1.0The Peace Alliancehttps://peacealliance.orgrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="2SFsbs8XFU"><a href="https://peacealliance.org/my-emotional-reality-check-moment-this-morning/">My emotional “reality check” moment this morning… by Matthew Albracht</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://peacealliance.org/my-emotional-reality-check-moment-this-morning/embed/#?secret=2SFsbs8XFU" width="600" height="338" title="“My emotional “reality check” moment this morning… by Matthew Albracht” — The Peace Alliance" data-secret="2SFsbs8XFU" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); /* ]]> */ </script> This morning I had an emotional "gut punch" reality check moment that really got to me -- and I felt had to write about it. I was listening to a local-based story on NPR's Morning Edition. The segment was about the low graduation rate for at-risk African American males in hard hit parts of the San Francisco Bay Area (my home). About halfway through the story, the reporter rather casually shared that the mentors and students in one school had set up an "altar in their classroom" to honor all their friends who'd been murdered. That was the first heart-wrenching moment. Then the story ended with a statement that really got to me. The reporter shared that in many of these schools the death rate, from homicide, for African American male teenagers was higher than the graduation rate. Here is what I think we need to do...