“It’s a big shame that
some kids have to go to school in fear,” noted Emma.
Teenagers around the world have, over the last several
years, turned into progressive folk heroes — from the
Parkland shooting survivors on guns to Sweden’s Greta
Thunberg on climate — criticizing older generations on
social media and in public appearances.
The Toledo gun violence
forum was moderated by one of those progressive folk heroes
and also a political hero. An out-of-town visitor,
18-year-old Marcel McClinton, from Houston, Texas, came to
Toledo to share his own worries and gauge the feelings of
his generational peers.
After surviving a mass shooting near his church in May 2016,
McClinton helped to organize the March for Our Lives Houston
rally, where 15,000 people turned out in Texas to protest
gun violence.
“What shaped my politics was the Parkland shooting,”
McClinton has said. ‘It was watching people my age on TV
after the most traumatic experience of their life demanding
change. They reminded me of me. They inspired the hell out
of me.”
He has traveled the country giving talks, went
viral for
his Twitter activism and campaigned for Beto O’Rourke during
his 2018 Senate run.
McClinton himself is currently in an uphill battle running
for government office – an at-large city council seat in
Houston
McClinton was brought to town by the City of Toledo Human
Relations Commission, noted the mayor in his introduction of
the young politician. The HR Commission sponsored Saturday’s
event at Bethlehem Baptist Church featuring the panel of
engaged youngsters and their concerned parents.
Pastor Parker, for example, related his experiences in
holding eulogies at his church. “One of the most traumatic
things is giving eulogies for the 16 to 24-year olds – it’s
constant. We are losing a generation unnecessarily. It’s
heartbreaking … to my kids I’m overprotective; to me I’m
fearful.”
James Jefferson also addressed the concern he experiences as
a parent of a son in his teenage years, Jaden’s older
brother. “I have to have conversations with him that my
parents never had to have with me – anything can happen at
any time.”
McClinton said that in
2020 a new contract must be negotiated in his city with the
Houston Police Department and raised the issue of police
shootings.
The mayor noted that the
problem of police shootings – fortunately rare in Toledo –
“can’t be stopped the way you stop everything else.” Such
issues required different solutions, he said.
“We have been able to
avoid some of the worse incidents; we have been fortunate
not to have ‘that’ incident, that puts us on CNN,” he
continued. He added that a shooting incident in recent years
was addressed by being as “transparent as possible” and
immediately releasing video to the public that might have
calmed the city – as opposed to shooting incident in Chicago
that was not released for more than a year afterwards.
At McClinton’s urging, the
panel and the audience also discussed the issue of keeping
young people occupied from a very early age to adulthood.
Programs such as early childhood education, afterschool and
summer-time activities, are necessary to keep children off
the streets and away from harm, added panelists.
McClinton headed back to
Texas after the forum to continue his campaign against the
conservative incumbent. Prodded to enter the race by his
political mentor, presidential candidate O’Rourke, the
former United States Representative from El Paso, Texas –
scene of the August mass shooting – McClinton has been
traversing Houston with his progressive message –
particularly against gun violence – in his effort to
overcome the disadvantages of facing an incumbent who has a
good deal more cash on hand.
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