INDIANAPOLIS — A group of teens and young adults spoke up Saturday during an event on the near northwest side of Indianapolis that sought to identify what young people believe the root cause of violence in their communities is, and to hear their ideas for creating a pathway toward a safer city.
Connecting with the youth — that's what "Disrupt: A call to Action Justice Panel" at AMP at 16 Tech was all about.
"The increase in gun violence and the increase in gun presence is a little unsettling because you don't know who has them," panelist Morgan Wide said.
The panel, organized by the nonprofit Voices Corp, aimed to find creative ways to lift young people up and have their voices and ideas be heard.
"The root is the generational trauma that has continuously happened, and no one has been trying to bury that trauma, and it's continuing to happen," attendee Tyler Alexander said.
The age range of the people on the panel varied from 15-22. They spoke about their stories growing up in different areas of the city.
"A lot of these youngins and young adults, what they are doing isn't a cry for help," panelist Joshua Morrow said. "At some point, they were in front of some adult talking about some situation they were going through, and they weren't heard."
The month of October started off deadly for the city of Indianapolis, with IMPD investigating at least one homicide almost every day.
On Saturday at a prayer vigil about gun violence, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett told 13News that supporting events like this panel is an important way to continue to keep those homicide numbers down.
"The month of October has been a difficult month. We had a few more homicides than what we were hoping for ... any homicide is unacceptable. We are still down 17%, and that's where we would like to keep it," Hogsett said.
Brandon Randall, the director of engagement for Voices Corp, believes part of the solution is as easy as listening.
"We have to stop minimizing the lived experiences of young people and the trauma they go through and really find creative ways to lift them up and include them in these conversations," Randall said.
Alexander believes there's no one answer to decreasing violent crime in the community, but it starts with conversations like that one.
"As this stuff continues to happen, we as the community need to come together and figure out a way to where can really be beneficial to our community, not just speaking it all the time but putting action towards it," Alexander said.