Seminar on youth gun violence held Sunday at Ninth Grade Academy

On Sunday evening, July 21, a large group of youth and parents gathered at the Ninth Grade Academy for a seminar on gun violence among youth. This is something that has plagued Sumter County in recent months, as there has been a rash of shootings involving young people.

The event was put on by an organization called Youth Violence Conflict Resolution Seminar (YVCRS). According to its mission statement, the organization is dedicated to “empowering and inspiring today’s youth to become catalysts for positive change in their communities.” The YVCRS has held several seminars throughout the United States and the Caribbean, with numerous requests to return to host quarterly and annual sessions.

The event began with the showing of two videos of news reports about the recent shootings that took place in DeSoto and Americus. Those on the discussion panel were then asked to comment on the videos. The discussion panelists included Constable Warren Bruce, who works with Chief Magistrate Judge Crystal Cleveland, Sumter County Sheriff Eric Bryant, Anthony Jackson of the Americus Police Department, Americus City Councilman Kelvin Pless and Seraiah Israel of Israel United in Christ.

Sheriff Bryant commented on the video of the newscast about the DeSoto shooting by saying that, according to the investigation, it was a case of “bragging rights”, or “show and tell”. Bryant went on to say that as a result, a mother and a family want answers. “The problem is, young people and community and family and friends, we must put the guns down,” Bryant said. “And that’s the problem and that’s my impact on my feedback watching that video because random, celebratory, just showing off cost the life of a young lady.” Bryant went on to say that the investigation also showed that many other people who were there have yet to come forward to give their account of what happened. “Now something happens and we hide, we stand by or we don’t say anything. What justice is that for that family and for that victim,” Bryant said. He went on to say that when somebody starts doing something stupid, somebody has to say something. “What we want to do today is empower you,” Bryant said. “We are this community. We must say something. We must stand up for what’s right and stop doing things that don’t make any sense.”

Americus City Councilman Kelvin Pless was one of five speakers on a discussion panel at the Youth Violence Resolution Seminar held at Ninth Grade Academy.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

Americus City Councilman Kelvin Pless was the next speaker and he basically stated that it is the government’s task to right laws, but that no matter how many laws are written, they are broken. “Is that the solution? No,” Pless said. He went on to say that the community has lost its culture and stated that when he was growing up, everyone in the black community managed the community. “In other words, when Kelvin Pless did something out of line, guess what, everybody held him accountable,” Pless said. “Now, we’re on the wrong side of things as a community. There’s a difference between motivation and discipline. In other words, we’re motivated to give our kids a cell phone, but we don’t have the discipline to tell them ‘Don’t use it during instructional time.” Pless went on to say that the solution is within everyone in the community, but added that people are motivated to do the wrong thing and not disciplined enough to do the right thing.

Anthony Jackson of the Americus Police Department (APD) stated that when some one feels unsafe walking down the streets of Americus, that can destroy the whole community’s sense of safety. He also stated that young people need to make the right choices, like making sure they hang out with the right people. “You’ve got to choose who you hang with. You’ve got to choose what you want to do in life,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to choose what kind of student you’re going to be while you’re in school because all of that is going to impact where you go from one point to the next point. You’ve got to choose who you’re going to be with. You’ve got to choose what side of the law you want to be on.”

Jackson went on to say that it’s effort that matters and not the grade. He stated that there were those who struggled to make a C in school, but went on to be successful in life because of their effort. In his closing remarks, Jackson challenged the youth in the crowd to listen to their parents and he challenged the parents to keep an eye on their kids.

There came a time during the seminar in which the floor was opened to the parents to share their comments. One parent stated that parents need to be more involved and that it starts at home.

Seraiah Israel of Israel United in Christ was the next speaker. He stated that he wholeheartedly agreed with what the other speakers said, but stated that there is a spiritual aspect to it as well. He stated that it starts on the inside first and added that parents have a duty to their children to guide them to do what is right. “We have the next future doctors. We may have the next Chief of Police in here,” Israel said. “But if we don’t instruct them in the way they should go, how can we expect them to give us a different outcome or to change at all.” To better illustrate his point, he used Bible passages such as Psalms 78:5, which states that God has set law in place to give order and that fathers should make the laws known to their children. “God gave us order,” Israel said. “The problem is we keep wanting to go against the order. We’ve got to stop going against the order because once you go against the order, what do you have” chaos.” He went on to say that judges and police officers are in place to help provide order and he added that the one thing the community does not do a good job of is coming together. Israel gave an example of the Chinese community and how they put their differences aside to come to one common goal to fix their issues. He stated that the community doesn’t do a good job of coming together because people don’t see the essence of God in each other. “When I look at each one of you young men, I’m supposed to see the essence of God,” Israel said. “But because I don’t see it, or I’m not even looking for that, I feel the need to be disrespectful to you.” Israel also talked about the dangers of rumors and that there is no benefit to rumors being spread.

They also addressed violent themes in media, such as certain types of rap music and they discussed the importance of having fathers in the home.

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