OPINION:
Eliminating another positive platform during COVID will lead to more violence in the community
Words & Photo By Ronald Moten
Today I received several emails about the D.C. Council reintroducing a bill to basically mute D.C. street performers. For the third time since 2018, city officials are threatening to outlaw street performances above a certain volume, and to fine violators up to $300.
This feeds right into an op-ed I planned to write explaining reality to city leaders who don’t understand the consequences of social and racial disparities, cultural erasure and a lack of positive platforms for young people to give expressive coloration to their inner conflicts and dreams.
What these leaders often see as inexplicable violence, is exacerbated by their own insistence on silencing the voices of our young people. Though we have always had spikes in violence, I can tell you that in my 25 years of addressing street violence, this current one is a different monster with many root causes.
But I can also tell you that some of those causes can be avoided.
Even growing up in D.C. during the crack epidemic, young people had numerous positive activity outlets and platforms to get attention and advance their god given talents. Then, as now, those talents not only included a broad range of sports, but also things like dancing and teen Go-Gos, or even joining Go-Go bands, marching bands, modeling teams, chess clubs, debate teams, talent shows, hair shows, choirs and other opportunities to hustle legally to make money to buy things that appealed to us that many of our parents couldn’t afford.
Many Washingtonians remember Junkyard Band and Backyard Band started their careers playing on buckets in Georgetown and other areas of D.C. Talk to them now, and they will tell you that this was the difference between them and many of their friends they lost to the streets of D.C.
Sadly, many of those activities and platforms that existed for generations of Washingtonians have systematically evaporated over the last 25 years, contributing to the nightmare of violence we are living through today.
The Internet and social media have become platforms where many young people seek attention. But far too many get attention using these platforms to glorify or participate in acts that hurt their communities and ruin their futures. We see their brief fascination with thousands of likes on urban social media handles such as @DMVHOODZNEWS and @MurderMayhem. We watch them incriminate themselves with senseless acts of violence, often blatantly brandishing guns in places like the Anacostia Metro, where they know countless cameras are recording them.
Yet they still are willing to pull the trigger.
They talk about their crimes both before and after they commit them, just for the attention they get by people rooting them on and encouraging them on these very same platforms.
Today, many of our youths could care less about the consequences of their actions, because many are living for the moment and feel as if they do not have a future. Not long ago, we would be rooting for the same child to hit the game-winning jump shot, applauding them as they mimic a Michael Jackson dance, or praising them for winning the spelling bee or D.C. science fair—as I once did as a child. (It was, and still is, one of the best feelings I ever experienced.)
It’s the job of community leaders, families and city government to give our young people more positive platforms like the very one they are trying to eliminate with this new bill. Look at the opportunity that “Malik the Dope Drummer” got from the confidence and artistic development of being a street performer. He is now internationally known and is representing our city, making it to the finals on the hit TV show “America’s Got Talent.”
Another example is The Experience Band, which also is headed to stardom, as they bring joy to diverse crowds on Historic U Street on any given night.
Contrast such positivity with the rash of carjackings here in D.C. and nationwide, and it becomes clear that elected leaders have to decide whether they want to encourage young people to pursue their talents out in the community, or leave them to seek attention on social media by committing senseless acts of violence while live streaming their destructive behavior as their own real-time versions of a Grand Theft Auto chase.
I see weekly now where Prince George’s County Police are chasing young people in cars either stolen or carjacked, speeding into D.C. and zooming right past my house.
History calls for our city leaders to be creative and help provide more responsible ways to open more doors—not less—and to give our young people platforms to use their talents the right way. We are still waiting for them to create a track or league for four-wheelers, just as we created skateboard parks for skateboarders who once were an issue for some.
We must expand opportunities for our young people to get the attention they seek and to express themselves, rather than eliminate or suppress outlets for them to develop their talents and work out their inner conflicts.
Understand this: These young people, like every other generation, will find ways to get our attention. Nobody—neither you, nor me, nor the city council—is immune from the violent consequences of muting D.C.
