PHILADELPHIA – A town hall was held at Level Up Philly to improve the relationship between the youth and the police.
What they’re saying:
“I like how they was like letting the kids, letting us talk because if we was to be out on the street they wouldn’t have gave nobody a chance to talk,” said 14-year-old Da’Oni Smith.
She and others attended a youth town hall Monday evening at Level Up. It is a youth empowerment and education center in West Philly.
“This is going to be a night of powerful sharing both ways,” said Founder and Executive Director Aaron Campbell.
The goal was to connect youth and police to understand the challenges both face and to build a stronger relationship between them.
“Taking the time out their day to come and talk to the youth, that’s showing that they really care about the youth and what they have going on. And they are trying to prevent it from getting worse,” said 16-year-old Tyler Brown.
The panel of listeners included city, state, other government leaders, Philadelphia Police, and non-profits that deal with youth and violence prevention.
“Our communities are policed differently than other communities that’s just our reality, right? but just like there’s good people and bad people , there’s good police officers and there are bad police officers,” said Movita Johnson-Harrell who started the Charles Foundation.
The youth were able to answer questions like how often they see police stop people in their neighborhoods and how they would describe their interactions with police.
“My cousin he got stopped to check if he had a gun. They just assumed him,” said one teen.
Another youth said, “Y’all in big groups, y’all got ski masks on, y’all look up to no good so of course they are going to stop you like what are y’all doing. It’s past your curfew.”
Pastor Aaron Campbell the founder and executive director of Level Up says tonight allowed his youth to be vulnerable.
“So many times our young people in the city lash out because just like a soda can shook up, they feel they have no outlet and they feel that no wants to hear them,” he said.
The youth also asked police about how the job affects them.
“It’s decades and decades of grabbing young people teens who are shot and rushing them to the hospital and seeing the pain and suffering they go through,” said Deputy Commissioner Mike Cram.
The Source: Information in this story is from Level Up Philly.
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