Toronto, My City

I live in the heart of Toronto. I also work and go to school in the heart of Toronto. I take the public transit every day and walk all over this beautiful city, something that I have done for the past 7 years.

My city has a beautiful waterfront. It has historic sites and beautiful museums. My school, university of Toronto, is a century and a half old. My father has supervised the construction of many elementary schools in this city and my mom teaches the kids in one of them.

My city is clean. It is the most multi-cultural city in the world and it has the best coffee shops and restaurants, perhaps second to Paris. My city has hot summers and white thick snow in winter.

"My city is safe". I would like to be able to say that like I used to 3 years ago. But in the past couple of years, gangs have jeopardized the safety of my city in some areas. These gangs that mostly obtain their guns in the US kill innocent people. They kill teenagers, kids, mothers and even grieving families at a church funeral. My city is in danger.

Today's Globe and Mail wrote: "Young black people tempted to adopt the urban gangster culture in Toronto now know they can kill with impunity. Canada's biggest city is in a full-fledged crisis of violence, and at the heart of it is a wall of silence in parts of the black community that protects killers. "

Toronto should be very frightened, both of the anarchy and of the us-against-them mentality that is developing in its wake. The violence is taking a horrifying toll on black youth; the divisiveness will destroy the city's social fabric.

I want to save my city but I don't know how.