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Youth Address Gun Violence During Forum

Sojourner’s Truth Staff

On Saturday, October 12, a forum on gun violence was held at Bethlehem Baptist Church and the youngsters on the panel had an opportunity to express their concerns about how modern-day mass shootings, particularly in school buildings, have affected the way they view life.

“We have to prepare for school shootings,” said panelist Connor Meilke, speaking of the atmosphere at his school. “I hope kids can go from kindergarten to the 12th grade without having to worry about shootings.

Young Meilke was accompanied by his mother, Kim Cutcher, the executive director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (L.I.S.C.). In addition to Connor, three other teenagers graced the panel – Jaden Jefferson, a journalist who has gained national prominence recently with appearances on Ellen and Oprah (Jalen was accompanied by his father James); Caleb Parker (accompanied by his father, Pastor Randall Parker of Canaan Manifested Church) and Emma Kapszukiewicz (accompanied by her father Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz).
 

“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.
 

 

   
   


Copyright © 2019 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 10/17/19 11:15:58 -0400.


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