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ROOT NEWS - Documents -
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Feb 11, 2008
Tackling Gun
Violence And the Scars It Leaves
By Clarence
Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 11, 2008; Page B01
In
recent months, Barnes's nonprofit
organization completed a more formal
three-year survey of youths that not
only backs up his observations with hard
data but paints a portrait of such
pervasive exposure to gun crime that it
startled even Barnes, as well others who
deal with violence. The survey depicts
an urban D.C. environment where 80
percent of youths are "highly exposed"
to gun violence and, more importantly to
Barnes, few are offered help coping.
"We're trying to coin the phrase
'current traumatic stress disorder,' "
Barnes said, referring to many youths'
ongoing exposure. The lack of grief
counseling or therapy, Barnes said,
predisposes survivors to anti-social and
violent activity.
Faced with such an environment,
Barnes believes that only a broad
solution that addresses that environment
can reduce gun violence. So for months,
he has used preliminary data from the
survey to push for a national campaign
that would take a more comprehensive
approach to preventing gun violence and
treat the response to survivors as a
public health issue. His efforts have
resulted in a bill being introduced in
Congress that would establish five pilot
projects in violent areas of such places
as the District and Prince George's.
Barnes formed his anti-violence
group, Reaching Out to Others Together,
after the September 2001 slaying of his
son, Kenneth Barnes Jr., in a robbery on
U Street NW.
The one-page survey was completed by
1,512 students ages 9 to 19 from at
least 18 predominantly black middle and
high schools in the District, as well as
youths at Boys and Girls Clubs and other
venues.
According to preliminary results, 80
percent of the respondents were "highly
exposed" to gun violence, meaning a
loved one had been shot or the sound of
gunshots is common in their community,
and of that 80 percent, 67 percent
reported that they received no form of
counseling or therapy. The survey also
included Prince George's youths; numbers
for them had not been finalized, but
Barnes said they were similar to those
for D.C. respondents.
The number of students exposed to
violence is astonishing, even for Ann
Brogioli, a social worker at Hart Middle
School in Southeast Washington, where
students who repeatedly witness such
losses -- and sometimes see shootings or
bodies -- can act up in class, become
withdrawn or, worse, grow numb to
violence, she said.
"I could do full-time grief
counseling at my school. It's probably a
full-time job at every school across the
city," Brogioli said. "It's the layers
of trauma and constant trauma."
Brogioli believes many children
receive some help but might not
recognize it.
Exposure to violence is a part of
Washington life for Wanda Hill, 17, of
Ledroit Park, whose cousin was fatally
shot in the head a month ago while
sitting in a car in Southeast. She often
hears gunfire near her house. She said
she has received no counseling.
"People die every day," Hill said.
"I'm used to it. I live in D.C."
The District does provide some
therapy options. The day after four
students were shot outside
Ballou High
School on Jan. 22, D.C.
public school officials sent social
workers and Department of Mental
Health counselors, a typical
response to violence or death that
affects a school, said
Mafara Hobson,
a schools spokeswoman. But therapy
for students affected by events
outside school comes only at the
request of a parent, teacher or
principal, she said -- a system that
Barnes called inadequate. Gregory Washington, an associate
professor at the University of Tennessee
at Martin who is publishing a paper on
the findings with
Howard University
Professor Donna Barnes, called the
survey significant because of the volume
of respondents. Donna Barnes is not
related to Kenneth Barnes.
"Generally, it's not that easy for
researchers to get into communities to
make that kind of connection,"
Washington said. "We're aware of the
incidents of violence. What we don't
know is how to successfully impact them
in effective ways."
But Kenneth Barnes thinks he has an
approach worth trying. He has been
wooing members of the
Congressional
Black Caucus, such as
Rep. Albert R.
Wynn (D-Md.), whose district
includes Prince George's communities
that have struggled with violent crime.
"The traditional approach of arrest
and prosecution has not worked," Wynn
said. "We need to come up with a much
more sophisticated way of addressing
this problem."
Wynn is sponsoring the bill, which
would provide at least $400 million in
federal funding over three years to
boost law enforcement, continue research
and create community-based centers that
would connect residents and survivors
with social services, counselors and
nonprofit organizations involved with
mental health, housing and job
placement. The funding would be
distributed through mayor's offices and
federal agencies with a goal of a 20
percent decrease in gun crime.
"You cannot have a successful
approach to violence when community
organizations don't talk to each
other," Barnes said. "You've got to
force it so everyone works
together."
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Feb 4, 2008
ROOT is proud to announce its appearance as
an amicus curiae in the Heller case
currently pending before the Supreme Court.
Normally, at ROOT we do not take a position
on 2nd amendment issues or debates.
However, in this particular instance we felt
more than a sense of obligation when
approached, because this case involves far
more than 2nd amendment issues.
