The arrest earlier this month of 17-year-old Shamus Patton for shooting nine people in separate incidents at the Indiana Black Expo is just another unfortunate scene in Black American communities. Perhaps we are becoming numb to Black-on-Black male crime because it remains a relative constant and reminder of how far we have to go. It’s time for a different type of shout out.

SOS is a well known call of distress that is sent out for the purpose of alerting people that there is a need for help. The inner city is calling out while wounded and in grave condition. She is injured by her own children’s violence, and pierced once more in the heart when she watches them carried away by the flashing lights of police and ambulances. 

Her only hope lies in self-directed sons. The acronym “SOS” is a challenging term and the question I phrase to young offenders: “Do you want a life under someone else’s supervision or the freedom of self-direction?” Unfortunately, many are willing to risk confinement and supervision via parole or probation because they have been conditioned to believe this is an acceptable risk.

Paper chasing by any means necessary has become the norm for far too many young Black and Brown males who are born into the environments of our decaying inner cities. Criminality is praised and glorified, while pro-social behavior and fatherhood are ridiculed and emasculated.  Here are just a few statistics regarding the psyche and current state of the young Black male: The leading cause of death is homicide.

The third leading cause of death among  African-American men is suicide. Nearly  1 in 5 Black males are unemployed in this current recession. And nearly a third of Black males born in 2001 can expect to spend some time in prison.

Daunting odds call for courageous people. I have but two words that every responsible adult in our community should share with those who are headed toward a life of supervision and incarceration, “turn around.” It is time for us to grab our young men and say these two words, and state them emphatically!

Next, we must mentor and guide them away from the destructive attachments and people they cling to. For too long many have passively accepted the notion that the birth-rights of our youth are determined by their environment and that the inner city is a sinking ship filled with diseased passengers that cannot be saved. It is time to give blue-prints to our young people and teach them that prosocial self-direction is the only long-term guarantee toward a fulfilling life.

The watchful eye of supervision will remain vigilant, never turning away until they demonstrate that they are self-directed, law abiding members of society. Not only is this possible, it is happening in a place called Urban Prep Academy for Young Men. Tim King raised the bar, insisting that everyone in his organization infuse faith into young malleable minds regarding what the future could hold for them.

The environment would no longer be the determining factor in the lives of these young men, expectation would be. Keep in mind, those students returned to the streets that they came from every day and went to the same homes, but something changed in their hearts and minds. The motto, “We believe,” was planted and it remains still.

The fruit of the academy’s work thus far is this: 100 percent of the graduates will attend college next year. Expectation married to diligence is a powerful couple and our young folks can do anything they set their minds to when they simply believe. They just need to be told this over and over again. Marvin Gaye wrote “Inner City Blues” 39 years ago. The subtitle was “Makes me wanna holla.”

Communities are crying out and starving like never before to hear a message of hope and belief; they need answers. Those of you reading this are one the answers and a part of the solution.