URGES GANG
AFFILIATES TO AVOID "THE DRAMA"

           Probation Officers packed more than 50 gang-affiliated young men into Session Six of the West Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court (BMC) recently to issue an impassioned plea against gun violence this summer. The plea was part of Probation’s “Safe Summer Initiative,” a collaborative effort between the BMC-West Roxbury Probation Department; federal, state and city law enforcement agencies; and the clergy.

           “We want a safe summer. We want a peaceful summer. We don’t want any drama,” BMC-West Roxbury Chief Probation Officer Mark Prisco told the young men who sat shoulder to shoulder on the courtroom benches and lined the back wall of the session. The young men, all on probation and ages 17 to 24, represent 17 of the city’s street gangs, according to Probation.

           Probation Officers from BMC-West Roxbury first introduced the Safe Summer Initiative last year in response to the escalation of gang-related shootings and deaths. Probation Officers from West Roxbury and the Roxbury and Dorchester divisions of BMC have worked diligently behind the scenes year-round to end gun violence and to put an end to senseless shootings and deaths. This spring, Suffolk County Chiefs and Assistant Chief Probation Officers played a key role in stopping bloodshed on the streets of Boston when they brought rival gang associates together following the shooting death of a young man. This intervention, another collaborative effort, is called Operation Cease Fire.

           Prisco told the audience of mostly African-American and Latino men that the law enforcement agencies represented at the meeting-- Probation Officers, prosecutors, judges, street workers, police, and the Department of Youth Services (DYS)--have the “same goal.”

           “We want you to set a positive example for your little brothers, your little cousins….If you need help with the drama, we are here,” said Prisco who also provided the young men with information on obtaining their GED.

           The 90-minute meeting featured a video called “Mandatory Sentence,” produced by Wyatt Jackson of 4Peace who told the young men, “You are the best that we have.”

           “I give major respect to all of you for showing up. In the video, we used real people, Probation Officers, everything. Today, we have real people. Everyone here is real. It is not a game,” Jackson said. “You are the best that we have. You are the best that we have. I know it is the exact opposite of what you think.”

           Presentations were also made by Superintendent Daniel Linskey of the Boston Police Department, Dan Mulhern of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, and
John Wortman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

           During the presentations – which included warnings of doing federal prison time in facilities hundreds of miles from family and friends as well as premonitions about their deaths before summer’s end if they continued to engage in gang activity—the majority of the fresh-faced young men stared straight ahead with no hint of emotion. Some laughed, prompting Probation Officer Brad McNichols to order one young man to leave the courtroom. Others whispered or glanced at each other. Still others rolled their eyes toward the ceiling or slouched, feigning boredom.

           The mood in the courthouse appeared to change when Mrs. Kim Odom strode to the front of the room. Odom is the mother of 13-year-old Stephen Odom, an innocent victim, who was shot and killed in the fall of 2007 on his way home from a church basketball game.

           Several young men, who were stone-faced when law enforcement lectured them earlier, leaned forward or sat on the edge of their seats when the 46-year-old mother of five recalled her and her family’s loss of her youngest son to gun violence.

           “I am standing here as three persons: I am a minister, I am a mother who lost her child, and I am a Family Support Coordinator for the Boston Public Health Commission.” Odom said.

           She added, scanning the faces of the young men, “I am praying as a minister—praying to understand what is going on with our young people.”

           Her eyes appeared to rest on the face of a young man, who quickly lowered his gaze, as she explained that her position with the Boston Public Health Commission is to help families in the aftermath of violence.

           “Have you experienced the aftermath of violence?,” she asked. “I can tell you personally, it doesn’t feel good…It is important for me to be here and not just as Stephen Odom’s mom.”

           She told the young men that she felt her son’s presence in the room and spoke of the symbols—buttons meant to preserve the ‘loving memory of his legacy’ and how wearing it is often difficult for her. She spoke of her need to hear her son’s voice and shared the words he wrote in his journal—prior to his death—regarding violence in the community: “It’s a shame that somebody gets killed or shot everyday. This is why we need peace.”

           Odom shared another journal entry written by her son, “Everywhere we go, people are dying then after that, people are crying.”

           She told the audience of young men, “We still cry for Stephen….I am determined that his life did not end on the sidewalk. Me and his family are peacemakers.”

           Reverend Jeffrey Brown of the Ten Point Coalition, who addressed the young men next, spoke of the emotions felt by mothers and families like the Odoms and the similarity of the funerals he has attended for each of the young men whose lives are claimed by gun violence.

           “Every mom and grandmother can’t stop crying. They can’t get over you being gone. Honor life. Every memorial fades away. There is one person who is never going to forget you and that is your mom. I have done funerals for mothers who can’t get over her child being dead,” Brown said.

           “I don’t want to be there at your funeral….I want to be at your graduation. When I am leaning on a cane, you all are supposed to be running things. You are the best that we got. Move your life to the next level and then come back to help this community.”