Despite the recent uptick in violence, there are still people in the community who refuse to give up hope. I spoke with two mentors about their mission to guide and protect our city's youth.
"As long as they are with us, they're not in a fast car; as long as they are with us, they're not around guns; as long as we have them, they can keep their hands in the soil and off the trigger of a gun," says Andre Lee Ellis of The C.A.G.E.
"We take them and teach them ways through the drum to coexist with other people," says Ojumire Charleston of Drums Up Guns Down.
Andre Lee Ellis and Ojumire Charleston use outside-the-box methods to mentor youth.
"Our mission is to teach young Black boys how to grow food, grow their lives, and grow their community," says Ellis.
Andre started The C.A.G.E. (Community Agricultural Growing Experience); every day, he pours into young men like Jaylen Gray.
I asked Jaylen, what being with Andre in the garden taught him.
"It's teaching me how to be a man and stand by what you say," says Jaylen Gray.
Jaylen came to the garden unsure of what his future held, but now he has a plan.
"I want to be a firefighter. I want to join the cadet program when I turn 18," says Gray.
I asked Andre what he sees in these young people that others don't.
"They're here, they're on time, they are respectful; nothing bad has happened. Stop calling them names, stop judging them. What is the world that we're going to leave for little Black boys who want to be fathers, who want to be husbands? What is the world that we will leave for them?" says Ellis.
And just a mile away at McCannon Brown Homeless Sanctuary, Ojumire is using African drumming to heal.
"They need positive direction; the children are our future, and we want to make sure they get a positive outlook on life," says Ojumire Charleston.
Using African beats to teach self-love, cultural pride, and to drum away trauma.
"They learn who they are as melanated children, culturally and royally, through the drums. You all need to tap into these young people. Once they have that mentor, you have a different outlook on life," says Charleston.
Just ask Jaylen.
"It's turning me into the man I'm supposed to be, taking me out of my childish era, helping me grow up. I want people to know that we are trying too," says Gray.
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