And while those youth leaders work to develop a community level strategy, tonight we take a closer look at the growing and deadly fascination that small boys have with big guns. Keith Swift examines the gun phenomenon that's taken hold of communities countrywide.
Keith Swift Reporting, [keithkswift@gmail.com]
We won't soon forget this image of a lifeless 13-year-old Andrew Wallace lying in the middle of East Collet Canal. And while this sight is tragic, some say the real tragedy is how this teenaged boy ended up here and we're not talking about the police officer's bullets. Douglas Hyde works with youths at the Violence Reduction Unit of the Youth for the Future Program.
Douglas Hyde, Youth for the Future Counselor
"Everyday our young black males feel like they have to be a man in the streets and they have to prove themselves. Some of them realize that if they don't talk hard, if they don't dress a certain way, they are looked at as a 'small pop.'
We have grouped our young people into three categories: the leaders, the lieutenants, and the wanna bees. The leaders are course the older ones, the
ones who call the shots on the streets, and of course you have the lieutenants who are the second. What we have been showing, and recently its seen is the wanna bees, the ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen year olds. These are the ones who are committing the crimes; the wanna bees who want to be like the leaders, who want to be recognized."
Hyde says that is because most of these "wanna bees" have already discovered that respect, not education, is the ultimate currency on the mean streets and it just so happens that most of them find that respect in the ultimate equalizer - a gun.
Douglas Hyde,
"The gun signifies power to them, it means they control. In several situations some of these youths feel that the gun is answer. They can haul up on you and jack you because as soon as you see the gun you are scared. It's a part of the tactic to them because as soon as you see the gun you become fearful.
We also recognize that it is a trend for our young people to move from a little boy to a big man because if you have a gun, you are recognized as a big man on the streets. One of the best ways for some of our youths right now to be recognized is to have a gun. It used to be normally to get your education, go to school and finish, however the trend is training where some of the youths recognize that if they have a gun, they are more recognized and they can talk. The bigger and the better the gun, the more respect you get on the street."
And there's more, Marlen Trujillo who is a university trained counselor and works with high school students says these 12 and 13 year olds are turning to guns for something else.
Marlen Trujillo, High School Counselor
"It gives them power and a child who is thirteen and gets no attention from home and no respect from friends, that gives them the respect they want.
Everything stems back from home. If your child hears negative stuff they internalize that and unfortunately they grow up with that. You have to be positive with the kids and this is where as educators, as mentors, we have to see how we can work with the kids. We have to develop a program where they know where to go, something positive; they something positive in their lives because the music they listen to, the movies they watch, it all leads to violence because that is what they look up."
Both Trujillo and Hyde, who again are not speaking directly on the Andrew Wallace tragedy, say there is still a lot society can all learn from his loss.
Douglas Hyde,
"Stop giving our kids toy guns. I think that is one of the basis of some of these young persons, that from they are young they know how to play with toy guns, they know how to bust a bee bee gun or a little water gun, and so from small they already know how to practice and use a gun."
Marlen Trujillo,
"The first thing parents have to realize is that they can try and try and it all depends on the child. But what parents can do is love their kids. Give them attention, they need attention, there is saying that says negative attention is better than no attention so if they can negative attention, that is better than what they are not getting at home or from their peers. So again love your kids, talk to them, you might think they are not listening but something is going to sink in."
And quite literally, it is a matter of life and death.
Police say that with as little as $100, anyone can purchase a 38 revolver or a similarly sized firearm on the streets. $50 can get you a pen gun which is equally deadly.
