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Many children are regularly exposed to gun violence. Here's how to help them heal
On a spring day, a group of elementary students and their chaperones walk along a sidewalk in the Lyell-Otis neighborhood of Rochester, N.Y. A few blocks away is their destination: Cameron Community Ministries2' after-school program.
The mood is cheerful – some of the kids are leaping or skipping – but their path, which they routinely take, passes more than a dozen spots where murders and aggravated3 assaults have happened in the last decade.
There's the block west of here where a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed, allegedly by a classmate, back in March. He's one of at least six minors4 who have been killed by gunfire since January, according to Rochester Police.
The students cross Otis Street where, six years ago, a father was shot and killed one morning as children were arriving at the school across the street. According to a report by a local paper that day, a neighbor saw dozens of children run "screaming at the top of their lungs" into the building.
Kaila Toppin remembers it – her sister was there.
"The school went into lockdown because [a student's] father got shot."
Toppin, 19, used to be a student with the program at Cameron. Now, she's a chaperone, and Phyllipp McKnight is one of her charges. He's been exposed to neighborhood violence, and he's only in second grade.
"If you don't know the violence, I'm teaching you right now," he says. "And when you become 6 years old, like me, I don't want this dark future that happened to me."
Many children like Phyllipp, who are regularly exposed to community gun violence, can struggle with feelings of hopelessness and anxiety. They can also have difficulty regulating their emotions – all symptoms of post-traumatic stress, which can have lasting6 impacts into adulthood7.
But there's a lot communities and after-school programs can do to help.
Teaching children that life doesn't have to end in their teens
Riana Elyse Anderson, who studies child trauma5 and Black families at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, says the key is to create supportive environments for children.
"The more you have supportive structures around you – like family, like peers, like adult mentors8 – the better chance you have of ... surviving because you're active and engaged and perhaps in spaces that may be a bit safer."
Those supportive structures also help children shed challenging psychological beliefs, like life ends in your teens or life has little value – beliefs that can be reaffirmed by fatal neighborhood shootings.
Anderson says one way to get those supportive structures in place is through after-school programs, which not only keep kids supervised and off the street, but can also help children and teens learn about their strengths, dreams and culture. Most of all, it can help them see that life is valuable.
Cameron Community Ministries' after-school program does this through mentoring9, field trips and team-building activities. Luis Mateo, a youth program director, says he also teaches his students leadership skills, guides them through community-oriented projects and steps in when students are going through something heavy – like after the recent mass shooting in nearby Buffalo10, or after a neighborhood incident.
"I had two kids that were just, like, stunned11 because a friend of theirs was shot," Mateo recalls. "He lived but it was still traumatizing... So I talk with them, make sure they're OK while that was going on. And on that street, too, another child was shot coming off of the bus. So it's been a lot of violence, and unfortunately, they've normalized to it and it's just another day in the neighborhood for them."
Helping12 kids cope with their harsh reality is important, but Mateo says his youth program also prioritizes giving children and teens space to be themselves, be safe and explore their interests.
"You have these after school programs that are helping young people just identify who they are, what is it that they can do," Anderson says. "When they live past 18, what is it that they want to contribute to their neighborhoods, to their families, to their culture, to themselves?"
How neighborhood violence and aggression13 interrupts happiness and joy
Phyllipp McKnight's mother, Lerhonda McKnight, is one of a few guardians14 at Cameron Community Ministries' summer cookout in August. She cleans up after the kids and keeps an eye out for mischief15 – like the boy shaking up a soda16 can, getting ready to spray it open.
"Hey! Don't do that. Don't do it," McKnight warns with a laugh. "Put it down, let it sit for a couple minutes. Caught ya!"
Like Kaila Toppin and Phyllipp, McKnight also grew up exposed to neighborhood violence. She says she's been through things that she doesn't want her kids to ever experience, so she stays involved, brings them to Cameron, and makes sure to show them love.
"If the kids don't get [love] at home, they're gonna go somewhere else to get it. They're going to. Whether they find it in streets, whether they find it in a drug house," McKnight says. "They're going to find it, because everybody needs it – everybody – because that's what life is about."
Across the street, a fight breaks out. There's yelling and physical threats. McKnight barely acknowledges it. Around here, but not just here, violence and aggression have become as commonplace as inclement17 weather.
Kaila Toppin says she's seen more than enough of it for a lifetime.
"It makes being happy and joyful18, like it interrupts it sometimes. Like in the back of my mind, you know?," Toppin says. "I'm out there having a good time but sometimes it just makes me think something bad could happen, because of all the bad things that happen. I don't know, it makes it different and it also makes it a cautious joy."
Toppin's vigilance is a matter of survival. It's what drives her to protect younger kids, so that they'll have a chance to experience life after childhood.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 ministries | |
(政府的)部( ministry的名词复数 ); 神职; 牧师职位; 神职任期 | |
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3 aggravated | |
使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 ); 使更严重; 激怒; 使恼火 | |
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4 minors | |
n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 );副修科目;小公司;[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修,选修,兼修( minor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5 trauma | |
n.外伤,精神创伤 | |
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6 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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7 adulthood | |
n.成年,成人期 | |
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8 mentors | |
n.(无经验之人的)有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.(无经验之人的)有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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9 mentoring | |
n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识,并用心支持mentee的职业(发展)。v.(无经验之人的)有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 ) | |
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10 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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11 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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13 aggression | |
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害 | |
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14 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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15 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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16 soda | |
n.苏打水;汽水 | |
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17 inclement | |
adj.严酷的,严厉的,恶劣的 | |
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18 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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