Empowering District Youth to Help Stop Violence
Our country is in the middle of a gun violence epidemic. It particularly hurts the most vulnerable among us, and so often that’s our kids. Sadly, guns are now the number one cause of death for children in the United States. As we work to tackle this crisis, they deserve better and they deserve to be heard.
Programs like Do the Write Thing — which my office has worked with for six years — provide a critical outlet for young people to share their experiences with youth violence and empower them to help promote change. The program is a literary contest offered to middle school students where they can use creative platforms to spread awareness about addressing youth violence in their communities.
At my office, we come into contact with young people every day who have faced traumatic experiences with violence. We work to support kids, help put them back on the right path, and make our communities safer. That’s why we’re thrilled to continue to work with Do the Write Thing and the many District students who participate in it. The voices of these students matter and can help make a difference.
We have seen it before.
Joining a History of Youth Advocacy
We’ve seen kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and so many other students across the country come together to lead March for Our Lives, protests to stop gun violence that have rallied the nation.
We saw Native American youth at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota build a national movement to fight for Indigenous rights and environmental justice.
We saw Black students, now known as the Greensboro Four, lead a lunch counter sit-in in North Carolina that helped pave the way for civil disobedience across the country to advocate for civil rights.
The impact of youth advocacy across our country goes on. And DC youth continue to be part of it.
DC’s 2022 Do the Write Thing Challenge Winners
For the past six years as District students have participated in the Do the Write Thing Challenge, putting their words and experiences with youth violence on paper and calling for change. We were so impressed with the submissions — with the time the students took to write their pieces, their honesty in writing about the challenges they face with violence, and their resilience and strength to work to build a brighter future.
This year’s winners of the challenge are Illean Hartzog and Promise Parraway from Charles Hart Middle School. But there were so many compelling pieces submitted to the challenge.
Illean Hartzog wrote a captivating essay on the root causes of violence. In her essay, Illean wrote about the responsibility everyone holds to reduce youth violence and her ideas to start taking those steps. It’s a beautiful piece, and I urge everyone to read it for themselves. Illean, the way your mind works is inspiring to me and to so many others.
Promise wrote a beautiful and powerful poem defining a life surrounded by violence. She wrote about the fear young people face going to school and walking on dimly lit streets. Promise used her voice to show the reality of violence on youth. Promise, your way with words will take you far in life and I’m excited to see what you will accomplish.
I have no doubt it was difficult for Illean and Promise to write their pieces. But their voices — and the voices of kids across the District and the country — can and are making a difference.
By working every day to support District kids and helping empower them through programs like Do the Write Thing, we can help harness their energy and resilience so they can thrive, help build a safer city and country, and become the next leaders of DC.
