KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Memorial Day weekend was especially violent, with three homicides and several shootings throughout the Kansas City area.
Two teenagers from Independence were seriously injured in one of those incidents.
As such, youth violence has been top-of-mind for many community leaders, families, educators and law enforcement. But to better understand why it happens and how to move forward, KSHB 41 spoke with four teens between 14-19 years old.
“People my age, we’re kind of sick of it, if I’m being honest. Those who aren’t a part of it — of course, they're spilt,” said Heavenly Praise. “Although it happens a lot, it’s still impactful, you know? That person’s life was still a life.”
The teens believe there are two main factors that contribute to youth violence. First, social media.
”People can’t stand up for themselves, and they think that they can get a weapon and face the enemy,” said 15-year-old Marquise Jackson. “People just need to have a conversation and just learn how to talk to each other because people nowadays are just cussing each other out and just acting.”
Second, the teens believe there is a lack of fun community activities available to provide a place where they can spend time around healthy role models.
“If I want to go have fun and do something that’s not criminal, I have to go a ways away. And if you’re just a regular teenager, you don’t have transportation — you don’t have this," Heavenly said. "What else do I want to do? It’s so easy to just go down a block and go with your big brother and be like, 'Eh, can we go do something?' [Nine out of 10 times] it’s illegal, so what else?”
Fourteen-year-old Eddie Stewart said he would like to see community events like a cookout where neighbors both old and young can get together and develop people skills.
“I think it builds relationships. It gives people more time to get to know their culture a little bit more,” Eddie said.
Further, many teens expressed wanting adults to become more involved in their lives — extra teachers and mentors in schools as well as parents present in homes.
“I think because parents, they’re not interacting with their kids more, like they’re just going to work and leaving their kids at home just bored, they have nobody to talk to,” Marquise said.
Heavenly hopes the involvement of the church will bring resolution.
“I see more cops than I do pastors in community events, and if I’m being honest, I don’t really like that," she said. "So I would definitely say bring the church into this."
Additionally, she hopes to see greater protection for today's youth as she believes endorsing viral videos of teenagers exploiting their mistakes does significant damage.
“If an Instagram post goes viral about someone fighting at a school, someone’s making money off of that," Heavenly said. "So I think we have to realize that someone is making money off of our mistakes, so as long as someone is capitalizing off of our ignorance in the situation, ignorance in life, we’re always going to be at a disadvantage."
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