Middletown community seeks answers to stop the violence

Community leaders and residents gathered Saturday morning at the Robert “Sonny” Hill Community Center to discuss the rash of shootings that has plagued the city for more than a week.

Also addressed were issues of poverty, infant mortality and education, which some in the audience felt were contributing factors to what ails the city.

Police Chief Rodney Muterspaw told the Journal-News that over the eight-day period there have been seven shootings in four separate incidents with 50 rounds being fired. Two people were arrested Wednesday and Muterspaw said warrants have been signed for two more people.

“This is not normal for Middletown,” he added. “This is not about the city and the police department. It’s about the community. … The message is ‘put your guns down.’ ”

Dr. Celeste Didlick-Davis, who heads the 3 R Development community activist organization, said, “We are here to call the community to action. We are here to talk about why black babies are dying at a higher rate, the uptick in violence and why black lives matter. We want to talk about what we can do in the community to pull all of these stressors together and solve these problems.”

She said the idea is to create sub-committees to address the issues and then meet once a month as a group to help finding answers.

“We are creating a grassroots movement to impact these issues like health, finance, safety and economic development,” Didlick-Davis said. “We are going to look at the whole piece. We have declared war on the ills of this community. We are going to take our community back.”

The Rev. Michael Bailey, a local minister and a police chaplain, said it is important to continue a dialogue in order to address the problems affecting the city. He announced one of the upcoming steps:.

“Next Friday at 6 p.m. at the Bell Tower in the city and we are asking for the faith community and community at-large to come out and be a part of this movement so we can identify and pray over the issues that are at hand. We need to help these young men in our city that need education, need jobs and need a plan that will keep them off the streets.”

Dr. Chris Urso, president of the school board, and community leader Dr. Sam Johnson Jr., discussed how poverty affects education and stressed the need to make sure children not only stay in school but receive encouragement to thrive.

“We can’t do this alone — it takes all of us to make a change,” Johnson said. “We need to stay focused on cultural capital with our kids. From the superintendent to parents and kids, we all need to get out of our comfort zones to make a difference.”

Urso noted that the school system is constantly adjusting to rules from the state and federal mandates, but the schools want to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.

“I think as a community we have to be mindful of what is the purpose of school,” Urso said. “Is the goal to create a bunch of young people to get jobs and work or create kids that are critical thinkers? I think as a community we accept ready-made answers for those questions.”

The discussion moved into the dismal infant mortality rate for black babies in Butler County. Statistics from the Ohio Department of Health were shared that show black babies die at three times the rate of whites.


Help to stop gun violence in Middletown:

Anyone with information about a crime is asked to call Lt. James Cunningham at 513-425-7737.

Community leaders are willing to listen to help stop the gun violence. Contact the Rev. Michael Bailey at 513-422-6223; Steven Hartman at 513-267-9129; and the Rev. Mark Monroe at 513-334-7570.

Infant mortality rates were discussed Saturday in Middletown as one of the factors plaquing the black community:

The number of infant deaths in Ohio increased from 955 in 2014 to 1,005 last year, or a mortality rate of 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, according to the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Health. By comparison, the U.S. infant mortality rate is 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.

The overall infant mortality rate is lower in Butler County, where there were 31 infant deaths in 2015, or a death rate of 5.5 per 1,000 births. However, the rate at which black babies die to white babies continues to be disproportionate.

Deaths of white babies dropped from 9.1 in 2014 to 5.5 in 2015 per 1,000 births. Deaths of black babies more than tripled in that same time frame, with 6.7 in 2014 to 23.0 in 2015 per 1,000 births

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