"We as a community have to own what's going on": St. Paul's Black leaders discuss interventions to combat gang violence
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A recent surge in shootings has left many wondering if the Capitol City has a gang problem.
But boots-on-the-ground organizations in St. Paul believe the problem runs deeper than gangs or cliques.
The stabbing death of 15-year-old student Devin Scott inside Harding High School is one of several recent violent acts that tug at the heart of anyone who hears the story.
"Fifteen is too young. I mean, it aches to think about that baby. He had a big impact on my community navigator that worked with that young man. And a 15 year old should not be dead," said Tyrone Terrell, project coordinator for St. Paul's Gang Violence Intervention Program. "But we as a community have to own what's going on. It's scary for our community, but it's a community problem. And for me, it's a Black community problem because the majority of the folks that are doing the shooting, doing the killings are our people."
Terrell and his three community navigators work to gain young people's trust, and then work to get them disconnected from activity that hurts them and the community.
"Some of these little groups will start out being 15 together. We fall out, you take eight, I keep seven, right, and now we at it," Terrell said.
He believes intervention needs to start even earlier than 12 years old. He says by that age, they already have and know how to use guns.
"We've got to start zero to 6," Terrell said.
Terrell says men need to get involved. No matter what age, help needs to start at home.
"We need men to first stand up in your own house. Don't go trying to help somebody else's kid when your son needs help," Terrell said.
A group of men are working to help kids who are in crisis. Miki Lewis Frost and his group of volunteers want to go into schools, where a lot of the violence begins. They are already in the community, mediating disagreements between groups or cliques.
"About 65, 70 men showed up from all backgrounds, for the urgent call to say it's time for us as men to become those men that we was designed to be. The ones that take care of home, the one that take care of our community," said Lewis-Frost.
Both men say it's all hands on deck to deal with an issue that impacts us all.
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