(Below is a reprint of an article by Moses Mathis that appeared in the Fayetteville Observer's Opinion column on October 8, 2003)

We Must Invest in Our Troubled Youth

by Moses Mathis

For the last 10 years I have operated an outreach center in Fayetteville. What I have seen during those years is that we are not doing enough to reach troubled youth, especially those of us in the African American churches and communities.

I am not taking about the kids in church on Sunday morning and Bible study on Wednesday night. The kids I am talking about are in our community selling drugs, with guns in their belts, or prostituting on the street corners. These are the ones who will kick your doors in and steal your belongings while you are asleep or away from home; they have guns and will take your life if necessary.

These are the kids we must reach. How do we reach them and how did this problem arise?

What I have found over the years is that 25 percent of the churches are reaching out and the other 75 percent are staying in their comfort zones. We have 25 percent of parents reaching out to other kids and 75 percent staying home making excuses.

Outside of your church, outside your comfort zone, what are you doing to reach these kids? What programs do you have to reach these kids? If you aren’t doing anything, who is to blame?

Let me tell you some of the things that have happened to me over the last 10 years. I met a 15-year old girl who was turning trick on the streets. I asked her, "Why don’t you go home, get a real job and leave the street?"" She said she didn’t have a place to go; her mother kicked her out because she didn’t want her in the house with her live-in boyfriend.

Another young lady needed help because her live-in boyfriend wanted her to turn tricks so he’d have money to buy drugs. She, too, had no place to go. Teenagers have told me they expect to be dead by 21. Who is to blame?

I was coming home from a community meeting one night and ran into a 17-year old boy at a local restaurant. He asked for a dollar to get a sandwich. I told him I’d take him inside and buy him a meal. He said he didn’t want me to buy him a meal. As a matter of fact, he said, "Give me all of your money," as he stuck his hand in his pocket, pretending to have a gun. Two state troopers pulled up, so I told the young man he could either go in with me or I would call the troopers. He chose to go in with me.

 

  


He talked about how he wanted to stay in school, but his mom was on crack cocaine. Again, he had no place to go. So he went to the streets to make money to buy food. When his mom came come with a strange man he didn’t know, he said none of the neighbors offered him a hot meal or to wash his clothes so he could go to school. Instead, they told their sons and daughters to stay away from him because, "He is bad news." Today he is serving seven years in central prison. I can go on and on with stories like that. Who is to blame?

What can we do to reach these kids? We’ve got to step up to the table and invest in our troubled youth. Not the kids in church. The ones on drugs, the ones selling drugs or prostituting, or pimping. Go to our jails and see the kids between 15 and 20 years old who are charged with these offenses.

I know the government says it has programs for troubled youth. If it does, they’re not working. We can’t depend on our local officials to help us with our problems. They have their own problems – for instance, raising taxes or annexing. These are the same kids who are probably selling drugs to their kids or sticking a gun in their faces at a football game or robbing their businesses, killing or hurting your employees.

There are young mothers who can work, but prefer to say home and collect welfare checks at the taxpayer’s expense. If our public officials would screen these young people more carefully and get them jobs, then our community would be a lot better. The programs that the government has are not working. We must step up to the plate and invest in our troubled youth.

If every church would join our business sector and donate regularly to a creditable non-profit organization that is not afraid to go into the communities to reach these kids, they could remove many of the homeless form the streets and give them a place to stay. They could get at least half of our youth off the streets.

I’m trying to do my part, but we need more people to join in. My wife and I have operated an outreach center for 10 year, trying to reach our troubled youth. Turn on your television during the Christmas holidays and you’ll see the hundreds of bicycles and computers refurbished with the help of the troubled youth to give to our needy kids at Christmas.

I stay in business because of the county commissioners and the donations I receive, mostly from the white community. Ninety percent of my monetary donations come from the white community, but 98 percent of my products go to the black community. Is that telling us who is to blame?

One thing that is important in my life and should be important in yours: From the day you were born to the day you die, did you reach out to help someone? Did you try taking a homeless family off the streets? Did you try to fee a hungry family? Think about it.