Reducing youth violence through cooperation
Mayors’ meeting represents a promising start to making real progress
Curbing gun violence in our communities, especially among youth and young adults, can seem so massive a challenge that it renders us paralyzed, helpless, unable to act.
In Hampton Roads, we need no reminder or further evidence of the terrible toll gun violence inflicts — not only to those directly involved, perpetrators and victims, but to the larger community as well. From last month’s shooting at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to any number of incidents in the region’s other cities, it’s painfully evident that swift, comprehensive action is required.
But where to begin? Which aspect of so complex a problem should we address first? Who should lead the charge?
Enter Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck. On Monday, Tuck convened an online discussion attended by the six other Hampton Roads mayors — Chesapeake’s Rick West, Newport News’ McKinley Price, Norfolk’s Kenny Alexander, Portsmouth’s Shannon Glover, Suffolk’s Michael Duman and Virginia Beach’s Bobby Dyer — and Anthony Smith, the executive director of Cities United, an organization “committed to reducing the epidemic of homicides and shootings among young Black men and boy ages 14 to 24.”
Progress was made. The participants didn’t agree to a plan of action or pledge to enact specific steps — that will come later — but they did articulate their concern about youth gun violence, discuss programs and solutions that are working in each community, and commit to continue the discussion with the urgency needed.
Now, that may sound like paying lip service to a serious issue, playing to the cameras or talk in the absence of action, but the value of this event was two fold.
First, it saw the elected leaders of our most populous communities gather to discuss a common and concerning problem. That is no small accomplishment in a region often plagued by petty squabbles and territorial infighting.
For all the discussion about regional unity and a shared purpose, the cities of Hampton Roads are all too quick to retreat back to their bunkers rather than working
together, especially on an emotional and difficult issue such as this.
They talked about the need to inspire hope as an antidote to the desperation and despair affecting at-risk communities, and doing that through education, employment and mentorship. They talked about programs that showed promise prior to the pandemic and commiserated about the complications created by COVID-19.
All of that should be helpful to residents, since it offers a window into the thinking of each elected leader and how each sees the problem and potential solutions. That’s informative, since it gives the public a starting point for how to engage these officials moving forward.
Second, it saw Anthony Smith provide thoughtful and promising suggestions about the necessity of approaching youth gun violence as a public health crisis rather than simply a legal or criminal problem.
Doing so invites an array of program opinions and encourages communities to examine root causes and treat the problem holistically. That changes the discussion from merely dealing with victims and perpetrators and looking instead about how communities suffer trauma as a result of violence — trauma that leaves scars and may never fully heal.
His organization promotes four violence reduction strategies he outlined, including direct engagement of individuals and groups (i.e. gangs) at risk of being victims and perpetrators of gun violence; implementing hospital-based intervention programs; using a “ceasefire” strategy to stop the cycle of reprisals; and approaching youth gun violence as a disease, bringing a host of resources to bear on the problem.
Each of these appears promising and, tailored to our communities, deliver the type of long-term progress Hampton
Roads needs to save the lives of its young people, to keep them out of the criminal justice system, to help them find gainful employment and lead productive lives.
The public should be excited by this prospect and encourage officials to continue the prospect. Working together not only makes our region stronger, it can make a real difference in each of our communities.