Black Star Chief: It’s not wise to ask officials to protect us from our own children’ – Help has not come, yet
While both the body bag count and the cost of incarcerating black youth continue to rise, Phil Jackson, the executive director of the Black Star Project Tuesday said it isn’t wise for African Americans to ask the police, the courts and the schools to protect them from their own children. Jackson never received a reply from his letter to President Obama he wrote in 2009.
“While we have been asking for help for many years, it has not come and it is not coming from the White House. Quit asking at this point and don’t expect the police to protect us from our children. Some people are asking for the National Guards to protect us from our children and we should stop asking for that.
“It is the president’s job to do the right thing for all Americans. I am not asking him to do anything that is not in his job description. Help me to protect and develop our children,†said Jackson.
“To keep a juvenile 17-years and under in Illinois jails for one year it cost more than $111,000 and for an adult it cost between $40,000-50,000 a year,â€said Jackson. The variance between the adults and juvenile incarceration rest with mandatory guidelines when it comes to housing and providing social services for the youth.  While that might sound like a lot of money to jail a youth, Jackson said other states cost more.
“In New York, it is closer to $200,000 to keep a juvenile locked up. It is a waste of money, and it seems as though rather than providing mentoring and proper educational services for our young people, it seems as though we are more willing to lock them up than to invest in and develop these young people,†he said.
Making it clear, Jackson said he is not advocating the abolishment of juvenile centers. “I think some of our young people are very difficult to work with and sometimes it might be better to have some of our young people in a facility to not only protect them but us as well. However, that is not the majority of the young people currently in the system.â€
He gave as an example in the public school system where he says, “young black men especially are suspended, expelled or arrested at a disproportionate rate to the rest of the student body. The same thing happens with incarceration, and I think that is a major problem because once you get into the system…get accustom to the system you pretty much stay in it.â€
Jackson said juvenile detention centers are nothing more than “incubators for adult facilities. It is a waste of money and bad social policy on our part as well.
Jackson said it is pointless to play the political party finger-pointing game when it comes to laying blame for the increased violence. “It is not one party or another party,†he said. “It is the way we think as a society, as a country and to a certain degree black people are leading the charge. Many blacks say lock them up and throw away the key to our children.â€
When the dust settles, Jackson said, “We’re going to have to pay for this and it may not be today or tomorrow, but in the next 10-15 years we will see all of this wasted potential…future doctors, future lawyers…engineers that we could have been developing. Instead, they will either be in prison or coming out and that will decimate our communities,†warned Jackson.
Asked about the alarming rate of female incarcerations, Jackson said, “I am totally not alarm because this has been a developing trend for the past ten-years. The young girls are doing the exact same thing the young boys are doing including selling drugs, committing violent acts…and even murdering and killing. The fastest population in our prison system cross the country is young black women, and this is not a new thing…. It is a trend that we have not responded to….â€
When asked how can this trend be halted, Jackson said, “We can do the same thing that I am suggesting that we are not doing to the boys. We can connect to these young women, give them guidance and show them another way, but we are not doing it.
“We are more willing to invest in WIC medical cards, TANIF benefits, housing choice vouchers. We will invest in those, but we won’t invest in doing things to protect young women from all of these social ills…like education†investing inhuman infrastructure, he said.
“That’s how you stop these girls from having all of these babies. You don’t give them condoms or (offer them service at) daycare centers. That won’t stop them from having babies. You invest in their minds and their spirits and we’re not doing it… We’re not doing it enough….â€
Jackson said there are some programs and some people “who are working mightily in this area, but it’s too few and not enough resources directed toward us. We can expect more and more horrific crimes from especially young black girls over the next few years,†he predicted.
On the media, Jackson accused the media including the social media of spearheading the negative and violent images that are being fed to the public every day. “This image of what a young Black girl should be is not coming from their parents,their churches or schools. It’s coming from the media and that portrayal is often they had better be a tough ‘b….’ Unless we’re able to counter that with positive African American women spiritually touching and guiding them, then we will not be able to compete with the media.â€
“We should look for more and more for these Facebook feuds…look more for girl gangs†he said are now jumping on other girls, boys and older men. “We are not doing the things to prevent that,†Jackson said.
“Our destiny is in our hands. It’s not in the hands of the police, or the court system and it’s not in the hands of the schools, but we don’t realize it. We keep asking other people to save us from our children. No other race of people does that. Until we decide that we are going to take control of the minds, the learning, the hearts and the spirit of our children, then we should expect worse than what we have now….â€
Jackson, who continues to fight for funding for his 18-year old program, keeps a huge sign on his wall addressed to President Barack Obama. “Please send help for the sake of these young people in Chicago who have died and for the many children and United States citizens in dire distress who will surely continue to be killed without an effective response. Communities across America await your actions on this matter.â€
“I will be 64-years-old this September,†said Jackson, “and I’m tired of begging elected officials to do their jobs.â€
Jackson has another huge sign on his office wall that contains the names of some of the students who were killed as a result of gun violence including actress/singer Jennifer Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew, Julian King. Jackson has vowed to help protect the children whom he says are “in a war†they did not declare.
While he calls on parents to monitor their children’s behavior, he feels it is also the responsibility of the federal government to provide aid in ending this “war on the children.†In the interim, the Black Star Project is offering mentoring to both boys, girls and young men, tutoring to children 5-25 years-old,parenting classes, violence reduction activities, college preparation and job preparation.
When asked how is the Black Star Project funded, Jackson said, “While we get some small state and city government support and some small foundation support, our most important programs have no support like our parenting, tutoring and college support classes. They have no support. “
The Black Star Project is located at 3509 South King Drive on the Second Floor. For further information, call Jackson at: 773.285.9600.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.
