Turning pain into purpose: How a DC teen is helping those impacted by gun violence

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — As people filled the exhibition space at Duke Ellington School of the Arts last month, 17-year-old Kanihya Glover reflected on her senior exhibition.

“I see a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda. I see bright futures. Our first angel is a 15-month-old. I couldn’t imagine a funeral and seeing a baby casket. That’s very heartbreaking,” she said.

DC police chief continues to make history

A photo collage of kids and teens who lost their lives to gun violence. A desk and journal marking the hopes and dreams of a young girl who will never get to live them out. A shelf of childhood memorabilia, frozen in time.

Her exhibition, “Our Kids Are Not Statistics: Names Not Numbers,” explored the impact of gun violence and the resiliency some people—like herself—are able to find on the other side. It’s based on her own reality, the tragedies and the triumphs.

“I became resilient in the last four or five years. I have a bright future ahead of me and I created it through art. I turned my pain into purpose,” she said.

Glover lost her cousin, 17-year-old Domoni Gaither, to gun violence when she was just a kid.

A few years later her other cousin, 18-year-old Kyndall Myers, was also killed.

First Black Owned pharmacy in St. Louis, MO

“It’s a living nightmare. With Domoni, I was 11. Everything was a blur,” she explained. “When it came to Kyndall dying, it was like, ‘what is life?’”

She said she became depressed and wasn’t eating. She recalls losing herself emotionally and mentally.

“You see and become this person that is unavailable,” she explained.

Glover decided to change the narrative—both for herself and for her peers.

“My mom’s generation, she has not experienced this. So, she doesn’t really understand and she’s never seen anything like this. So, for me, my childhood and my young adulthood is different,” she said.

“Our youth just needs healing and we need somebody to talk to,” Glover added.

It’s why she started her nonprofit, Broken Concrete DC. The organization focuses on educating, empowering and healing. The mission, intertwined into her artwork, is now tangible in the outreach she does every day.

High school football coach: Get kids to degrees

Born out of a college readiness class at her high school, she first posted a collage to her Instagram page, Broken Concrete DC, in October of 2022 listing the names of ten young people killed by gun violence.

“Once I posted, it blew up overnight. It blew up in the course of five hours. It was so many people say, ‘oh my gosh I appreciate you,’ ‘long live our babies,’ and it made me feel good,” said Glover.

Nearly a year and a half later, she’s dedicated dozens of posts to angels across the DMV, offering a safe space for people to grieve in the comments. Offline, she hosts group support sessions at school where her classmates share their fears, frustrations and lived experiences together.

“Usually, it’s just talking about gun violence. Unfortunately. It’s not agenda-based, it’s more of what comes to your heart,” she said.

Reflecting on those conversations is therapeutic, but difficult.

“Hearing my friends and stuff talk about how they’re afraid, it draws me back a little bit. Because that word ‘afraid’ means things. You’re afraid to grow up, you’re afraid to explore life. I feel like a lot of times we feel like we’re stuck here and were not. Being a teenager these days you can’t do nothing,” she said.

Before Jackie Robinson, Penn State took a stand for equality

Using her platform she has also hosted an assembly at school, led a Christmas toy drive, spoken on panels and collaborated with other gun violence prevention organizations.

Glover has big plans for Broken Concrete DC. She wants to expand it into a national nonprofit. And she wants to see it implemented across DC Public Schools.

“I want to see Duke Ellington organizing assemblies dedicated to Broken Concrete. I want to see clubs going on,” she said. “After I finish college, I want to have my own building or open space area where I can have after school programs, I can have youth workshops. I even want to have therapists come in and have sessions.”

The teen will head to North Carolina Central University in the fall, where she plans to major in social work.

As she prepares to move on from high school, Glover knows she’s made an impact on her peers.

“[Broken Concrete DC] inspires them to be great, to be a change. A lot of us are sick and tired of the violence because it has affected us,” she said.

The Great Migration: How a Chicago newspaper helped shape the nation

For those who are newly learning about Broken Concrete DC, she said she hopes people remember that kids are not just statistics.

“I don’t want people to label our kids as another number. They’re not numbers. I want people to understand and have sympathy and empathy for me as a family member, as a friend who has lost someone to gun violence,” she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.