Children of Camden

I found the 20/20 special profiling 3 children in Camden, New Jersey to be rather frightening. The amazing thing is, I know a lot of people from bad areas in New Jersey. There's a basketball court in East Orange that I used to go to a lot, where kids from East Orange, Newark, and Bloomfield (where my cousins live) would play for bragging rights. Things got heated and we'd yell a bit, people smoked weed occasionally in the back, but nothing ever got out of hand, and I never felt like I was in danger just being there. We'd always shake hands after games, have a laugh, and talk trash about next time. We go to Paterson all the time... it's the only place we can get good pita bread and tahini. I have a lot of other relatives who live in bad areas of Burlington or Willingboro. The house where my father grew up, and my grandmother lived until she passed away in 2007, is only 12 miles outside of Camden. Yet, it feels like a different world. Yeah, there were some drug dealers and some crime at night, but I've played many a basketball game in the parks there without hearing gunshots. It's sobering to see how different Camden is not only from the Saddle Rivers and Alpines of NJ, but even from some of the other urban areas in the state ("Needle Park" just flat out baffled me, but I'll get to that later).

The naive part of me, who had a rather privileged childhood, wants to dismiss the Camden story. I want to think of it as ABC's media tugging at the heart strings (seriously, Ivan and Moochie are 2 of the cutest kids I've ever seen on TV) to emphasize the class differences a year before elections, hoping to inspire people to vote Democrat. But I know better.

The stories are truly heartbreaking, and of course the obvious question is, what can be done? ABC apparently set up a way for viewers to donate, and they reached their goal very quickly, allowing them to provide some services and gifts to the children featured. But what does that really do? My father was poor growing up, and always said that he hates when people develop "white guilt" when they see the hardships of minorities, and decide to lend a hand out of pity. I hope those kind enough to donate were actually intrinsically motivated to try and improve the situation of a poor city, instead of pitying the cute kids the same way they would take a stray cat to the vet for some vaccinations.

Of course, news pieces like this are meant to evoke some emotional reactions. There's a reason they profiled adorable kids from families who were troubled enough to feel bad for, but not too troubled to alienate the viewers (for example, there was no "single mother who turned to prostitution" featured here... something tells me we'd be less inclined to donate and help that family). But at the end of the day, any significant, lasting change is going to have to come from the government, not relying ABC documentaries (that take years to film) to motivate a few strangers to open their wallets. And of course, although Camden appears to be in a worse situation than most urban areas, the fact is there are many other areas in New Jersey and in the US that need serious help. Are news pieces supposed to bring all of those to light? Of course not.

Again, the naive part of me immediately jumps to short-sighted, unreasonable questions like "we spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix problems overseas, why can't we fix our domestic problems first?" or "ABC is owned by Disney... if they care so much, why don't they do something?" I know things aren't that black-and-white, but clearly there is a lack of effort involved in Camden's situation. Governor Corzine told the children featured in the 20/20 piece that they would clean up the parks. When 20/20 visited with the kids 9 months after they were initially profiled, Diane Sawyer visited the parks, and Moochie pointed out all the used needles still on the grounds. Clean parks for children to play in doesn't seem like an unreasonable request, yet it appears the powers that be still drag their feet. And as for ABC helping out... all I can say is in reality, it's not their place.

At the end of the day, I don't really know what to make of something like this. It's sad and depressing, but there isn't a whole lot that can be done in the short term. I just think it's great that all 3 kids managed to have truly positive demeanors, whether it was the work ethic to juggle a part-time job and high school to support a family, or the excitement of going to school and starting the long path to becoming a judge. It just shows that no matter how dire situations may be, there's always a ray of hope. Some people are unfortunately born into more difficult situations than others, and have to work a lot harder to succeed, but it certainly can, and has, been done. The kids profiled here look like they have the strength of character to overcome their disadvantages. Of course, only time will tell.