BlogWonks

I was invited to a neighborhood rally against gangs this past Wednesday (3-21-07), in a park near Grant High School about three miles from my home.
The flyer that was sent to me said, “bring signs” so I hastily made a big 30″ X 40″ sign, just minutes before the event began.

I arrived at our meeting point on time, and found about 40 people gathered in the park, including: L. A. City Councilwoman Wendy Gruel, L.A. City Prosecutor and L. A. Unified School District School Board Candidate Tamar Galatzan, several official looking people assisting Ms. Gruel and Ms. Galatzan, a representative of the local neighborhood council, and an LAPD, gang task force officer.  The assembled dignitaries spoke to the crowd of people around 5:30 P.M.  Near the end of the speech making, an LAPD squad car drove up to the crowd (on the grass) and a couple of more LAPD officers joined the assembled throng.  All the public speakers expressed their sincere concerns for gang problems and spoke of the importance of reducing graffiti, having proper lighting, having adequate police officers and prosecutors to enforce the laws, and community involvement in reporting gang crimes.

After the dignitaries finished speaking, I personally handed Councilwoman Gruel a copy of some Fatherlessness statistics I’d cut and pasted from this Internet site.

http://www.thecardp roject.info/ the_card_ 002.htm

This site also appears to accurately document the cost of Fatherlessness to our society. http://fathersforlife.org/divorce/chldrndiv.htm

Around 6:00 P.M., the crowd marched to Grant High School with Gruel and Galatzan marching alongside the neighborhood crowd.  It turns out I was the only person who brought a sign, but I was undeterred and held it high as we marched the approximately half mile to the Grant H.S. Auditorium. http://www.granths.org/ 

 Several people inquired as to the meaning of my sign throughout the afternoon and evening.  On the walk to the Grant H.S. Auditorium, a woman spoke to me about the sign and told me, “Dads are involved in their children’s lives when they pay their child support promptly and regularly.”  I replied that, “Men are more than wallets.”  I also told her, “Surveys show that men want to pay child support and the vast majority does, unless experiencing joblessness, injury, illness, or sometimes the vindictiveness of an ex-wife denying visitation.”  I told her that denying Fathers no more than “just a financial role in their children’s lives” was the kind of gender feminist policy, destroying Fatherhood and creating gangs, that I was referring to.http://www.ncfmla.org/ncfmla-flyer.pdf

Most divorced and separated dads want to nurture their children, but courts often reduce them to “visitors” and do not even enforce “visitation.” So-called “deadbeat dads” are usually dead-broke or dead-bolted from their kids’ lives by biased court orders or moms who impede access. Over 80% of divorced or separated dads who have jobs and access to their kids pay their support in full. Nonetheless, our government spends hundreds of dollars to enforce monetary support for each dollar it spends to enforce access. (Sanford Braver, Ph.D., “Divorced Dads.”)

Finally, I referred her to a Google search of, “fatherlessness predictor delinquency juveniles” and told her that would produce a number of hits, including feminist opinions attempting to refute the fact that Fatherlessness leads to a whole series of problems and maladies in juveniles.  I further stated my opinion, that the mere fact feminists were refuting the overwhelming statistics showing Fatherlessness as a predicator of delinquency in juveniles, shows that Fatherlessness is a significant issue in the politics played by gender feminists in our liberal, local government. 

Los Angeles has a women’s commission, office of women’s health, women’s studies programs on local college and university campuses, with nothing likewise for males, and those women’s industries institutions all work to demean and diminish the role of fathers in their kids’ lives, IMO.  It appears these gender feminist institutions undermine the role of Fathers in families, and that they actively work to deny Fathers the choice(s) Mothers have.  Further isolation of Dads from their children often occurs when the dissolution of a marriage occurs.http://www.ncfmla.org/ncfmla-flyer.pdf

In divorce proceedings, false accusations of domestic violence or child abuse, and restraining order abuse, are common. Without warning, men are arrested, jailed and barred from their homes and bank accounts without due process. More than 50% of child sexual abuse allegations are unsubstantiated. (Eckenrode, Powers, “Substantiation of child abuse and neglect reports, Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psych., 1998, 56, 9-16; Lewis, “Reliability rather than zealotry,” Summer 1996, Kentucky Bench & Bar, 60, 23-30.) False accusers are rarely prosecuted.

Once we got to the auditorium, I was surprised to find several hundred more “neighbors” gathered there, as well as other Los Angeles government agencies: Dept. of Water and Power, Sanitation, Street Lighting, Graffiti Removal, etc., etc., etc. I worked my way through the large crowd to the front of the auditorium, had a seat and waited for the meeting to start.

