Teens Rally In Dixwell Against Gun Violence

Two dozen teens from throughout the city rallied youth gun violence Saturday three blocks away from where a 9‑year-old had been shot earlier in the week in the Dixwell neighborhood.

The protest, held outside of the Stetson Branch Library on Dixwell Avenue at 5 p.m., was organized by Ice the Beef Youth and Never Forgotten, Never Alone.

It was the first anti-gun violence action to emerge from a planning session convened earlier in the week by a coalition of anti-violence, anti-poverty, youth empowerment, and anti-racist community groups around how best to respond to recent shootings in the city, particularly involving youth.

“Last year we went an entire year without one of our babies being shot,” said one of the rally’s co-organizers, 17-year-old Co-Op senior Eliza Vargas. ​“And here we are in 2019, and there’s already been two shootings within a [a few weeks] of one another that involve the youth. Things need to change.”

In between chants of ​“Enough is enough! Enough is enough!” and ​“S‑T-O‑P the violence! S‑T-O‑P the violence!” teens took the mic and shared pleas for a world where they don’t have to worry about getting shot just because they’re playing outside.

Juan Patterson, a junior at Hillhouse High and the state’s youth lieutenant governor, said he remembers walking home with Tyrick Keyes just an hour before his friend was shot and killed in Newhallville two years ago.

The emotional scars from having seen his friend so soon before he was killed remain, he said. That’s why he came out on Saturday, to call on his peers and fellow city residents to put down their guns and let kids be kids.

“I want kids growing up to be able to go to the basketball court and stay late when its dark and not have to worry about who’s driving by the courts, who’s driving by the parks,” he said. ​“They shouldn’t have to look around. They need to worry about having fun.”

Manny Camacho, a 14-year Fair Haven resident and eighth grader at Troup School, said gun violence has also hit close to home in his life. His uncle was shot and killed in New Haven when he was just 18, Camacho said. He said the shooter was motivated to kill simply because he was jealous of his uncle’s plans to graduate high school, go on to college, and get out of New Haven.

“Society has become used to it,” Camacho said about frequent news of shots fired and teens killed. Rallies like Saturday’s, he said, should provide a jolt to everyone in the city that youth are tired of fearing for their lives because of gun violence, and that they will not tolerate this violence as status quo.

Ice the Beef Youth President Chaz Carmon said that Saturday’s rally is not just for city youth. Adults must heed this call as well to put down their guns.

“We must lead by example,” he said. ​“We must remember that our children are watching you, and will model whatever they do after you. If you pick up a gun, they’re going to pick up a gun.”

Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch the full rally.