Youth violence, street harassment and the like are clearly very heated topics here at PoP, as they should be…I mean, these are serious issues. But, as we’ve seen in the past, and I’m sure we’ll see again, the internet – and the relative anonymity it provides – can be a dangerous place for discussions like this. As sad as some of the negativity and hateful comments on PoP’s post about his run-in with some rock-throwing kids made me feel, a meeting I had that very same afternoon definitely lifted my spirits. Regardless of where you stand on the issues at hand, I am hopeful that most of you will be as interested as I was to hear about what Landy Thompson and Andre Latimore are trying to do about it.
Thompson and Latimore are just as tired as anyone else of seeing kids causing trouble in the streets and no one knowing how to (or even wanting to) deal with them. They look at these kids and see good hearts suffering from a lack of love and attention at home that’s fulfilled through involvement in gangs or street crews, they see smart kids with poor self esteem, they see anger and pain that can manifest itself in ugly ways. On top of everything else, they see themselves as youth growing up in the Streets of Columbia Heights not too long ago.
Based on their own life experiences and modeled after a west coast organization called Homeboys, Inc., they are working to create their own non profit organization to reach out to at risk youth, called In Da Streets. And just as the name suggests, they are literally in the streets approaching youth, trying to deter them from fighting, bad choices, drug use, and future criminal activity. Continues after the jump. (more…)
