LB REACHES THE BOYLE-ING POINT, AND BY COINCIDENCE, HERE HE COMES
By Dave Wielenga
In the aftermath of the wounding of a Long Beach Police Department gang detective in a brazen car-to-car shooting, Father Greg Boyle will speak to the Bixby Knolls Literary Society on Feb. 9, offering his insights into gang intervention, rehabilitation and social justice.
Inasmuch as Boyle agreed to the 7 p.m. appearance at Expo well before the Jan. 29 shooting in central Long Beach, the timely scheduling is a coincidence—no matter how you define that word: a) a sequence of accidental events that seems to have been arranged; or b) a miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous.
Boyle, 55, is a Jesuit priest from Los Angeles who in 1992 founded Homeboy Industries in an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth. He was motivated by the violent civil uprising that swept across the Southland after Los Angeles Police Department officers were found not-guilty in the vicious—and videotaped—beating of African-American motorist Rodney King.
“Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” Boyle says.
Nearly 20 years later, Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café.
Meanwhile, Boyle has continued to develop and share his views with an eloquence that has made him a frequent public speaker and a well-read author. At Expo, he will sign copies of his newest book, Tattoos On The Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Simon & Schuster), which will be on sale by a representative of Apostrophe bookstore.
FATHER GREGORY BOYLE AT BIXBY KNOLLS LITERARY SOCIETY • EXPO • 4321 ATLANTIC AVE • LONG BEACH 90807 • FEB 9, 7PM-9PM • FREE
4 Comments
With all due and immense respect for Fr. Boyle, many of those convicted of gun-related assaults and murders were employed at the time they commited their crimes.
While some academic studies support the thesis that higher unemployment rates often correlate with higher crime rates (Gould, Weinberg and Mustard, 2002. Fox, 2007) many other researchers believe this correlation is by no means definitive (causative) in all cases nor, where they are found, do such correlations preclude the influence of still other factors such as mental illness, emotional disturbance, substance and spousal abuse, being actively sought by police for other crimes, etc.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123974939828118493.html
In the perfect society, everyone who desires to be gainfully and honorably employed would be. But our society is not perfect, nor will it ever be. And many, many people who *could* be working today, consciously choose to not do so.
At the end of the day, presuming no mental or emotional defect that prevents it, people -and most especially adults- must take full responsibility for their own choices and their own actions.
I think we should also consider that the vast majority of the some 14 million people in the U.S. who are currently unemployed are not out in their communities commiting crimes, violent or otherwise. This fact, perhaps more than any other, would seem to argue against the idea that “nothing stops a bullet like a job.”
Fr. Greg Boyle is speaking in Bixby Knolls on Wednesday, Feb. 9. How do you know that this will come four days after a LB police detective is wounded by a shooting, given that Feb. 9 is still more than four days away?
Well, John, if we look at all the white people walking away from egregious home mortgages, with second mortgages attached, with very little in the way of negative ramifications, I think there are plenty of people who think of committing crimes as a side job, or hobby.
As it is, if a black man walks into a bank and demands what’s in the till, he can count on a SWAT team delivering a bullet to his head for the opportunity to hold a couple of grand in a bag for a few minutes. However, a ridiculous number of white folks, with great jobs, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, with second mortgages adding up to a million dollars, are walking away with that second mortgage money, handing their house keys to the banks after staying there rent free for a year or more, and they are congratulated at their next Thanksgiving dinner for making a “smooth move.”
There is a mass bank robbery going on, and nobody is doing anything about it. Few are saying anything about it.
If Father Greg wants to do some real good, he’d be at Kelly’s bar in Naples, approaching everyone in every booth, and telling them to clean up their shitty acts.
That’s not to imply blacks and hispanics don’t pull their share of bullshit. It’s just that, compared to the white upper middle-class, and a lot of the rich, minorities are not currently competitive when it comes to dismantling our economy as we knew it, and laughing as it collapses.
God bless you, John. And God bless the Cayman Islands.
Hi Danny. Good (and embarrassing, for me) catch! Obviously, I had the date wrong by a week. I’ve corrected it. Thanks!