The Future Is Already Speaking. Are We Listening?
In this op-ed, Michael Eugene Johnson says society expects young people to make good choices while doing little to give them better options. He lists what youth need: safe places, mentors, after-school programs, sports, arts, jobs, counseling and adults who show up. He criticizes cities that find money for celebrations and photo opportunities but not for recreation centers, youth counselors or summer jobs, and argues that parents, schools, churches, businesses, community leaders and government all share responsibility.
Every day, a child dies or is misdirected because we are not listening to their cries. They are asking for help, and too often all we give them are speeches, excuses and parties that do nothing to change their lives.
A society that expects young people to make good choices must first be honest about how little it is doing to help them make those choices. We cannot keep telling our youth to stay out of trouble while refusing to give them anything better to do, anything better to hope for or anyone better to guide them.
I am angry because this failure is not new. We know what young people need. They need safe places. They need mentors. They need after-school programs, sports, arts, jobs, counseling and adults who actually show up. Yet year after year, we underfund these things, close community centers, ignore struggling schools and then act shocked when children fall through the cracks.
That is not confusion. That is neglect.
We find money for celebrations, photo opportunities and empty promises, but when it comes to a recreation center, a youth counselor, a summer job program or a place where a child can feel safe and valued, suddenly there is no budget. That should make us angry. It should make us ashamed. It should make us demand better.
Young people are not asking for miracles. They are asking to be seen, heard and given a chance. When we refuse to provide that, we are not just failing them. We are helping create the very problems we later complain about.
Every neighborhood should have places where young people can learn, create, work and belong. Recreation centers, theaters, apprenticeships, tutoring programs, mental health support and youth employment opportunities are not luxuries. They are necessities. If we can invest in parties, politics and appearances, then we can invest in children.
And let us stop pretending this is someone else’s responsibility. Parents have a responsibility. Schools have a responsibility. Churches have a responsibility. Businesses have a responsibility. Community leaders have a responsibility. Government has a responsibility. But too many of us are comfortable talking about “the youth” while doing almost nothing for them.
We should be furious that so many children are left to raise themselves in a world that demands excellence from them but gives them so little in return. We should be furious that we wait until tragedy strikes before we act. We should be furious that we keep asking young people to be better while refusing to be better for them.
If we truly care about safer streets, stronger families and a better future, then we must stop ignoring the cries of our young people. We must stop celebrating ourselves and start serving them.
The future is already speaking. The question is whether we will finally listen.
Michael Eugene Johnson is the creator of Pikes Studio Cinema and co-founder of Black Men Unifying Black Men.
This commentary first appeared in the AFRO American Newspapers. For the original visit https://www.afro.com/opinion/we-are-failing-our-young-people-and-we-need-to-be-angry-about-it-640936cf.
