Thursday, December 17, 2009

Purrs 4 Peace Week 28 Announcement: LET'S GANG UP ON GANGS

“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” - Mickey Mantle


U.S. Government in its January 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are approximately 1 million members belonging to various gangs in this country. As much as 80% of crime in many communities can be attributed to gang activity spanning from destruction of property to armed robbery, auto theft, drug trafficking, home invasion, gun violence and more. In fact, at least 65% of communities with populations of 100,000 or more experience gang related homicides.


And gang activity is not just in large cities anymore. Gangs are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural areas for a many of reasons, including expanding drug distribution territories, increasing illicit revenue, recruiting new members, hiding from law enforcement, and escaping other gangs.


The conclusion of the Threat Assessment was that gangs pose a serious threat to the public safety in communities around the U.S.


There are a myriad reasons why young people join a gang, but chief among them are: poverty, peer pressure, boredom and hopelessness. It can be no surprise that the lack of inner peace and lack of peace in our world generates the conditions that create gangs. And then the gangs create more conditions of violence and unrest that beget more youth ripe for indoctrination. Clearly unrest begets unrest, chaos begets chaos, violence begets violence.


The good news is that Peace begets Peace. So this week we will purr to bring peace and harmony to our communities. We will purr to eradicate the blight that is gang violence.

Week 28 of Purrs 4 Peace details are as follows:

  • Week twenty-eight’s appointed time is Sunday, December 20, 2009.
  • Participants should purr for three minutes commencing at 3 p.m. EST (U.S.) which is 8:00 p.m. (20:00 hrs.) BST in the U.K.
  • The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking and nuzzling the cat at the appointed time.
  • Please post your cat name and the country you purr in at www.confuciuscat.blogspot.com as a COMMENT if you are participating in this historic project. (posting a link to your own website-if you have one-is encouraged.) Or let me know by message on twitter or facebook.
  • Posting purrs on facebook ( Acolytes of Confucius Cat or as friend to Alley Mason) and twitter (@ConfuciusCat) is encouraged, since it inspires purring in others, but not required. On twitter please use #purrs4peace in your tweets.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We always are purraying for peace!!!

Brian's Home Blog said...

My sisters and I will be purring with you!

dangerkitty said...

We'll all be purring!

Bruce said...

I'm ready for week 28!

Jenny Threet said...

I used to work with these kids, and I'd like to add some things please:
1) These kids are statistically more likely to consume less nutritionally complete foods because of a lack of money, a lack of area retailers selling healthy foods, and a lack of education about proper nutrition.
2) These kids tend to do worse in school. Part of this is due to the chaotic family and community environments, but it also has to do with less money and less-qualified teachers being sent to schools in their area, as well as societal ideas that this kids can't learn (which I can assure you is NOT true!).
3) These children are taken advantage of by people wishing to make money by any means possible, including musicians glorifying violence, gun dealers who do not follow gun laws, and drug traffickers who coerce these kids into working for them.
4) These kids don't expect to live to be an adult. I wish I could express in words the depths of hopelessness they really feel.

I am so glad you've chosen to Purr for Peace for these children. And despite their choice of illegal and immoral behaviors, they really are mostly children and they really don't understand the consequences of their actions on their community.

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

We will be purring. S,S & F from MS, USA