Parents told: Lack of love strengthens gangs

Justin Calkins described the gang violence plaguing Clayton County as a symptom of a bigger problem.

“I see a cry for help,” he said. “I see a cry for guidance and I see a cry for understanding.”

The Lovejoy High School senior addressed about 600 citizens gathered at Mundy’s Mill High School for Thursday evening’s gang awareness forum. The 17-year-old honors student was part of a collaborative effort by Clayton’s educational, legal, police and faith-based communities to stem the growing violence that has claimed the lives of four county teenagers since late October.

Two of the four shootings had possible gang ties, police said. Although none of the incidents occurred on school property, the school system has added additional police and counselors to schools since the shootings.

“If we don’t get this problem — this issue — resolved, this whole county is under siege,” said Clayton schools Superintendent John Thompson.

Thompson was joined on the panel that led the two-hour program by an array of county leaders, including Board of Commissioners chairman Eldrin Bell, Police Chief Jeff Turner and juvenile court Judge Steve Teske.

They all challenged community members to forget past differences among themselves and unite for the sake of all their children.

Parents were especially singled out for the need to become more active in their children’s lives in an effort to thwart the growing influence of the county’s 51 known gangs with three or more members, according to Turner.

Arthur Powell, a former gang member now working with the county as a consultant, spoke from personal experience when discussing how neglect at home, a lack of love and nurturing, and abusive parents help make youths susceptible to gang allure.

“If we want to save them, we’ve got to be involved in their life,” Powell said.

Claudell Phillips left happy with all he’d heard after listening attentively with his son, Zachary, a junior at Mundy’s Mill.

“I think it’s a good time to bring this up,” the elder Phillips said. “Hopefully, what we started tonight will continue.”

Community leaders said the program was to be the first step toward a larger grassroots effort to tackle the problem of gangs.

And it can’t come soon enough for Calkins.

“Stand up and take responsibility,” he implored the mostly adult crowd.