Tyshawn Lee, 9, was shot and killed in a South Side alley earlier this year.
Karla Lee
CHICAGO — A Black Lives Matter group based in Georgia says it has a solution to ending the violence in Chicago, but members have run into criticism from organizers in Chicago who question the group's motive in focusing on black-on-black crime and on the murder of 8-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
Members of Black Lives Matter Savannah said they plan to release a book, "
Social Surge Theory: Eradicating Black On Black Crime in Chicago & Other Major U.S. Cities," by the end of the month.
The solution that Black Lives Matter Savannah proposes is called a "Social Surge Theory," in which clergy, upper-middle class blacks and social activists would be asked to move into the neighborhoods in Chicago most affected by the record-breaking violence, discriminatory policies and black flight.
"The 'surging individual' recruited would be evaluated, trained, and embedded to live within this particular area with a strategic purpose based upon the need of targeted area and the social qualification of 'surging individual,'" the book summary states. "Surging individuals would be commissioned to use formed relationships with community while also using their unique skills to serve the needs of that particular area based upon the analytics and research of the crime study."
A few weeks ago,
several community organizations used a similar tactic when asking Chicagoans to patrol their neighborhoods. Despite the "surge,"
13 people were killed and another 52 people were wounded in citywide shootings during the Labor Day Weekend.
The book has a chapter called "The Chicago Effect," along with mentioning strategies regarding as conflict resolution, job creation, opening businesses and opening charter schools.
"In our research, you'll need at least 5 to 10 percent of people to move into a neighborhood such as Riverdale to stabilize it," said Jomo Kenyatta, a member of Black Lives Matter Savannah. "You can't do that overnight. It takes months. It takes years. For a surge to work, it takes a consensus of community groups to work together."
The book features a photo of
Tyshawn Lee on the cover. Tyshawn, 8, was killed after being lured from a basketball court in Auburn Gresham to a nearby alley last year by a gang member who targeted Lee's father by going after his family members, prosecutors said.
Kenyatta, who is listed as a contributor to the book, sai the circumstances surrounding Tyshawn's death resonated with him.
"It was one of the most heartbreaking stories I've ever heard. In gang culture, there's some sort of code of conduct," Kenyatta said. "The people that knew Tyshawn in Chicago, he left an imprint on their lives. We wanted to dedicate this book to his memory and write this book with a sense of urgency so the next Tyshawn Lee may not have the same fate."
"The focus of the book is not Chicago, but Chicago is seen as a microcosm of what is occurring in other major U.S. cities," Kenyatta said. "The book will be released nationally and we hope more cities might adopt the theory."
Black Lives Matter Savannah said the group's parent organization has not done enough to address violence in the black community.