Mandatory mindfulness is a wonderful approach to teaching our youth to kumbaya their feelings of oppression, segregation and demoralization ("Mandatory mindfulness, the antidote to Baltimore violence?" May 19). Yes, as a society, we need to do a better job of teaching our youth and adults how to be more mindful, but that is not the root of the problem. That's like putting an adhesive bandage on someone who is having a heart attack. See the extreme? Our youth need more than just a class on mindfulness taught by someone who is clearly not aware of their privilege. We need to understand the unique situations our youth experience — the minority youth experience especially.
Let's really break it down and go further and remove the politically correct or "polite" labels. We are talking about our black youth and our Latino youth. They are screaming for their voices to be heard and their grievances to be met, not a silent class on how to accept the hand they have been dealt that has been created and designed for them to fail from the start.
We need our youth to have the necessary tools to not only succeed but survive. But how can you teach someone survival skills when they are prosecuted for the color of their skin, the melanin that I celebrate that is mocked by others, dismissed by many and judged and generalized on a regular basis? How can someone provide education on mindfulness when they themselves have not grasped the complexity of their situation? How do you teach a black youth about mindfulness when they see their fellow classmates, family members or other identifiable youth in the media falling victim to another senseless act of violence?
Mindfulness doesn't even begin to touch the issues of dealing with an incarcerated parent or better yet, seeing the parent being put in that situation to begin with. Mindfulness doesn't even crack the nut of understanding the choices these young people will face as they enter social services or have to plan on how they will support their families. Baltimore, as we all know, had the attention of the national media last April and tends to still be on its radar. Neighborhoods like Sandtown Winchester were areas that most avoided or passed through to head to the trendier and "safer" areas. Residents and neighbors were overwhelmed with people who practiced "mindfulness." Now, April 2016 has come and gone, and you wonder if this mindfulness has continued. We were a city that cared and shared, and we were disgusted with how the media portrayed our residents and our youth, but where are we now? The same place and in most cases, a day late and a dollar short. These young people who asked for their voices to be heard have been asked to be silent; they have been asked to be more "mindful" of others. Broken promises, a lack of planning and a lack of understanding will continue to push our youth to the brink as we reach a record number of murders and shootings in the city.
Our youth are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, and then they are being weighted down by systematic injustices. We hope that they will rise up from the ashes to be these stellar adults to prove to the world that they are above their stereotype — that they will be our "Cinderella story" so that those with privilege can pat themselves on the back and be proud of the impact they made on poor little black Johnny or little Maria who made something of themselves against all odds.
Mindfulness at the end of the day is beneficial after we understand fully what minorities face on a daily basis. Our young people must adapt, cope and survive extremely complex situations. We have the opportunity to truly hear our youth and learn from them but we are constantly telling them to be silent and mindful of others.
Diana Mitchell