 While waiting, a reporter from KABC, TV, Channel 7, approached me and asked if she could interview me. “Certainly,” I replied. I reiterated what I’d said on the march over from the park, but added, “Randy Kendrick, Independent Women’s Forum, Board Member, points out in an interview in their Winter 2007 journal,”

‘An alarming percentage of young men are not going to college, and they are getting into a lot of trouble and ending up in prison. Most of them don’t have good male role models. Well, have you ever looked at elephants and dolphins? Did you know that dolphins have teenage gangs? Well, if a couple of teenagers go off without the influence of a male, they actually do things that teenage gangs do – violence, rape, theft. It is the same with elephants. When people are managing elephants in Africa, they found if there were no strong male [elephants], the young teenage male elephants would run rampant.’

 It was convenient that I had the journal with me to quote from. I went on to point out that most of this aberant behavior in elephants is also documented in a National Geographic Explorer entitled, “Elephant Rage,”http://shopngvideos.com/products/elephant_rage_2

After my interview had concluded, and once everyone had taken a seat, Councilwoman Gruel opened the meeting and again spoke on the issue of gangs as they affect the quality of life in Los Angeles neighborhoods.  Councilwoman Gruel was followed by Deputy Chief Michael Moore of the Los Angeles Police Dept. (LAPD), and he was followed by an Administrator from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), whose name I neglected to take down.  There were other less notable public servants, who gave snippets of speeches from the main podium, however those three aforementioned public servants sat at a table on the stage (each with a microphone), and their input was lengthy.Councilwoman Gruel largely repeated what she said to the crowd in the park, and perhaps expanded a little.  Deputy Chief Michael Moore spoke, while going through a power point presentation (slide show).  I recall Deputy Chief Moore stating that gang homicides increased in the San Fernando Valley in 2006 by 54%.  That statistic stood out in stark contrast to this obviously inaccurate “feminist fact” I found on the Internet, http://members.aol.com/asherah/fatherlessness.html

“Among the report’s most positive results is a 40 percent drop in serious violent crime involving juvenile offenders since 1993.’”

A few other points that stood out from Deputy Chief Moore’s presentation were, “Our jails are full,” “Crime is down,” and “Arrests are up.”

After the meeting, I had a chance to talk to Deputy Chief Moore and began by telling him I was supportive of his work to reduce gang crimes and violence.  I then asked him about “our jails being full,” to confirm that I’d not misunderstood what he’d said.  He confirmed I’d heard correctly.  I mentioned my concern that we may someday live in a society largely comprised of ex-convicts, or people in jails, if we don’t find some other way to address societal problems leading to crimes and violence.  He expressed, that when he goes home in the evening, as a private citizen, he too shares those serious concerns.  He added, “America has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.”  “Yes,” I joined in, “we’ve passed Russia.”

I also asked Deputy Chief Moore if I’d heard him correctly when he stated, “Crime is down,” and “Arrests are up.”  I said, “I assume we are still arresting people for crimes so that statement seems contradictory to me.”  Deputy Chief Moore cited some statistical accounting/categorizing procedure, but honestly, I still failed to reconcile that seeming contradiction in my mind.  I did not pursue the question.  I thanked the Deputy Chief for his time (as he had others waiting to ask him questions) and proceeded to filter out of the meeting room.

Later Wednesday evening, I watched the 11 o’clock news on KABC, channel 7, and was pleased when I saw my face on the screen, but then was very disappointed, when neither my words, nor my sign (calling attention to the issue of Fatherlessness and Gang violence), made it into the report.  I’m certainly pleased there’s at least some structure in place in Los Angeles to address the frightening dilemma of gang crime and violence, but I’m very discouraged that so little effort is being expended to promote meaningful roles and relationships for Fathers in their children’s lives.  No men’s commissions, men’s studies programs, or offices of men’s health exist anywhere to work for such things.  Los Angeles has a long way to go, IMO, before it can effectively address Fatherlessness in families as a major cause of gang crimes in Los Angeles.  The first thing Los Angeles has to do is recognize that the connection exists.

http://www.ncfmla.org/ncfmla-flyer.pdf

Society pays a huge price for this gender bias. Fatherlessness is the leading predictor of crime in a community. The less time a child spends with his/her dad the more likely the child will drop out of school, commit crime, abuse drugs or alcohol, become pregnant or commit suicide. (Warren Farrell, Ph.D., “Father and Child
Reunion.”)