Preventing gun violence, cultivating peaceful communities and supporting youth so they do not fall into despair

Guns scare me.  I’d rather not be around them, not talk about them. But ignoring their presence in the world doesn’t make them go away, and gun violence persists. Sadly, sometimes gun violence has to impact someone we care about before we are brave enough to speak out about it.

There are more weapons in the hands of private citizens (393 million) than there are American citizens. According to WAMU,

“Recent surveys find that about 40% of adult Americans own a gun or live with someone who does. A majority of those gun owners cite protection as their primary reason for owning a gun, and most believe the gun or guns they own make their homes safer. But research has consistently shown that households with guns are actually less safe — with markedly higher risks for accidental deaths, suicides and domestic homicides.”

Clergy for Safe Cities understands the danger of guns. Led by Brooklyn’s 67^th Precinct Clergy Council’s “God Squad,” Clergy for Safe Cities held a recent National Clergy Gun Violence Prevention Summit with Senator Chuck Schumer and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul where Senator Schumer mentioned how we need a universal background check law that he will advocate for when it is re-introduced in Congress.  Faith leaders from around the country have also signed onto a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in support of gun violence prevention.

We must advocate for such federal policies, but also work towards gun violence prevention in our own communities in whatever ways we can.  What better way to do this than by ensuring that youth have quality education and opportunities?  Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul perhaps said it best during the National Clergy Gun Violence Prevention Summit:

“What we can control are giving people better options, better opportunities. I was in Brooklyn a couple years ago when we announced something called Work for Success, asking corporations and employers to sign a pledge that they will hire people who have been incarcerated. We know that people who have paid their debt to society, they come out, the temptation is great to slip into their old world. We can stop that by giving them the dignity of a good job, we get companies to agree to do that. We also have to address, that there have been a lot of people who have lost their jobs, that are desperate right now. Workforce development training will help them have the dignity of a job. Even something like good nutrition programs to make sure that our youngest kids are growing up healthy and have the best chances of success. A home over their heads…There is so much going on that we can control. And that is taking care of people when they are younger. Give them good role models. Bring them to our churches. We know the mamas and the grandmas are there, I sit there often. And I say, where are the young people, where are the young men who need to hear the Word of God, to have a strong role model in their clergy guide them to a better life?”

What are better opportunities that we can be providing youth, that also give youth the opportunity to work towards a better, more sustainable world?  One promising program is the Next Generation of Leaders Institute organized by Kellogg Foundation Fellows in 2015. This program provided ways for vulnerable youth in Mississippi to learn about culinary arts and healthy lifestyles and expand their worldviews. Per the video:

“Over the course of 5 days in July, 48 youth were afforded the opportunity to travel beyond the familiar, experience the broader world, and to envision a future that holds immense opportunity and promise. These participants were engaged in social, educational, and cultural experiences that challenged their perspectives. The Next Generation of Leaders Institute, NGLI, helped broaden their understanding of the world and their place in it as young adults. One of the greatest needs for Mississippi teenagers is the opportunity to explore the world beyond the confines of their family, neighborhood, and school settings."  The program integrated "self-discovery, health and wellness education, and community-based change in a comprehensive leadership program that allowed students to see themselves as agents of social change….The measured impact of the NGLI on these youth saw their perceptions of health, society, race, and their own future narrative expand over the course of their engagement, providing that when given the opportunity, young people are more than willing to actively seek to better themselves and their neighbors.”

This type of program is needed for youth across the country and even the world. We also need trauma-informed schools with teachers and administrators who care deeply about the welfare of each student, like the school featured in the film Paper Tigers. As well as forums for youth to organize for restorative justice such as Sistas and Brothas United.

There are so many more solutions that need to be discussed. Like Pace e Bene’s Nonviolent Cities Project, turning guns into plowshares, Cure Violence, identifying where states stand on the Giffords Center Gun Law Scorecard, and organizing that can happen through States United To Prevent Gun Violence. Successful gun buyback efforts that incentivize turning guns in by offering something community members need, like iPads that children could use for remote learning. Also, ensuring that those who are incarcerated are given dignity by prioritizing their COVID-19 vaccination, and improving procurement of quality food in prisons.  I’m a fan of having these conversations over a meal, which might not be possible much now during the pandemic but is something we should think about for when we’ve all been vaccinated and the pandemic subsides.  My hope is that conversations around building healthy communities through Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community will involve mindfulness around what is needed to create nourishing, sustainable food systems – including how to support youth in doing so for future generations – and the healing that is truly needed in order to build a resilient, Beloved Community.

More than anything, youth need to be shown that they are loved, that they are children of God. Not just told, but meaningfully, tangibly shown by walking alongside them, sharing in their struggles, providing them opportunities, expanding their horizons. That is what one man, Ray Engelking, did during his lifetime as a father, and as a teacher in at both West Bend High School and Moraine Park Technical College in Wisconsin. That man was tragically shot and killed in his own home by a 30-year old intruder who did not have the benefit of knowing Mr. Engelking during his lifetime. In Ray’s honor, his family has set up the Ray Engelking Memorial Scholarship Fund for at risk students from West Bend High School to attend Moraine Park Technical College. Coming full circle, this scholarship fund will offer at-risk youth the opportunity to create a path of success for themselves, while also offering a way for the family and community to hopefully heal from the pain and grief of the loss of their beloved father, husband, teacher, and neighbor. While the loss of Ray’s life to gun violence was not able to be prevented, I’m sure he would want others’ lives to be saved through the compassion and educational opportunities that will be provided through this scholarship fund.

In a world where so many are falling into despair, every little thing we do makes a difference. It is like the story of the boy and the starfish:

When asked what he was doing, “The young boy paused, looked up, and replied ‘Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves. When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.’ 

The old man replied, ‘But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.’

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, ‘It made a difference to that one!’”