Trumbull youths call to end gun violence: ‘Tomorrow will never come if we do not start changing today’

Youths from around Trumbull County called for an end to gun violence in the city Sunday, in Trumbull Community Action Program’s half-full hall, as part of a Trumbull NAACP-sponsored call-to-action.

Bethany Boykin, a 14-year-old Liberty High School sophomore, said gun violence is plaguing the generations of tomorrow.

“When we continuously start to lose these future change-makers, we are going to be stuck with the cycle of ignorance and bigotry that is now in our government today,” Boykin said.

Firearms were the leading cause of death for children in 2020, NPR reported in April.

Boykin said though there has been a push for stricter gun control laws, she feels lawmakers are more concerned about reproductive rights and critical race theory than reining in gun violence. She pointed to Ohio’s new permitless carry law, which gives citizens who are legally permitted to possess firearms the right to conceal them without a permit or prior training.

“It is not just the government that is not paying attention, it is the people in our community as well,” Boykin said.

“We are all possibly tired of hearing about a mass shooting or homicides on the news; going to funerals. It has become a nationwide ritual to see or do one of these and we have become numb to the cycle. But it is time to call for a change, especially for our youths,” she added.

Restoration Christian Fellowship Dancing Preachers, in a dance drama titled “Shekinah Glory,” urged the youths to turn away from gun violence, cyberbullying, drugs and all forms of crime.

Tierra Kelley, a member of the dance group, said young people must return to God to find peace and solutions to the many challenges that they are currently facing in the community.

According to Kelley, young people are challenged with various issues like depression, cyberbullying, suicide, drug addiction, the spirit of retaliation and gun violence among other issues.

“But through the help of God, the youth can overcome all of these challenges,’’ she said.

“God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of the power of love, and a sound mind to conquer all of the temptations that come our way and walk in the fullness of God’s glory,” Kelley said.

Virgil Ball, vice president of the NAACP youth group, said gun violence has affected a lot of young people negatively.

“People try not to go to some areas or visit some places, due to fear of getting shot,” he said.

Boykin charged adults and youths to rise to the occasion and fight the epidemic that is claiming lives rapidly.

“Tomorrow will never come if we do not start changing today,” she said.

Warren Police Department reported 173 violent crimes in 2020, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. That’s 441 incidents per 100,000 people in a city of about 39,000, and that was higher than the state and national rates that year.

“A contributing factor to our high crime rates is we have simply accepted the situation and cut our losses,” Warren G. Harding High School sophomore Trinity Walker, 15, said Sunday. “We have trapped ourselves in this hopeless situation and thrown away the key. But the only way to get out is to talk about the situation and act [on] the solution.

“Start in your homes. Be willing to have difficult conversations with children, parents, grandparents and friends. Educate yourself on politicians, laws [being] passed and other issues that will have an effect,” Walker said.

“My want for change is why I educate myself on what is going on in the country. My want for change is why I surround myself with like-minded individuals. And my want for change is why I pursue opportunities that allow me to make an impact. But most importantly, my want for change brings me in front of you asking, ‘What will your want for change inspire you to do?’” she said.

Joseph Walker, senior pastor of Restoration Christian Fellowship in Warren, said he thinks many young people do not know how to resolve their issues peaceably, and instead retaliate with more violence. He said they must learn there are better ways to resolve issues.

“We want the perpetrators of violence to stop, because it is affecting everyone — mothers are hurting, fathers are hurting, children are hurting, friends are also hurting. They must drop their weapons and seek better ways to resolve issues; because there is a better way,” Walker said.

Youngstown Police Department Capt. Jason Simon, who heads the detective division, in an interview with Mahoning Matters last week said retaliatory gun violence has become a major problem nationwide.

“A lot of times, it is a personal disrespect that they received that led to a shootout,” he said.

More than half of all shootings in the city so far this year have been ‘retaliatory in nature,’ he said. And some victims are “not always truthful” about why they were shot, he added.

Guy Burney, director of the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence in Youngstown, also discussed the city’s surging gun violence last week with Mahoning Matters.

“Retaliation is a huge part of violence. It is the retaliatory mindset that causes conflict not to end,” he said.

“When someone is involved in gun violence, whether it be family, friends, members of the same group, there are certain emotions of grief and trauma that cause an overwhelming need or want for revenge,” Burney said.

“We cannot let violence be normalized in our community, because gun violence affects the younger generations and causes traumas for them.”