Quenton and Kaitlynn are among approximately 30 youth who attend IMPACT \u2018n Communities Youth Violence Intervention Ambassadors program; an initiative with Operation Springboard and one of the many community organizations where OJEN\/ROEJ delivers justice education sessions. \u00a0Their East Scarborough neighbourhood is often in the media due to violence and gang activity.\u00a0 Quenton and Kaitlynn agree that gang violence is a reality in their neighbourhood that they\u2019d like to see change.\u00a0 However, they also find a lot to appreciate.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone looks out for one another,\u201d they say. \u201cThere are lots of community barbeques and other community activities. \u00a0Newcomers are respected and if anyone needs help, people are there to help them.\u00a0 I know people say bad things about this community but I don\u2019t see it as bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an outlook echoed by many of the youth in the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my friends ask me where I\u2019m from and I tell them Danzig Street, they say, \u2018I\u2019m not coming to your place. I don\u2019t want to get shot.\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s not like that.\u00a0 People care about each other,\u201d objects another participant.<\/p>\n
Everyone in the program is clear that it\u2019s wrong to paint all the youth in the community with one brush. \u201cWe\u2019re not all gang bangers.\u201d \u00a0Never-the-less, there is a common impression that they are given little credit for the effort they make to do well in school and stay out of trouble. \u00a0With such low expectations for them to succeed, it can be difficult to stay positive.<\/p>\n
Asked about what changes could be made to improve their neighbourhood, Quenton spoke about the need for improved relations between the police and the community.\u00a0 \u201cSure, they drive through, but they don\u2019t get to know the people who live here,\u201d he says.\u00a0 If they spent time in the community, hosted barbeques or just talked with people, people would trust them more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice are there to protect us,\u201d he says. \u201cThey need to get with us, spend time with us, make sure we\u2019re OK…\u00a0 That\u2019s how they can protect us.\u00a0 If they\u2019re just driving by they don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaitlynn agreed.\u00a0 \u201cCommunication between cops and the community is really big.\u00a0 With communication, things can get fixed over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen police stop little kids they just assume they\u2019re doing something bad,\u201d Quenton adds.\u00a0 \u201cIf they took time to explain why they were stopping them or if they asked them how they were and were friendly, then kids wouldn\u2019t be so afraid of them.\u00a0 When kids are afraid of the police they won\u2019t go to them if they have a problem and need help. I\u2019m trying to teach my younger brother to have a good attitude about police, but he sees them hassling people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that has to change,\u201d says Kaitlynn, \u201cis if there\u2019s even a hint of race motivated action by the police, it has to be taken seriously.\u00a0 Some of my friends think cops are harassing them out of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having a School Resource Officer assigned to their school has had a positive effect on youth-police relations, she says.\u00a0 It has helped to show students that there are some police officers who care.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get attached to the cop. You know that there\u2019s at least one cop you can trust.\u00a0 It was the cop in my school who told me about this program,\u201d she commented. \u201cWe\u2019ve also had speakers come here – lawyers and cops \u2013 and we\u2019ve got to meet them in person.\u00a0 It helps to know what they\u2019re really like as people.\u00a0 Some of them told us that they got into what they\u2019re doing because they wanted to change things and it\u2019s easier to change things from the inside than the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kids get robbed in the school yards after school and worry about getting home safely.\u00a0 They don\u2019t feel that police patrols are protecting them nor do they feel comfortable going to them for help.\u00a0 Still, there is recognition that the police have an important role to play and they\u2019re open to finding solutions.\u00a0 As youth, from 15 to 18 years of age, the participants in this justice education session may not be well positioned to create change yet, but they have very clear sense of what needs to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Quenton and Kaitlynn are among approximately 30 youth who attend IMPACT \u2018n Communities Youth Violence Intervention Ambassadors program; an initiative with Operation Springboard and one of the many community organizations where OJEN\/ROEJ delivers justice education sessions. \u00a0Their East Scarborough neighbourhood is often in the media due to violence and gang activity.\u00a0 Quenton and Kaitlynn agree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57,59],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-ojen-blog","tag-youth-voices","tag-policing"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/ojen2024.turnbull.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Quenton-Kaitlyn-for-web.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"adnan","author_link":"https:\/\/ojen2024.turnbull.co\/en\/author\/adnan"},"yoast_head":"\n