Fixing York Will Require More Than Talk
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The fourth most under-resourced city in America. The second most stressed city in Pennsylvania. The first of fifteen peer cities in gun violence resulting in death.
York keeps popping up in unflattering ways in the research.
I moved to York almost 20 years ago. On three separate occasions, I have tried to move away but God shut those doors.
And boy, am I glad He did.
Today, I am more convinced than ever that York and York County has great potential to achieve what other peer cities wish they could accomplish.
And it’s interesting that other cities are watching York and sending representatives here, or asking our leaders to go to their cities, to learn from us! York City police Commissioner Michael Muldrow and his violence intervention team just completed such a trip to Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Chris Thompson, a national consultant with significant experience in helping communities collaborate, recently reinvigorated my confidence in York. He told me that in most communities in which he works, it is a struggle to find more than one community leader who is willing to act selflessly for the common good. In York, Chris has met several leaders whom he has witnessed who are willing to change their behavior. Specifically, Chris said,
“Many communities struggle with achieving enduring, community change because there are very few leaders who change their own behavior and share power in ways that will advance the common good. While many leaders insist they desire change, way too often they expect change starts with others, not themselves. In York, there are many leaders who are changing their practices and sharing power. That gives me hope, and should give others hope, as well. ”
Like most other US metropolitan areas, York has complex challenges. Fixing York will require more than just talk. Another branding campaign will not solve the crisis. Public statements, banners, and flowery flourishes on our websites will not affect the kind of change we need.
York is large enough to have big city problems, but I am also convinced that we are small enough to effect real change, a transformation that will ripple for generations.
If we are to lay the foundation of a better York, I propose that there is one belief we must hold and one commitment we must make to build the kind of culture that other communities will envy.
We must believe and act as though every Yorker has sacred dignity
“Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.”
What good would emerge in York’s common spaces if we dared to believe in one another?
Lady Bird Johnson once said, “Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.”
As a school leader, I can attest to what happens to children when you show that you believe in them. Kids that society says are destined to fail inevitably soar to great heights. This is the simple result of expressing confidence and holding them to high standards.
What do we believe about one another? How are those beliefs limiting our collective growth in York?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes,
“Perhaps the most influential phrase in Western civilization is the verse in the first chapter of Genesis in which God says, ‘Let us make in Our image and likeness’ (1:26) What is revolutionary in these words is not that a human being can be in the image of God. That was an idea familiar to the ancient world. Sumerian kings and Egyptian Pharaohs were precisely that: gods, or representations of the gods, in human form. What was new was not that a human being can be in the image of God, but that every human being is. From its inception, Judaism was a living protest against hierarchical societies that give some, but not all, dignity, power, and freedom. Instead, it insisted that if any individual is sacred, then every individual is, because each of us is made in the image of God.” (Sacks, The Dignity of Difference, 92).
How differently would you behave toward a family member, co-worker, or person walking down the sidewalk if you believed that every Yorker is endowed by their Maker with dignity?
We must not hesitate to apply this belief universally to all our neighbors, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, or lack thereof. Everyone means all of us without exclusion.
Imagine if York were a town where the voice of gossip was silenced when it reached our ears because Yorkers were known for upholding each other’s dignity.
We would be appalled to witness a neighbor’s dignity diminished by poverty, exploitation, or abuse. Compassion would cause us to seek to rectify the individual and systemic causes of our neighbor’s demise.
Belief in one another’s dignity would multiply our belief in one another’s potential.
If we believed in the potential of all Yorkers, we would be vigilant about ensuring everyone has equal access to the myriad of opportunities available in York.
We must commit that every Yorker enjoys the same freedoms we also desire
Orthodoxy (right and true beliefs) and orthopraxy (right and true practices) go together. Solid beliefs lead to the the very best kinds of commitments.
Every human deserves to be free. God made men and women as equals and He simultaneously made us different. We look different, have a variety of body shapes, and possess various skills. Rabbi Sacks calls this the dignity of difference.
In this world of emerging division and increasing violence, we must not fall prey to the belief that we can force or coerce our neighbors into believing or acting the same ways we do. We must learn to dignify differences not fear them.
Can we create space for one another to live and believe in ways that are different than our own preferences? Are Yorkers able to do this without demeaning one another? York has the potential to be a tolerant, respectful city.
I can still recall the pride I felt as a kid in knowing that my country was a magnet for global immigrants seeking opportunity. The image of the Statue of Liberty welcoming these strangers to the promise of freedom and opportunity was a matter of personal pride to me.
Only later would I fill in the gap in my knowledge of our nation’s shortcomings in delivering these promises to African slaves and Native Americans.
Even these national sins cannot erase the high ideal of freedom and opportunity for all people. We do not abandon the ideal because we fail to attain it. We repent and recommit ourselves to living up to the ideal.
Our great nation, and cities like York, are unique in the global landscape for our diversity of ethnicities, religions, and a host of other differences that make up this beautiful patchwork of a nation.
York could become a national model of collaboration
York could be a model of the kind of national recommitment we need to the vision of freedom and opportunity for all men and women. York does not need to wait for a national revival to reach us. What if we were the spark that set this country ablaze with hope?
The Hebrew prophet Micah dreamed of a day when,
Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4, NIV)
Humans deserve to be free, unafraid, and respected. When someone disagrees with what you believe to be fundamental to your understanding of meaning and purpose, you deserve tolerance and space to live your life. Each of us must be willing to reciprocate that tolerance and space. This is a simple recipe for the peaceful coexistence of people who are free and different.
“You make space for me and I will make space for you. You have your vine and fig tree, I will enjoy mine. I won’t try to take yours and I kindly ask that you don’t take mine. I would prefer to be your respectful neighbor instead of being afraid of you. Something tells me that you don’t want to live in fear of me either.”
I still believe there is something greater for York than mere coexistence. There are emerging signs, albeit very early, that York may be ripe for collaboration.
Multiple collaborations on deep social issues like affordable housing, opioid use, and public safety are in their early stages. Leaders in other communities are visiting York to see these programs firsthand.
We can all agree that empty talk won’t fix York.
What will fix York? The willingness to believe in one another’s dignity and potential. A commitment to preserving one another’s freedoms. A deep resolve to ensure opportunities are available to all of us.
York could reverse distrust, division, social anxiety, and societal collapse underway in our nation.
Something slow would shift in York. A different kind of civic culture would start to permeate the air. At first, visitors to York would not be quite able to name it, but would definitely sense that something different was present.
Visitors to York and York County would notice:
Yorkers view the City and County as mutually linked and more vibrant because of the abundance of our collective urban and rural treasures.
Groups that ordinarily battle each other for funding, collaborate in York for the common good.
York’s Black Ministers and Police Chiefs are friends.
Yorkers are quick to trust one another.
York and York County possesses a fierce unity that is not territorial nor afraid to address the tough issues we face.
York is emerging as a place of equal opportunity for all people.
Progress is not limited to York’s privileged elite, or hindered by broken systems, but is a real possibility for anyone who desires it.
Every Yorker sitting under their own vine and fig tree with no one to make them afraid.
