So I finished reading this book called fist stick knife gun by Geoffrey Canada. It was absolutely amazing. I actually got to see Geoffrey Canada come speak at an Austin College event once, in March of 2007, I believe; it’s even cooler to recognize that opportunity now than it was at the time. He’s the main guy for the Harlem Children’s Zone (president and chief executive officer, since 1990!).
Anyway, this book focuses on violence and how/why it exists and persists in inner cities. Specifically, Mr Canada makes clear his huge fear of guns. His fear isn’t based solely around himself – he has a fear of the prevalence of guns, and how they entirely change the “laws” of violence. While never a direct advocate for violence, Mr Canada points out the checks-and-balances inherent in the physical, hand-to-hand (mostly) violence of his youth. When guns came into the picture, all of those checks-and-balances went out the window. Guns change everything. They make violence even more unpredictable, even more dangerous, and ever more insidious.
Mr Canada also describes the inadequacy of gun laws in this country. One aspect that really struck me was in regards to how new gun laws helped put guns into the hands of kids.
Because the new legislation (I believe this was in the ’80s? I don’t have the book with me anymore, so I can’t cross-reference this…) put heavier sentences on people caught selling drugs, the older guys that had previously been the most prevalent drug-sellers started using kids as their middle-men. Kids could get caught while playing this drug-selling game, and they would only go to juvie for a little while – as opposed to their older “friends,” who would have gone to jail for long amounts of time. And, since guns have become an inherent tool in the drug-trade-game, kids started “needing” guns more than they did before.
At more or less the same time, the market for selling guns was starting to reach its peak. Mr Canada explains how the market had previously focused on white men, and at some point this market had become flooded and no longer provided the same demand. So, gun-sellers needed to keep selling guns to continue turning a profit, right? (This sounds reminiscent of my beef with food advertising, as I became aware of its insidiousness at Dr Marion Nestle’s lecture. Food corporations began to suffer pressure from the stock market to not only make profit, but to exponentially increase their profit. I’ve written about it here.)
To start selling more guns again, the gun market turned to … women and children. Yes, it’s true. Mr Canada sites an article in a rifle magazine, where someone from the field of selling firearms mentions that this will be their new plan.
They started giving “kid-friendly” names to guns. It’s outrageous.
So, these two influences began at roughly the same time, and they are a whole lot of the reason that we should worry so much about violence and gun use.
Also, fuck marketing to kids. It’s so messed up. I also remember learning in an economics class once about how the child-based market is a fairly new concept in the field and within advertising. It’s based on the idea that children can be consumers, too (albeit through their respective fiscal agents, aka parents) – and therefore they are a prime target for marketing. Kids can decide they want something. And then companies can count on the “nag factor,” too – or some other crazy term like that, which means that companies can count on enough parents giving in to their children’s nagging and whining and buy whatever it is they want. Sadly, it’s proven true.
Again, this is reminiscent of Dr Marion Nestle’s lecture, also, because I remember her making a comment that it’s absolutely ridiculous to market food products to kids. It completely undermines the parents’ word, action, and authority. Also, kids cannot make truly informed decisions! And therefore, they want to eat at McDonald’s all the time, because McDonald’s has much better advertising than lettuce, or than a vegetarian diet.
Still, marketing guns to kids is more than a little worse than marketing food.
Anyway, I highly recommend fist stick knife gun. I found it super insightful into urban poverty, as well as the reasons for crime and its persistence in all communities. In general, it opened my mind and thought-process to include other alternatives for what it’s like to be a kid than the rather-privileged upbringing I had. It has also been helpful in trying to understand some of the violence and crime for which New Orleans is so infamous.
I also highly recommend checking out Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone. As I could tell from reading this book, Mr Canada is seriously inspired, dedicated, and motivated. His work, perseverance, integrity, and love for all people are aspects to be admired and repeated elsewhere. I definitely see him as a revolutionary – putting others before himself in so many aspects of his life, trying to make the world a safer and more accepting place.
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