In your face

Teenagers in the South End aren't waiting for adults to create a better future. They have their own plans.

Cityscape by Sarah McNaught

To hear the story of Jomone Bing, you might write him off as just another of the city's stereotypical troubled youths. The strikingly handsome 17-year-old has been charged with possession of a gun, attempted murder, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He admits to having used and sold drugs. And his home life hasn't been anything to celebrate, either. His abusive father was a known drug dealer who used to take Bing along when he worked. At the age of 10, Bing found his grandmother -- who he says was like a mother to him -- murdered in her apartment. "As I got older, I became fascinated with the street life," says the teen.

But Bing is different now. The high- school graduate, who will attend Bunker Hill Community College in the fall, works six hours a day at the Blackstone Community Health Center and spends the rest of his time rallying his peers to speak out on government issues, school crises, and housing dilemmas that might, as he puts it, deplete any hope for a decent future in Boston for kids his age.

And Bing is not alone in his crusade. In increasing numbers, South End teens are getting involved -- speaking out at city- ordinance hearings, gathering at rallies, and masterminding neighborhood youth projects. Many of these kids are the ones who came together five years ago for the first annual Peace Conference organized by the local nonprofit organization Teen Empowerment. Now, with crime -- particularly juvenile crime -- at a 20-year low, these teens have not melted back into the brick-front tenements and wooden triple-deckers that make up their neighborhoods. On the contrary, they are working to change the police and juvenile court systems, the city government, and the public schools.

And they are being heard, says Pat Cusick, executive director of the South End Neighborhood Service Center, a neighborhood activist group made up of local residents. "They have a voice and they are using it in a very positive, intelligent way," says Cusick. "People could learn a lot from these teens."

ON A breezy summer night, just outside the Northeastern University parking lot on Columbus Avenue, South End residents have gathered for a rally. They are there to protest the city's decision to allow Northeastern to build dorms on a parcel of public land that residents want to see used for affordable housing. Bing and some friends stand on a grassy hill behind the demonstrators, ready to spring into action.

Bing has a mission. He is there with his friends to help local activists get the word out that "Roxbury is not for sale." The teen, red Cardinals cap turned backward, maneuvers his way through the crowd. He appears to be just another kid, but the rally coordinators -- veteran political activist Mel King and state representative Byron Rushing, to name a few -- know who he is and why he's there. With a nod from his adult counterparts, the broad-shouldered youth begins his task.

"Please read this flier. It will tell you what the city is doing, because the city won't," he explains as he hands a white sheet to the first of many gatherers.

"People need to realize the power today's youth have," says Stanley Pollack, the founder of Teen Empowerment, which hires teens for local leadership projects. "They are our future, and we are at a point where we are not telling them that. Instead, they are informing us."

The kids all agree on one thing: the South End is the only home they know, and unless they speak out, it won't be there for them in the future. "This city is stuck in cycles. They just keep trying to change things without giving people who live here any say," explains 17-year-old Helen Sostre, who attended the Save Roxbury rally. "Well, we are young and arrogant enough to say, Don't underestimate us. We will be heard. This is our future you are screwing with."

Young activists have spoken out before. But last month was the first time South End teens took part in a public hearing held by the Boston Redevelopment Association (BRA). The South End was faced with the BRA's plan to tear down a basketball court that was one of the few open spaces left for kids in the neighborhood. Several adults got together, according to Rushing, and took the problem to the courts.

Located beside the Blackstone Community Health Center on East Brookline Street, the fenced-in outdoor court is usually occupied by a handful of teens tossing the ball around or younger kids riding their bikes. The BRA claims it never intended to get rid of the court, but only to move it away from the building.

But Sostre, Bing, and others say they know of similar promises that were broken in the past, and they weren't going to let it happen again. So they showed up at the hearing to voice their concerns.

What is most amazing, Rushing says, is that the kids had very little time to prepare. "There is no way the kids would have known about this [hearing]. They don't read legal notices in the paper," he explains. "But we have a group of adults who took the message to the kids and let them fight for it."

South End youths aren't just reacting to issues but attacking them head-on. During Teen Empowerment's 1998 conference, teens took their concerns about teacher-student interaction to the group's counselors. Within a few months, the kids had developed a list of 22 goals for the coming school year. That list evolved into a well-organized, completely youth-run orientation program at Dorchester High School. For two weeks, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., this fall's new freshmen will attend workshops on curriculum choices, sports activities, extracurricular programs, and teacher relations.

Erica Anderson, an outspoken 15-year-old who is full of one-liners, is one of the youths running the orientation program. Anderson, who works at Teen Empowerment and attends Dorchester High, says the program is necessary for several reasons. Its creators hope it will forge a bond between new students and upperclassmen, as well as educate teachers on how to deal with kids who see their school time as a way to escape sometimes difficult home lives.

"For a lot of kids everything happens at school. It's like their second home because their real home is so screwed up," explains Anderson, who says she is going to be either a psychologist or an award-winning music producer. "So if school has such a big impact on our lives, then we should not be taking subordinate roles when we're there."

She and many other teens believe that if new high schoolers develop a camaraderie with the upperclassmen, then the transition to high school will be much smoother, and they'll find it easier to learn. "But that's just the first step," says Anderson, tugging on her oversize red T-shirt as she rocks forward in her chair to emphasize her point. "The teachers have to get in on this. Whether it be their own training or their availability to us, the teachers have to become more active in our lives."

John O'Connor, a candidate for the Eighth Congressional District who was at the Save Roxbury rally, has spent many years working with inner-city kids and he says he is amazed at the change he has seen in the past few years.

"You have to listen to these kids, even the troubled ones, because in every story there is a kernel of a solution," says O'Connor. "Kids all over the district are becoming very active and their voices are incredibly strong, much more than ever before."

Josué De Leon isn't quite sure what his role is. But the 15-year-old is getting his feet wet. A lean kid, tall and handsome, he is working alongside Anderson in the Dorchester High orientation program.

"I like to hear everyone's stories, because I have a pretty normal family life and I want to know where the problems are," explains De Leon as he fiddles with the silver chain around his neck. "It's like this. I live here and I don't want to live in a dump. I'm not sure what my role is yet, but I'm not going to stop until I find out. There's too much at stake not to."

Sarah McNaught can be reached at smcnaught[a]phx.com.