Jenice Armstrong: Psychologist: Teen thugs need hugs

THE PROBLEM of Philadelphia's violent teen mobs is the biggest hot-button issue of the summer and one that Charles A. Williams III, an educational psychologist and director of the Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence, has been spending a lot of time thinking about lately. He sat down with me last week for a wide-ranging conversation that touched on Mayor Nutter, juvenile curfews and hip-hop.

 Jen: Someone needs to open a can of whoop-ass on flash-mob hooligans, right?

Charles: They really need a hug more than an ass-whipping.That's going to be my new campaign, "Hugs, not ass-whippings."

The toughest kid is always the biggest baby and the one always in need of love and a hug. They tend to be smarter than you think - more aware than you think and more malleable.

Jen: Yeah, but when you read about random beatdowns and thefts, you forget that.

Charles: The research says you've got to be careful about corporal punishment, because it can teach kids that violence is a solution, and it's not.

Jen: True, but old-fashioned corporal punishment worked for a lot of us. My dad didn't think anything of taking a swipe at me if I messed up.

Charles: I've got to put on my social-science hat and say what you're trying to do is isolate a variable.

Jen: Keep it plain, Doc.

Charles: What are they really missing? Positive role models. The black family is in worse shape than it has ever been . . . because family today is an option. It wasn't in the past. You've got baby mamas, baby dads, kids raising themselves. I'm driving home at night at 1 o'clock in the morning from doing what young adults do and I've got 9-, 10-, 11-year-olds cutting me off on a bike or just walking. "Where the hell are you coming from? Who let you out at night?"

Jen: A lot of folks assume flash mobs have something to do with race, but I don't hear them saying the same thing about rioting in London.

Charles: It's racial to the point that you're talking about poor black kids who want attention. That's how it's racial. A disproportionate number of them are suffering economically, socially, politically, spiritually - that's how it's racial . . . but if you look at what's happening in London, it's a community of people in need. It's, like, b------, pay attention to me. And if you won't, then "I've got something for you."

Jen: You aren't a fan of a lot of commercial hip-hop.

Charles: We need a new term - I hope you print this - called bum-hop. That means it's hip-hop created by bums exploiting the community for 30 shekels - they are making money off of our pain and suffering and giving very little back in terms of anything positive that could benefit us. . . . Hip-hop is raising our kids, and right now it's toxic. Commercial hip-hop is toxic to black youth today. What do I mean? Maybach Music, Rick Ross and all them, they are not telling them anything positive. People say, "Well, that's not their responsibility." I disagree. If you're, on the one hand, going to say, "I'm about the black community and I'm black and I'm about the struggles and I'm here to talk about what's going on," then you have a responsibility to do what you can through your words to uplift, and if you don't then, then it's bum-hop, as I just said . . .

Jen: So, what about this teen-mob situation in Philadelphia?

Charles: I think it's already starting to dissipate. It goes in waves. It's sort of a fad. What I didn't like was Michael Nutter demonizing youth culture. . . . First of all, nobody wears a pick anymore. That tells you how far away he is from the young black community, out of touch he is. . . . I wear hoodies. Some of them are very expensive. I'm not giving them up for nobody. [And some kids] like wearing skinny-leg jeans that are pulled down a little bit . . .

Jen: What about the curfew for teens?

Charles: I like that. Some people don't. . . . If [the flash-mobs thing] starts during the school year, I'm going to tell the mayor to make it 7 o'clock.

Jen: Everywhere you go, I guess, people ask you about the teen mobs, huh?

Charles: I can't wait to turn the page . . . because it's not really getting to what's at the core. It's a symptom of a larger issue.