First Particular person is the place Chalkbeat options private essays by educators, college students, mother and father, and others pondering and writing about public schooling.
It was a blazing sizzling summer time day, and I used to be taking part in freeze tag with my cousins in entrance of my home. I used to be 13. My mother was sitting on a stoop close by, speaking to a neighbor, however nonetheless sustaining a watchful eye on us.
Every part was nice till I heard three loud bangs. Immediately, my mom’s demeanor modified and he or she screamed, “Get inside, now!”
I used to be confused and aggravated that my sport of freeze tag was minimize brief. However my mom’s authority made me hurry towards the home. As I stepped inside, I requested her what was the matter, however all she responded was, “Don’t fear about it, they’re simply fireworks. How about we proceed taking part in inside?”
Wanting again on it now, I do know these weren’t fireworks. In our North Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington, it was not often simply fireworks.
That day was the start of my realization there was one thing larger happening, however I didn’t absolutely perceive it. Gun violence wasn’t one thing the adults defined. I feel the adults in my life needed to faux it didn’t exist. I need to imagine they did what they thought was greatest.
However as I received older, I started to lose classmates to gun violence in my group. Usually, they had been both going to or coming from college once they had been shot. It made me suppose twice. At a sure level, the world began to show me issues the adults couldn’t. Generally I’d take a totally completely different route in an effort to keep away from sure conditions. A bus cease is only a bus cease till a classmate dies whereas standing there.
My neighborhood is nicknamed the “badlands” due to the prevalence of gun violence, drug-related violence, and different types of violence. Nonetheless, I might inform you every part I really like about Kensington: the meals, the tradition, the variety, the hardworking individuals who reside there and lift their households. I can’t think about being born wherever else.
A bus cease is only a bus cease till a classmate dies whereas standing there.
I moved to suburban Glenside, Pennsylvania, in 2021 to attend Arcadia College, the place I’m learning media and communications. The campus is lower than 10 miles from Kensington, however there’s so much much less poverty and violence. Regardless of the change of surroundings, I simply can’t overlook the place I grew up and the violence that punctuated my life there.
There are such a lot of issues taking place in Philly that want to alter: an opioid epidemic, excessive poverty charges, and group violence. No child deserves to really feel unsafe — not on their block, not of their college, and never of their neighborhood — however many youngsters are unsafe. Final yr alone, gunfire killed 24 Philadelphia kids and impacted many extra.
If it weren’t for the issues I skilled as a child, I wouldn’t have my drive and my ardour for change. Lately, I’ve develop into concerned in gun violence prevention efforts.
This previous yr I labored as a pupil journalist and producer on a PBS Information Pupil Reporting Labs documentary in regards to the impacts of gun violence. I went out and documented my hometown, and I received to sit down down and discuss actual issues I’ve seen rising up in Philadelphia. It has given me house to mirror on my experiences — experiences I do know are widespread.
I’m extraordinarily proud to share one story of a mean metropolis child affected by gun violence. I hope different youngsters who expertise these types of issues know they’ve a voice. If I had been to return in time and inform my youthful self that his voice mattered, it will’ve blown his thoughts.
As a pupil producer for this documentary, which premieres this week, I additionally interviewed Dr. Jessica Beard, a trauma surgeon at Temple College and the director of analysis on the The Philadelphia Heart for Gun Violence Reporting. Dr. Beard instructed me that common background checks and allowing assist forestall gun homicides and that baby entry prevention legal guidelines and excessive danger safety orders might help curb unintentional firearm damage and suicides.
“I feel one concern that individuals really feel is that that is political,” she stated. “However the fact is that we have now proof that these items can save lives.”
After the interview, I felt seen and heard. It was superb speaking to a researcher who research a subject that’s so near house for me. She reiterated how a lot gun violence is preventable and that we “don’t should reside like this.” I left feeling extra hopeful than earlier than.
Engaged on this student-produced documentary about how gun violence impacts younger individuals has allowed me to speak a couple of critical problem that impacts communities like mine. Conversations about gun violence and cut back it aren’t one thing everybody needs to listen to, however we are able to’t change something about it if we ignore the issue. These conversations are essential as a result of individuals’s lives are essential.
Ethan Rodriguez attends Arcadia College and is a pupil producer of ”Run, Cover, Battle: Rising up underneath the gun,” a PBS Information Pupil Reporting Labs documentary that premieres Oct. 9 on the PBS Information YouTube channel, PBS app, and PBS.org.
