High school students speak on youth violence in their communities

By Aria Brent,
AFRO Staff Writer,
abrent@afro.com

#education

Youth violence has been a topic of concern and conversation across the country for parents, school officials and law enforcement— but what about for the students themselves? 

According to Youth.gov, a federal website that provides interactive tools and resources to youth-serving organizations and community partnerships, homicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24. Every day, approximately 12 young people are victims of homicide. 

This week the AFRO spoke with teens to get their direct feedback on issues such as gun violence and carjackings, which are becoming more common—some think due to social media.

“They’re imitating what they see on social media,” said 16-year-old, Anthony Allton. “Teens are young, dumb, naive and reckless. Whatever they see on the internet, they want to do it in real life and I feel like that’s a big influence.” 

Allton is a native of Columbus, Ohio., a region that is dealing with the effects of the infamous “Kia Boys,” but not quite as hard as other midwestern cities, like Chicago.  “Kia Boys” are groups made up of people that have connected with each other in their respective zip codes with the sole purpose of stealing cars— namely the Kia brand. According to information released by the Chicago Office of the Mayor, “thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles in Chicago surged from about 500 in the first half of 2022 to more than 8,350 during the second half of the year. Thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles continue to comprise more than half of all vehicles stolen in Chicago in 2023.” 

Allton noted that the environment many young people are being raised in plays a key role in the frequency of violence in his area, 

“The surroundings and environments that a lot of teens have is definitely impacting their behavior. The way they’re growing up has been a big factor that has led them to act this way. Their parents aren’t involved enough,” explained Allton. 

The young scholar shared that while he, nor any of his close friends, have participated in the string of crimes and violence plaguing the city of Columbus, he recognizes just how easily he could.

“It’s so easy to get a gun. I could go and get a rifle right now because of how available they are,” he said. 

Fellow classmate, Keziah Jackson shared similar sentiments noting that easy gun accessibility is a big part of the increase in youth gun violence.

“We as young people have way too much access to firearms. It’s too easy for us to get our hands on them and nobody is discouraging the use of them either,” said Jackson, 17. “It’s almost like people are doing it because they think it’s cool. All the girls seemed to be impressed with the bad boys, and all the bad boys want to impress the girls. Those two reasons are fueling the issue.”

Jackson and Allton are student athletes at Centennial High School, a public school that is a part of Ohio’s largest school district, Columbus City Schools (CCS). Although the district hasn’t had any active shooter situations, they’ve made headlines multiple times due to firearms being brought to school by students. In March of this year safety concerns grew when it was reported that a 12th weapon had been found in a CCS school during the 2022-2023 academic school year. 

“There have been so many bomb threats and lockdowns throughout the district,” shared Jessica Smith, a 15-year-old sophomore at Columbus Alternative High school (CAHS). “Even with the metal detectors, people are somehow still managing to bring weapons to school and it’s scary.” 

Although in-school violence is a concern for the youth who spoke with the AFRO, Jackson is especially concerned about how it’s affecting her generation’s ability to socialize and enjoy themselves in both scholastic settings and while out in the community.

“We can’t go anywhere without being afraid that it’s going to get shot up or something bad is going to happen. A lot of us are paranoid that something is going to go wrong so we just stay in the house,” exclaimed Jackson. “When we do go out, we can’t really enjoy ourselves because our head is on a swivel and we’re on the lookout for danger.” 

Only teens themselves, the young people who went on record about the issue say they aren’t entirely sure what needs to be done to resolve or lessen these issues that are affecting them and their peers in such a personal way. However, they did note that guidance, mentorship and involvement from the adults in the community is desperately needed.

“They need guidance! They need someone to sit them down and tell them that this isn’t right and that there’s more to life than what they’re currently doing,” Jackson stated. “Some people can’t help where they come from and what they’ve experienced but we need positive role models to show them different than what they’ve always known.” 

Allton expressed similar sentiments, sharing that too many parents are allowing their kids to behave as they please and more parental involvement is needed in order to help these issues.

“I would like to see their parents play a role in this. Their parents or whoever has custody of them needs to speak up and try to make a change,” Allton exclaimed. “A lot of these kids get caught, get out and then nine times out of 10, they do it again. Somebody that is responsible for them should step in.”

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