By Laura DeKoven Waxman
November 7, 2011

To bring attention to the disproportionate number of in violent deaths among Black men and boys and begin the development of a national strategy to reduce those deaths, Conference of Mayors Vice President Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter convened a meeting of mayors, foundation executives, members of the clergy, young people, and others October 25 in Philadelphia. “We need to elevate this above the neighborhood level,” Nutter said. “This is a national crisis; it must be talked about at the national level by national people,” he continued.

Nutter and others provided participants with some compelling statistics about the problem, among them that Blacks account for 49 percent of homicide victims in the country and that homicide is the leading cause of death for African-American males ages 15 to 24. In a number of larger U.S. cities, black males account for 60 percent or more of homicide victims.

There was considerable discussion of the causes of the problem and what needs to be done. Open Society Foundations’ Campaign for Black Male Achievement Manager Shawn Dove commented that, “You can’t talk about this without talking about education and jobs, and having Black men and boys part of the conversation.” Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran stressed the need to “put guns on the table” because they have so much to do with violent actions turning deadly, and discussed the Conference of Mayors strong position on gun control that traces back to 1968.

Joining Nutter at the meeting were New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson, Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith, and Camden Mayor Dana Redd. Landrieu talked about his city’s high murder rate – ten times the national average – which is occurring at the same time that New Orleans’s overall crime rate is decreasing. He called for a guns and butter approach which includes both prevention strategies and reducing the number of high-powered guns on the streets. He called on mayors “to stand up and talk about this,” stressing that he was talking about illegal weapons, not the second amendment.

The mayors and other participants discussed the steps needed to develop a national agenda to reduce violent deaths among Black males, including using data to bring more visibility to the problem, broadening the kinds of people who are talking about it and including more young people in that discussion, enlisting the involvement of additional mayors, and encouraging cities to have commissions on African-American males, as Philadelphia does.

The meeting was supported by Casey Family Programs, the Knight Foundation, and Open Society Foundations.