The Brownsville Economy

There are about 1,560 working age adults living in the Brownsville Borough. At any one time, we employ 25-30 drug dealers in the community. Dealers don’t typically work alone. If you count their familial support, their runners, their attorneys, their friends who serve as eyes and ears… it’s not hard to imagine 100-150 folks involved in the supply side of this economy. That’s about 10% of our population. Clearly it is one of the biggest employers in the community. The Brownsville Economy is a Drug Economy.

And I have known many dealers over the years. They are kids, neighbors, friends, grandmothers. They are black, they are white. Some consistently elude the law, many are incarcerated, some are dead.

I have had frightening encounters, thoughtful conversations and shocking points of view from dealers.

We have a very active and brazen dealer still living on our block and selling on our corner. Three times in the past few weeks we have run right into a deal. The unpredictability of a wild animal protecting its home and territory is the best way to describe such an encounter.

I have counseled and prayed with men at my kitchen table who believe they are morally justified in selling drugs as long as the money is used to put food on the table.

I have listened to men use oppression and racism as an excuse to lash back and seek vengeance through selling drugs to those of a different color.

There is not a single reason why the dealer exists. There is not a single solution to the problem. The “War on Drugs” may be a great description of what happens in Columbia, along our borders and against the cartels. But in Brownsville and neighborhoods across our country, the war is against kids, neighbors and families. It’s against a culture, against apathy and even oppression.

And the cost is found in despair, destroyed lives, and the “hard cost” of addictions, law enforcement, treatment and crime that is estimated to be nearly $181 billion (ONDCP Study).

Who can help?

Government. But laws and regulation won’t overcome corruption and the inability to enforce.

Business. But economic opportunity won’t overcome sloth and hatred.

The Church. But silence must be replaced by action.

It will take all and all working and all working together.