Our Youths Are Running To Get To Nowhere Fast!
By Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
There are a lot of places to go and things to do if you are an adult. This week alone: there were the sneakers stumping and fan popping, Friday Nite Live dance party on Jefferson Ave; the 2,000 plus revelers at Mr. Wil son’s All-White Party at Riverworks; and the City Hall- Delaware Ave, Taste Of Buffalo’s food fest on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. And what did our young teens have planned for them? If I didn’t know any better, I would guess Cricket Matches because that is all I am hearing.
We hear about “roving bands of ‘out of control’ teens” running around, scaring many of the senior population who have forgotten that they (we) had marbles, jump ropes, tic tac toe, leap frogs and hopscotch to occupy our restless urges. This generation of youths have a cell phone glued to their hands and ears, that some of them don’t put down— not even to go to the bathroom! So, instead of girls jumping ropes and boys playing Leap Frogs, they are jumping over fences and leaping around hedges as they run aimlessly from one part of the downtown area to the next, looking far more threatening than they really are.
A few of the white folks in the suburbs are getting a little upset and anxious now because quite a few of our brown-faced children and grandchildren have taken their Run ning Show on the road. They are running amok in the Galeria Mall, Cheektowaga Town Park, and other gathering places far south and east of Buffalo. The entrenched residents of the towns and villages outside of the city welcome the new residents and tenants with nice jobs or Section 8 vouchers, but they are not happy that all of our children’s friends in their old neighborhood are out there, taking up all the spaces and soaking up all the sun!
And so, the Call is put out that there is going to be a ‘rumble’ in front of or behind the downtown library, or at Canalside, or, heavens forbid, in the middle of the Juneteenth Festival! Some times, there are altercations and sometimes some youths are arrested for dis orderly conduct or ‘trying to incite a riot’. The most troubling thing for me to hear about some the young participants was that many of the young ladies were mothers of tod dlers or infants and there they were out there, running like the character in Running With Wolves!
I understand the youths of our community feel frustrated and betrayed by mine and previous gen erations. We allowed corrupt or com promised politicians and commu nity leaders to sell our schools and community centers to investors and developers. We covered our ears and closed our eyes when trusted leaders steal donations or grant money from organizations and cultural centers that was needed to keep the doors open and the electricity on. Buffalo closes most of its community centers way too early to provide enough of a safe haven for the troubled teen ager who needs to come home late and leave home early because he has issues at home or with some of the neighborhood guys he is dealing with.
The Powers That Be and the fun loving members of our community have worked hard to ensure that Buffalo remains the capital of Fun and Good Times all summer long. With the Wing Fest, Juneteenth, Allentown, Elmwood and the Italian Festivals, Friday Nite Live, Gospel Fest, Taste Of Buffalo, Buffalo Funk Fest, Masten Jazz Fest and Taking It To The Street, the adults who love to party are well taken care of. We just need to spend some time and a little resources to give our youth somewhere to go and something to do so that they can stop all that damn running that is scaring everybody half to death!