Cllr Lorna Campbell: We can do better

This year has seen a frightening upsurge in the number of teenage boys shot or knifed in South London. I've been closely involved in tackling violent youth crime since I was first elected to Lambeth Council in 2006.

Following a similar spate of killings in 2007 I chaired a commission into gang violence that produced the country's biggest piece of research into the causes of violent youth crime, and recommended a strategy to stop it happening. The Strategy has helped to prevent even more young people getting involved in this kind of violence, but the recent increase in killings has shocked us all. Speaking as a mother and a grandmother, I've seen enough young lives lost. Now is the time for fresh action.

Many individuals and organisations are doing significant work running projects and courses that make a difference to the young people who take part. But it's not enough. We need new ways to recreate the kind of support that was once offered by the traditional extended family, a foundation on which our communities were built. How many of us are really prepared to commit in whatever way we can to making a collective effort to come together and put right the problems that continue to plague our communities and neighbourhoods? We hear a lot of talk, but where's the action?

We know the problems. We know the causes. Our young people are frustrated at being misunderstood, they don't get the support they need from strong families or parents, the tough love children need to grow up securely is too often missing, and a culture previously based on materialism is replacing a culture based on strong values. There's poverty too - and not just financial poverty, but a poverty of aspiration, a poverty of hope.

These problems have been created by our society, so they can be fixed by our society. Government-funded organisations, projects and initiatives are not making a big enough impact. If that is all we have we will only ever put a sticking plaster over the problem. The pain will not go away. We need a collective response to the problem of violent youth crime that is killing our children. The culture of dependency has to stop. The African heritage communities - those most hurt by the problem - must bring something different to the table.

Government does have a responsibility for its citizens; however I strongly believe the primary responsibility lies with the individual because everyone is responsible for what they do and we are all responsible for the values of the society we live in. The African heritage communities must collectively act to stamp out the violent crimes our young people are committing against each other. We know the statistics: black males account for nearly two-thirds of all murders of 10-17 year olds. How can our communities continue to collude with this by standing by and allowing it to happen? It is not enough to lay blame at the doors of others while not looking at ourselves. There are many among us who have taken action but it is time to pick up the pace, time to come together and demonstrate leadership so our whole community can help save our children.

In the context of the violence affecting our young people, doing nothing makes us complicit in the killings.

Why should other people care about us if we don't care about ourselves? We can point the finger at parents, schools, faith groups, the government, the police, history and peer pressure. They all bear some responsibility, certainly. However, what about the responsibility of the African heritage communities whose children, grandchildren, nephews and cousins are perpetrators as well as victims of horrific violence that leads to young lives being destroyed?

It's time to accept responsibility and take control. We must harness the resources that lie in our community and use them to make change happen. We need volunteers ready to work with the young people who are at risk; we need funds and networks to support families that aren't coping. This is not just about getting outside agencies to do things to us - it's about making our own change. No one understands the problems facing our community better than we do. That is why the answers will be found within our community.

It's not just about money, but if a thousand of us invested just £15 a month we'd have £150,000 a year to work with. That's enough to start a support network for families, helping to improve parenting skills and provide more positive activities that raise our young people's confidence and self-esteem. We can work with new ideas like Lambeth's cooperative council to demand and get a bigger say over how public money is spent in our community so that it directly tackles the problems we see on the ground, rather than the problems that people from outside think we face. We must empower ourselves to make this happen, but with power comes responsibility.

We as a community cannot absolve ourselves by saying we played no part in what we are seeing happen around us. We have a saying: 'it takes a village to raise a child'. This wisdom tells us that we need our communities to work with the families, to help them raise their children and weather the storms of life. The resources we need are within us. The place to begin is with us. Our failure to act says that we are happy to sit back, point the finger and do nothing to bring about the change our children's lives depend on. We are better than that.

Councillor Lorna Campbell is a Labour councillor in Lambeth, and Lambeth Council's Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Sustainability. In 2006-7 she chaired Lambeth's Commission on Violent Youth Crime. She is also the founder of Progressive People's Movement which was launched at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre 2010. lorna.movement@gmail.com

Picture: Cllr Lorna Campbell