Gun violence topic at Boys and Girls Night Out part of Alachua County Empowerment Revival

Curbing gun violence in the community was the topic of discussion during the annual "Boys and Girls Night Out" event that kicks off the Alachua County Empowerment Revival.

Held Wednesday at DaySpring Baptist Church at 1945 NE Eighth Ave., local leaders and others attended the event to discuss what can be done to decrease gun violence locally.

“Gun violence is not only plaguing our nation but it’s plaguing our community, too,” said Bishop Christopher Stokes of New Beginnings Christian Center in Micanopy, who served as moderator of the discussion. “We see who is dying. It’s primarily young Black men. We have a group of people on the panel doing the best they can to resolve gun violence in our community. We didn’t come here tonight to point fingers — we came here to dialogue and reason and to see how a lot of us are impacted.”

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The theme for the discussion was "Stop the Gun Violence," and the panelists included Alachua County School Board member Diyonne McGraw; Chief Lonnie Scott of the Gainesville Police Department; Alachua County Sheriff Clovis Watson Jr.; Cherie A. Kelly, youth services manager for the City of Gainesville’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department and Byron Lewis, one of the directors of the Reichert House Youth Academy.

Watson told those in attendance that gun violence is nothing new.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died of gun violence,” Watson said. “I have three sons who are older than King was when he died.”

The community needs to start looking out for one another like the old adage “It takes a village to raise a child” suggests, McGraw said.

“Gun violence is the symptom of the real problem,” Scott said. “Lack of education and lack of consciousness in the community. We can’t wait on someone else to save us. Ask yourself, ‘What have I done to help my community?’ Don’t wait for tomorrow because tomorrow may not come for some of you.”

Lewis said active fathers in the community are what is needed, and he said families are the foundation of strong communities.

“The mother’s job is to nurture, the father’s job is to discipline,” Lewis said. “When a mother steps in to discipline, everything is out of order. The stress that comes from it, the mother is not built for that.”

McGraw followed up with similar remarks about the importance of family and said education is key to preventing children from resorting to gun violence.

Kelly said some members of the community have developed a state of learned helplessness, which

according to Medical News Today, is when a person experiences a stressful situation repeatedly and comes to believe they are unable to control or change the situation.

“We must know that what we have is home-grown and that we can make an impact,” Kelly said. “It is our responsibility as a community to take ownership and know that we are a part of the solution.”

Lewis said the community must create an economic development plan to help fund and sustain members of the community directly.

The event ended with closing remarks from Superintendent Kenyarda Feathers of Williams Temple Church of God in Christ.

“I pray for young men, women, mothers and fathers that may be lost,” Feathers said. “Keep them from doing wrong and from doing things that dishonor you. Cover them with a fence of protection.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Greater Gainesville community must unite to curb youth gun violence