What do you think young people need most in the community?
Johnathan Stith, Southeast D.C.
“I always think young people need love first and foremost. And that can look like a variety of things, it has to be taken into action. It looks like opportunities to grow, to develop, to bloom and blossom. I always think about that quote, Assata Shakur has a quote around that. That seems like every season, regardless of the times or how troubling the times can be. Our young people need love, sometimes a little bit more of it, sometimes expressed in a different way.”
Leah Boggs Jackson, Southeast D.C.
“Patience, from other people [and] from adults, and I say that because oftentimes, when adults see them going about life in a certain way, and adults think they should not be doing certain things. I think adults don’t understand that they’re young adults now and they’re growing up in a world that does not see them as part of contributing people in life. So oftentimes, when they are lashing out, they are lashing out against things that do not appreciate them as part of society. So I think we need to give them patience and the right guidance.”
Sister Shina, Prince George’s County, Maryland
“I think what young people need most in the community right now is to be trusted to make decisions. So many times, people refer to the young people as people who are just going to be affected by things and there’s no real way to have an impact on those things that will affect them. And the lack of trust is clearly displayed when people say ‘these kids don’t care about anything’ or ‘these kids are not interested in anything’ or even the escalation to ‘these kids are dangerous and we need protection from them.’ They need to be trusted to be involved in the solution making process instead of the problem that needs to be solved all the time.”
Okechukwu Wyche, Southeast D.C.
“Education and things to do in the community to keep them from outside, like in the streets. I think structure, and basically transportation to and from where they need to go, to get them off the streets.”
Compiled by Keith Golden Jr.
