By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Justin Lee doesn't want to die at the hands of a killer. But the 15-year-old African-American from Madisonville knows the odds are greater that he could be murdered than for a white male teen.

Lee

Most likely, that killer would look like him.

"I think about it all the time," said Justin, a 10th-grader at the Hughes Center in University Heights. "It's starting to hit home now because some of the people I've known or seen on the streets are gone. I say to myself, `Man, that could have been me.'"

Statistics show young black males 18-29 accounted for nearly half of the 65 homicide victims in 2002, despite the fact they only make up 3 percent of the population.

At times, the violence has forced Brennan Ball, 18, of Oakley, and Alex Scruggs, 17, of College Hill, to avoid popular hangouts. Mr. Scruggs said he could no longer shoot basketball or hang out at Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine because drug addicts and dealers have overrun it. Even a trip to a party or nightclub can turn deadly, Mr. Ball said.

"It's always a subconscious thought," he said. "Sometimes you think `OK, I'm going here. I hope nothing happens.' But I try not to let that stop me from having fun."

A coalition of African-American civil rights, religious and social service groups, known as "The Peace Down the Way Coalition" plans to hit the streets in a few weeks to talk with at-risk youths in an effort to curb black-on-black violence.

Twelve black male students - ages 15-18 - from the Hughes Center sat down Friday with the Enquirer for a roundtable discussion about what they face on the streets of Cincinnati. They talked about their fear of becoming a homicide statistic, the role of poverty, peer pressure, the media and what the coalition must do to reach kids on the street corners.

In Cincinnati, there is a rocky relationship between perception and truth when it comes to urban violence. Many of the teens said for the coalition to be effective, those involved must forget their personal views. If they can't see things from a street perspective, then the chance of intervention is slim.

"You've got to go out there and try to feel where they are coming from. Meet them half way," said Justin Johnson, 17, of Northside.

Justin said what some people might consider "normal" is far from what some African-American youths see on a daily basis in their sometimes violent, drug-infested neighborhoods of impoverished homes.

"You need people out there who have been through the same experiences that they've been through," said Alex Scruggs. "You can't have someone who has lived in a rich environment all their life telling somebody who lives in the ghetto that they've got to change. It ain't gonna work.

"Most of them guys don't want to hear it anyway," he said. "They already got family members telling them that what they are doing is wrong. Somebody else going out there telling them the same thing's not going to make it any better."

Many black youths, the group said, are ensnared in a web of crime and poverty. Illegal drug dealing is a violent trade, the teens said, but it is also a lucrative one. Peer pressure is also a significant factor.

"You see a lot of guys (drug dealers) talking to young kids and they got pretty nice cars, they flash their money, they wear jewelry and nice clothes and the little kids look up to that," Mr. Scruggs said.

"They try to do whatever the older people do in order to fit in."

Rashawn Hamilton, 17, of Mount Airy, said the same trappings were present in his neighborhood, but strong support from his family and people who boosted his self-esteem kept him on the straight and narrow. Many black youths, he said, don't enjoy the luxury of positive role models.

Jackson

Lorenzo Jackson II, 18, of Hartwell, said it was a matter of self-determination for him. His goal of wanting to own his own record label kept him away from activities he said he knew were detrimental to what he wanted to accomplish.

"Sure, you might live in a bad neighborhood, but you still have a choice between right and wrong," Mr. Jackson said.

The group said some youths subscribe to the notion that living in a certain neighborhood provides them with an excuse for selling drugs or dropping out of school.

"We are just a dying generation," Alex said. "Most of the black kids that live in bad neighborhoods are either selling drugs, not going to school or not trying to do anything that will help them get through life. They need a role model or somebody to tell them that what they are doing is wrong, and that they need to get their lives straight."

To make a difference in neighborhoods, the teens said, programs need to be set up that provide jobs for youths and training on how to keep those jobs. Programs also need to be made available that provide employment for people recently released from jail, the group said.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com