Nip It In The Bud

In our neighborhoods when the unexpected happens to our community and we experience gun violence what should we do? We need to come together to confront the issue at hand.

Last week I got a phone call saying that a young man in my neighborhood got shot. My first reaction -- I couldn’t believe it because he was one of the TBOC children. I saw him grow up. Now he was shot? I was catching a flight the next day and on my way back I was in deep thought and meditating on this situation. How can I keep this from escalating? How can we resist from retaliating? I began to call the old heads to discuss the situation and how we can keep the kids from taking this to the next level. Through these conversations I came up with the idea of holding a TBOC No Retaliation Rally.

I went to speak with the young man’s mother and shared my idea. Her son was all for it and so was she. How these things escalate are though the conversations in the neighborhood and the point of view of the victim themselves. In this case he showed me he was growing into a man that had the potential to be a great leader. I put the word out and over 50 people showed. We discussed the incident and how unfair it was that he got shot. We also discussed as a community how retaliation only leads to more pain.

This is an example of how community can come together to unify, communicate and calm the noise. Every community is responsible for their own. In order for us to really take back our community it starts within. So take care of yours and nip it in the bud.

Tai Campbell

Director of TBOC