Editorial: What can we do about uptick in violent crime in Cincinnati
Cincinnati neighborhoods have joined a disgraceful list with one of the highest per capita murder rates in the nation.
Now we are left with an age-old question - what do we do about crime?
Our police are using new overtime funding to focus on hot-spots.
But they are not enough.
It's time for all of us to step up and do our part.
We desperately need people to show our youth, particularly in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, that they have better options for a brighter future.
Recently the head of a mentoring program told us she has had to turn away teenagers who are asking for help, simply because of a lack of mentors.
We need you to reach out.
Volunteer.
Be part of a solution.
We talked with pastor Jackie Jackson, who put it very bluntly.
"We have so many children, children who don't feel like they have a tomorrow."
Langston Hughes needed only 11 lines of poetry to define the visceral ache of a dream deferred in 1951.
Today, more than 70 years later, we remain locked in a struggle to find a positive answer to his questions.
We all share the responsibility to step up to give hope and to tell Cincinnati's children that we stand ready to help them find a better path and that their dreams don't have to be deferred any longer.