Children Are Dying -- We Must Do More

Demetric Austin, 11, was the victim of random gunfire while he was playing basketball three months ago ["D.C. Boy's Wounds Don't Heal," Metro, May 8]. Bullets grazed his back and arm. As a result, he has nightmares and is afraid to go outside.

Yet when Demetric's mother talks about the shooting, people seem to brush it off because Demetric was not killed. How did we become so callous?

Perhaps our indifference stems from the fact that 24 children were killed last year in the District -- almost twice as many as the year before -- many of them by gunfire. Some children reportedly sleep in bathtubs to reduce their chances of being killed in their beds by the gunfire that regularly punctuates the night in their neighborhoods.

Demetric wants to move from Southeast to live with relatives in Northwest because he would feel safer there. But Chelsea Cromartie, 8, was killed last May in her Northeast home by gunfire from outside, and Donte Manning, 9, was killed just weeks ago by a random bullet as he played outside his Northwest home. So nowhere is safe. What can we do?

First, social services agencies, both public and private, should provide care for Demetric and other young victims. Other institutions, including area universities, also can help.

We also should listen to Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey ["How to Take Back Our Streets," op-ed, April 8]. Because the violence is disproportionately affecting African Americans, Mr. Ivey has called upon his fellow black public officials, black churches and other segments of the African American community to bring greater resources and coordination to bear upon this issue. He also is encouraging people to become mentors and to offer educational and economic opportunities.

Public officials must do more than hold news conferences to decry the violence after it happens. We all must do more. We owe it to Demetric, Chelsea, Donte and far too many others like them.

DARRYL W. JACKSON

Washington

The author is a former co-chair of the D.C. Coalition Against Drugs and Violence.