Maya McFadden Photo
Eliza Vargas and Ronisha Moore at the forefront of the Dixwell march.
Only a few days after many of them had prom celebrations, the high school members of the anti-violence youth organization Ice the Beef joined together on Dixwell Avenue to rally against gun violence in New Haven.
The youth organizers had a message not only for their peers but also for the adults in the community: “Stop watching over just your kids, We are your kids too,” as Juan Patterson, a youth leader of Ice the Beef, put it.
The rally drew approximately 80 people, who ranged from neighborhood children and parents to a Guilford youth group, “Guilford Students Demand Action.”
Sunday’s march began at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Bassett Street and ended at Stetson Branch Library at 200 Dixwell Ave.
Sean Reeves, co-founder of S.P.O.R.T Academy, spoke before the march began, telling his story of how his oldest son was shot and killed in 2011.
“After that, it seemed like every kid that got shot, that died, was a son of mine,” said Reeves.
Ronisha Moore, overwhelmed with grief and passion, making her final remarks on Sunday.
Reeves called attention to the close proximity of their neighborhood to Yale University, listed as the second richest American school by Forbes magazine. He asked why Yale uses some of its money on additional policing for their neighborhood but not to help provide the essential educational resources to its neighboring elementary, middle, and high schools.
“We have schools that don’t even have books. Kids are going home with black and white dittos every day in a colorized world. It makes no sense,” Reeves said.
The marchers were guided by a New Haven Police Department squad car as they filled the street.
“Enough is Enough”
A community member offers the marchers water.
New Haven residents honked their car horns and cheered from their homes in support of the youth and others marching. Hillhouse senior Ronisha Moore stood at the front lines to lead the group alongside Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School senior Eliza Vargas, a member of Ice the Beef.
Moore spoke of losing one of her closest friends two years ago to gun violence in New Haven.
“We need our village to be complete again,” Moore said.
“S‑T-O‑P the Violence”
Rally closes with a group prayer. Youth made a circle in the middle while adults made a protective prayer circle around them.
Patterson said it is the responsibility of not only the youth to make a change. He challenged adults to spread the message that their youth have the potential to succeed academically and deserve access to better resources to do so.
“Imma speak until I run out of breath,” Patterson said.
Youth activist and singer Divine sang “Glory” by John Legend before the start of the march. Ice the Beef’s music group, The Kompozure, sang outside of the Stetson library at the end of the rally.
“Jobs for Youth, Jobs for All”
Vargas: “These situations never get easy.”
Demethra Telford, also known as “Marina Queen Bey,” lost her son to gun violence in 2017. Telford started the organization Never Forgotten, Never Alone for her son Tyrick B. Keyes also known as “Reese.”
“Don’t wait until something happens to your child to come out,” said Telford. “You help our children now.”
Vargas said that New Haven needs to refocus its efforts to support youth with educational resources and jobs to get them off the streets.
“It’s not going to get better unless we put down the guns and until we start making resources for our youth,” Vargas said.
Chaz Carmon, president of Ice the Beef, said the organization will continue to do this kind of activist work to make a change and shed light to the importance of the youth’s voice.
Reeves asked why Yale uses some of its money on additional policing for their neighborhood but not to help provide the essential educational resources to its neighboring elementary, middle, and high schools.
This is an important, basic question: how can Yale afford to pay higher salaries than the NHPD, construct a beautiful police station, and offer so little to the community in terms of resources.
There should be a graduation requirement at Yale requiring 10 hours of community service in New Haven, and those fit for the job should be tasked with after-school tutoring, mentoring, and other projects that suit students abilities. This should be in addition to the plethora of programs already offered that, from the perspective of a NHPS teacher, reach very few students.
Hopefully the next mayor can parlay this into idea into a negotiation with our city's big brother.