One out of four African-Americans between about 15 and 45 is involved with
the criminal justice system.

That should have been African-American males, bad enough.
Those of you who love plants and are younger than I am, march yourselves down
to the nearest park department, juvenile detention center, mental hospital,
Salvation Army, etc., and volunteer a few hours a week. Start an Explorer Post.
If you don't know where to begin, contact AHTA. New York State has grants
available for schoolteachers to start a garden project. Find your neighborhood
schoolteacher and offer to help. One of the tragedies in Syracuse is that our
local psychiatric hospital has a greenhouse which has stood idle for years. No
money, no staff, no volunteers.
If you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)