Crime

Young People Can Leave the Streets for the University, Says Dr. Victor Rios

Published

11 years ago

May 6, 2014

Award winning sociologist Dr. Victor Rios came home to Oakland this past weekend to speak about the importance of not giving up on our youth. His message was about the transformative power of treating young people with respect.

“We have been stripped of our dignity from an early age – We invest too much on punishment and not enough on giving young people a sense of purpose and rewards” for doing something positive with their lives, said Rios, who at 15 had dropped out of school and was hanging out on International Boulevard in East Oakland.

But because there were a few special teachers and others who did not give up on him, he said, he went on to earn a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He is now married with three children and is an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, where he has already published two books.

Rios was the guest speaker at an event last Saturday afternoon at Castlemont High School in East Oakland, sponsored by People United for a Better Life in Oakland (PUEBLO).

A man with a mission, he argues that those who value the lives of Latino, African American and other low income teenagers are fighting an uphill battle against educational and criminal justice systems stacked against them.

But, he says, teachers and other youth workers have to keep working for the long haul. And while they work for systemic change, they need to be helping change lives, “one heart at a time.”

“We are part of the larger system,” he said, which in the last 30 years has changed its disciplinary polices to Zero Tolerance.

Nowadays, discipline means more “more policing tactics and surveillance” in schools and youth development institutions, he said. There are police and police tactics in the schools, he said.

“But police officers are not trained to help people out. They’re trained to apprehend, which is true in in Oakland and across the country.”

Dr. Rios asked his audience of teachers, teenagers and concerned adults to consider: “What does it mean to grow up in a time where we invest more on prisons than we do on education?”

“We’re not funding (youth); we’re not educating them; we’re not resourcing them. But we try to pin the blame on them all the time,” he said.

His research interests include educational equity, restorative justice, resilience, motivation, and youth culture. He is the author of “Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys” and “Street Life: Poverty, Gangs, and a Ph.D.”

He was the winner of the 2012 Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Latina/o Sociology and finalist for the 2012 C. Wright Mills Book Award.

Dr. Rios also speaks to middle, high school and college students, about overcoming adversity, leadership, and the power of a higher education.

“Where did I get (this) curriculum? He asked. “Did Berkeley give me that curriculum? Did UC Santa Barbara give me that curriculum?”

“The streets of Oakland gave me that curriculum. You (people committed to helping youth) gave me that curriculum,” he said.

Dr. Rios says he sees signs of positive change. “I’ve seen progress in Oakland though there’s still people out there left behind,” he said “There are organizations and people who are already doing great work.”

But he warned that “restorative justice” and “resilience” have been coopted to some extent, that there are those who talk about these things who are not committed to doing grassroots work with young people.

“There are people making a lot of money out of it,” he said, emphasizing that his approach is not about having pity for young people.

“It might not be your fault that you’re falling on your face,” he tells teenagers. “But it’s your responsibility to get yourself back up.”

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Activism

‘Donald Trump Is Not a God:’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Blasts Trump’s Call to Jail Him

“Donald Trump is not a god,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

Published

7 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he not intimidated by President-elect Donald Trump, who, during an interview on “Meet the Press,” called for the congressman to be jailed for his role as chairman of the special congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Donald Trump is not a god,” Thompson told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

“He can’t prove it, nor has there been any other proof offered, which tells me that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the 76-year-old lawmaker, who maintained that he and the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee – which referred Trump for criminal prosecution – were exercising their constitutional and legislative duties.

“When someone disagrees with you, that doesn’t make it illegal; that doesn’t even make it wrong,” Thompson said, “The greatness of this country is that everyone can have their own opinion about any subject, and so for an incoming president who disagrees with the work of Congress to say ‘because I disagree, I want them jailed,’ is absolutely unbelievable.”

When asked by The Grio if he is concerned about his physical safety amid continued public ridicule from Trump, whose supporters have already proven to be violent, Thompson said, “I think every member of Congress here has to have some degree of concern, because you just never know.”

This story is based on a report from The Grio.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

Published

5 days ago

December 13, 2024

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Outgoing D.A. Pamela Price Releases Report on County Gun Violence Epidemic

The 84-page report is divided into two parts: the Public Health Impact of Violence and the Contribution of Structural Inequalities; and the Public Safety Impact of Gun Violence and the Regulation of Firearms. Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

Published

1 week ago

December 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Pamela Price was recalled in the election on Nov. 5. File photo.

By Post Staff

Criminal Justice Reformer District Attorney Pamela Price, who is leaving office this week after losing a recall election, released a comprehensive report on the gun violence epidemic and public health emergency in Alameda County: “Tackling Gun Violence Epidemic in Alameda County: A Public Health Emergency (2019-2023).”

This report represents an unprecedented collaboration between public safety and public health partners and provides data and recommendations to guide the County’s continued work to reduce violence while advancing justice reform.

Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

“Between 2019 to 2023, an average of three residents were killed by firearms each week in Alameda County, and behind every statistic is a shattered family and community,” said Price.

“Under my administration, the DA’s office has taken bold steps to combat gun violence while promoting equity and healing for survivors,” she said.

The report highlights strategies for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Last month, the DA’s office secured a $5.5 million grant from the California Judicial Council to help improve compliance and case management for gun cases and gun relinquishment orders —the removal of guns from people prohibited from possessing a firearm – with law enforcement and court partners.

This effort builds on Price’s work in 2023 and 2024 in attacking the gun violence epidemic.

“We launched an innovative Gun Violence Restraining Order Outreach Project to educate communities about the availability of tools to remove guns and ammunition from people who are a danger to themselves and others and the intersectionality of domestic violence and gun violence and convened gun violence roundtable conversations with our law enforcement partners and collaborated with the Alameda County Public Health Department to produce this comprehensive report,” she said.

“We supported Oakland’s CEASEFIRE program through its transition and implemented a pilot Mentor Gun Diversion Program with our collaborative court partners, offering non-violent youth in possession of a gun pathways to interrupt the potential for escalating harm.” added Price.