Baltimore activist Doc Cheatham calls on Black men to take action against youth crime

By Tashi McQueenAFRO Political Writertmcqueen@afro.com As youth crime rates rise, Baltimore leaders are bringing the stakeholders together to try and find a community-level solution. Homicides are at 251 in Baltimore City as of Dec. 15, which means the city is on track to break its 300 annual homicide record after nine years, but auto thefts are a persistent problem, as well—up 227 percent, largely due to youth.& Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Matthew Henson Neighborhood Association, is leading an effort to stop youth crime in Baltimore through a three-pillar initiative – one tenet being a call to action for Black men. “It’s not OK for us to accept the fact that children are basically running our city now, and they actually know it.” “We’ve reached out to all people and all men, but we put a special emphasis on Black men because it is Black boys and girls that are doing this,” said Cheatham. “The Matthew Henson Neighborhood Association is the group who started this, and that was because we’ve experienced three shootings in the last 18 months outside of Carver Vocational-Technical High School.” “We know we have a big problem,” he continued. “I think the first thing is...