Martin luther king’s dream did not include children imprisoned for life

8/20/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING’S DREAM DID NOT INCLUDE CHILDREN IMPRISONED FOR LIFE | GreaterLongBea…

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MARTIN LUTHER KING’S DREAM DID NOT INCLUDECHILDREN IMPRISONED FOR LIFE

By Lydia A. HollieJanuary 16, 2012 Essays & Asides

“Our lives begin toend the day webecome silent aboutthings that matter.”

—Rev. Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr.

During this day ofreflection on the lifeof Rev. Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr., mymemory has led meto an e-mail I recently

received from Javier Stauring of the Healing Justice Coalition, which againilluminated the dark fact that the United States and Somalia have the only judicialsystems in the international community that sentence their children to lifeimprisonment without parole.

A Roman Catholic lay chaplain for incarcerated youth, Stauring is an internationallyknown advocate for restorative justice and against the U.S. practice of consigningits youth to hopeless lives behind bars .

I met Stauring two years ago during my studies at the USC Institute for ViolencePrevention. Through his advocacy, we examined and learned about this nation’s

treatment of its children asreflected in the various policies ithas adopted to detain themindefinitely—rather than constructenvironments where a child’shumanity is respected and caringadults are available to helpchildren successfully navigate

through the vicissitudes of life.

Today, as we consider King’s perspective on the value of our shared humanity,



Stauring’s e-mail is a painfulreminder of the extremevulnerability of children—the easeby which they are maligned byour society and our nation’swillingness to discard their futurerather than invest the appropriatetime and resources to secure it.

King rightly observed that“whatever affects one directly,affects all indirectly. I can neverbe what I ought to be until you are

what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what Iought to be.”

Ostensibly, the purpose of our work in the field of youth violence prevention andintervention is to influence and reconfigure the sociological, political and economiclandscape so that the future of a parent’s daughter or son is never

destined forimprisonment for anyreason. Therefore,as long as one childprisoner enters andremains in thisnation’s prisons, jails,probation camps, inits law enforcementand welfaredatabases or underthe jurisdiction of itscourts orbureaucracies, oursociety will never beall that it ought to be.

So how do wedemonstrate respect for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, and in the process,measure up to his standard for service to humanity? How do we avoid making amockery of what he and others endured and died for?

Rev. King’s response is succinct and unambiguous, “Whatever your life’s work is,do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborncould do it no better.”

Reducing violence and saving lives are embedded in restored neighborhoods andrevitalized communities. Looking ahead at this new year, I believe the Long Beachcommunity can bring honor to King and his legacy of genuine service to humanity inthree important ways:

• Raise the bar of community awareness and effective engagement in the political



process to advance community-driven initiatives;

• Hold the community as well as the political and economic establishmentaccountable for decisions that adversely impact neighborhood quality of life;

• Increase obstacles to incarceration (through strengthened partnerships andcollaborations) by decreasing risk factors that infringe upon the ability of childrenand their families to thrive and prosper in peace.

Lydia A. Hollie, JD, MAED, is the past co-chair of the Long Beach Department of Health and HumanServices’ Weed and Seed Steering Committee (2007-2011); past chair of the Long Beach CalGRIP(Transition, 2009); past chair of the Long Beach Youthand Gang Violence Prevention Task Force (2005-2009); past chair of the Long Beach Human RelationsCommission (2001-2003).

Read more: child incarceration,GreaterLongBeach.com , Healing JusticeCoalition, Javier Stauring, Jr., Long Beach, LydiaHollie, Martin Luther King, Rev, without paro le

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Martin luther king’s dream did not include children imprisoned for life