UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, March 7, 1994
5
Emanuel Cleaver speaks at KU
KC mayor focuses on kids and crime
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Manuel Cleaver has seen both ends of the urban life of children and youth.
As mayor of Kansas City, Mo., he has worked to create community alternatives for youth — alternatives to joining gangs.
And as pastor of the Saint James Paseo United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Mo., he has presided over too many funerals of young crime victims, he said.
Cleaver was the keynote speaker Friday at a symposium conducted at Green Hall and sponsored by the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. The journal is a publication of the KU School of Law.
The topic of the two-day symposium was the working poor. Cleaver's speech focused on child neglect in the national political agenda.
"People are being shot in the head
every day, and the biggest news story for the past four weeks was about a woman who got hit on the knee." Cleaver said, his voice rising and his finger pounding the lectern at times. "We have virtually imposed a death sentence on thousands and thousands of children."
Cleaver said the failure to focus on children and the United States' penchant for quick-fix solutions was condemning inner-city children.
"This nation believes that superficiality is the way to address problems," he said. "Band-aid solutions won't work when you are suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in your chest."
Not requiring people to register guns, Cleaver said, was exacerbating urban violence. He said the government made people register their bicycles and dogs, but not guns.
"Are you more afraid of being licked on the leg by a poole or shot in the head by a 13-year-old?" he asked. "Last year, there were 60 people killed in Canada by guns. There were 16 killed in Kansas City last month and 153 all of last year."
Cleaver said that with more than 210 million guns in the country and 2 to 3 million more being produced each year, there was no way not to expect violence and crime to be gripping cities.
However, he said that most people had nothing to fear from crime.
"We have whipped up fear of crime," he said. "But 80 percent of the murders in Kansas City are committed in 4 percent of the geography. And 95 percent of the murders are black-on-black violence. You don't have anything to fear from crime. I do, but you don't."
Cleaver said that solutions to crime included evening activities for youth, community policing, gun buy-back programs and, most important, jobs.
"There is no single answer, but I'm convinced a job is the best reducer of criminal behavior," he said.
Donald Lee, a Topeka law student and editor of the journal, said that Cleaver's comments made a lot of sense.
"He's got his finger on the pulse of his community, and he's right about the fear of crime," Lee said.
Barkis jumps to attorney general race
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
Marvin Barkis decided where his name will be on the August primary ballot.
The former speaker of the House of Representatives, who had been seeking the Democratic nomination for governor for more than a year, said Friday he was leaving that race and entering the race for attorney general.
Barkis' decision leaves two people seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination: State Rep. Joan Wagnon and U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, both of Topeka.
Barkis said that he began to consider the attorney general race after Tom Sullivan, the perceived front-runner, was killed in an automobile accident Feb. 18 in Arizona. Barkis said he had received encouragement from his supporters and supporters of Sullivan to seek the nomination.
"I believe I'm going to get the vast majority of his supporters," Barkis said. "I feel very sympathetic and sensitive to the family of Tom Sullivan. They know I've been looking at attorney general."
Barkis produced a list of 62 Democratic legislators expressing support of his decision.
Leadership and experience in the Legislature, Barkis said, would be the best qualities he would bring to the race.
"As attorney general, I will enforce the laws of Kansas," he said. "We've got to take the monsters off the streets, we've got to stop creating monsters. I will work to ensure that our laws are upheld and that when they are violated, punishment follows."
Barkis joins Topeka lawyer Jerry Shelor and Sedgwick County Assistant District Attorney Richard Schodorf in the democratic primary.
Schodorf was quick to point out dif ferences between himself and Barkis
"I really don't think this is going to affect my position in the race at all," Schodorf said. "I remain the only prosecutor in the race. I think it's going to be hard for Marvin to make this switch from governor to an office he has absolutely no experience with."
Shelor said that Barkis' record as speaker did not show concern about crime.
"His candidacy will give Kansas voters a clear choice between my commitment to crack down hard on crime and Mr. Barkis' soft-on-crime record," he said.
Although his opponents may believe that Barkis made a wrong decision by leaving the race for governor, Russel Getter, associate professor of political science, said the change was probably a good idea for Barkis.
"I would imagine his statewide polls were showing him not doing very well in the governor's race," Getter said.
Getter said he didn't think Barkis was reacting only to Sullivan's death.
"I think he is reflecting the wishes of his constituency, because he is not engaging some kind of fratricidal warfare with Jim Slattery."
Getter said that the most important thing Barkis could do now was establish statewide recognition before the primary.
"There is not as much free media running for attorney general," he said, "so getting good name identification is very important."
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
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