V’Lecea Hunter
University Prep High School/Youth Initiatives Project
Today’s teens use violence to retaliate a conflict because of the fear of snitching. Many teens roam the neighborhoods seeing all kinds of negative things, but are not willing to speak up because they don’t want to be labeled as a snitch. Being labeled a snitch causes people to want to fight or exclude the guilty party from different activities. I feel that if I’m living in a certain area and I see something unusual happening or negativity, I am going to speak up. I am not going to watch a person get harmed just because I am scared to speak up.
Today’s violence is also solved by using guns; many teens believe that by using a gun will be the only way they will gain respect. The gun can be either for show or for actual usage, but the point of having the gun and using it to scare someone is harmful. Many teens don’t understand that once a gun is introduced into a situation, all negative things are bound to happen. No one can sit and say “well today is my day to die”, so everyone must be mindful as to what they do and how they use or handle situations.
For instance there is one special day that is known in some parts of American and especially in the rural parts of Detroit, which the only thing people do is shoot; especially at 12:00am. This day is known as New Years Eve, people all over Detroit feel as though they are obligated to bring their New Year’s in with a bang. Well, the Youth Initiatives Project (YIP) wants an end to that. We want everyone to bring their New Year in with a hug instead of a bullet. So, to support our beliefs we have a campaign called “Hugs Not Bullets” and this campaign is to encourage everyone to not use firearms on New Years Eve. We started this campaign three years ago and had great success, so this year we want it to be even better.
Speaking as a youth myself, I have seen killings occur in my neighborhood because people wants to be hard, get respect, or even play around; but we need a end to this and it starts now!
1 comment:
I think this is a great campaign and I think you are doing a great job to promote a less violent culture which will result in a less violent culture for our kids and grandchildren and so forth. This is really great.
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