It involves, in our opinion, a right of the
people to self determination, to determine
what is best for the public safety and the
well being of its community, without outside
intervention or influence. The people of
the District of Columbia spoke when they
voted to ban the sale of handguns in the
District of Columbia. It should be the
right of the people of the District of
Columbia to overturn that decision, and not
the self serving interests of a select few
citizens who wish to change and overturn
laws because they move into the District
from other jurisdictions.
Furthermore, and this is my personal
opinion, Washington, DC, is the capital of
the United States of America, a city that
when it speaks, reverberations are heard
around the world. What type of message are
we sending throughout this country and to
the entire world? That this proud and
powerful city wishes to revert back to the
ways of the Wild West, and that we wish to
add more guns to a city already experiencing
an epidemic of gun violence?
Thus we support our Mayor, Adrian Fenty, our
city, and its leadership in this pending
appearance before the Supreme Court, and
would be hypocritical of our mission and our
cause if we were to do otherwise.
Kenny Barnes |
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Jan 28, 2008
Ed Fund Weighs in on
Heller
Case
On Friday, January 11, the Educational Fund to Stop
Gun Violence (Ed Fund) filed an
amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the
case of
Heller
v. District of Columbia (formerly
Parker
v. District of Columbia).
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the
Heller
case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit declared the District's handgun ban
unconstitutional in a split ruling in March 2007.
This marked the first time in history that a gun
control law had been struck down on Second Amendment
grounds. This will be the first time since 1939 that
the highest court in the land has considered the
meaning of the Second Amendment. Their ruling could
affect not just D.C.'s gun laws, but gun laws across
the country.
The Ed Fund believes D.C.'s gun laws
are
constitutional and asserts that the Second Amendment
preserves the ability of states to protect the
lives, liberty, and property of their citizens
through firearms regulation (as opposed to
preventing such regulation). Over 30 civic,
religious, gun violence prevention, and victims'
rights organizations signed on to the Ed Fund
brief.*
We are hoping the Supreme Court will embrace the
widely held interpretation of the Second Amendment
(which affirms that the right to keep and bear arms
is only guaranteed through service in a well
regulated state militia) and leave the District of
Columbia’s tough gun laws intact. For more
information on the
Heller
case, click
here.
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The case is just one
aspect of the Ed Fund’s
involvement in the issue
of guns, democracy and
freedom. Later this
year, the University of
Michigan press will
publish a new book I
have authored,
Freedom Under Fire: Guns
and the Assault on
American Democracy.
The Ed Fund also plans
to host panel
discussions and other
events with leading
authorities on the
Second Amendment.
Finally, our
website will
relaunch this year and
feature new resources
for advocates looking to
speak to the meaning of
the Second Amendment.
We will continue to
communicate to you in
the coming weeks with
updates in the
Heller case.
As always, thank you
very much for the
support you provide to
make our work possible.
Sincerely,
Josh Horwitz
Executive Director
*American Jewish
Committee,
Anti-Defamation League,
Baptist Peace Fellowship
of North America,
Ceasefire NJ, Central
Conference of American
Rabbis, Citizens for a
Safer Minnesota,
Methodist Federation for
Social Action, Clifton
Kirkpatrick in his
Capacity as the Stated
Clerk of the
Presbyterian Church
(USA), Educational Fund
to Stop Gun Violence,
Freedom States Alliance,
American Jewish
Congress, Friends
Committee on National
Legislation, Gray
Panthers,
Gunfreekids.org,
Illinois Council Against
Handgun Violence,
Illinoisvictims.org,
Iowans for the
Prevention of Gun
violence, Jenna
Foundation for
Nonviolence, Inc., Karla
Zimmerman Memorial
Foundation, National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People, National Council
of Jewish Women, new
England Coalition to
Prevent Gun Violence,
New Yorkers Against Gun
Violence, DC Statehood
Green Party, North
Carolinians Against Gun
Violence Education Fund,
Ohio Coalition Against
Gun Violence, Renée
Olumbuni Rondeau Peace
Foundation, Root
(Reaching Out to Others
Together) Inc., Union
for Reform Judaism,
Virginia Center for
Public Safety, Wisconsin
Anti-Violence Effort,
and Certain Individual
Victims and Families of
Victims of Gun Violence |
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U.S. Congressional
Initiative to Reduce Youth
Violence
To: Community
Leaders, Violence Prevention
Experts, Family Leaders,
Education & Mental Health
Leaders
From: Kevin P.
Dwyer, NCSP
ekdwyer@verizon.net
301-229-8251
Co-Chair Board of Directors
Reaching Out to Others
Together (ROOT, Inc.)
Initiative to Reduce
Youth Violence
Members of the Congressional
Black Caucus (and others)
have agreed to draft
legislation to establish
substantial, long-term
grants to urban areas to
demonstrate that
community-wide coordinated
efforts to reduce the
serious youth violence and
homicide rate within those
communities can work and
should be sustained.
This legislation is being
proposed to be introduced
almost immediately.
Congressional hearings will
follow within the coming
months.
ROOT, Inc. in cooperation
with others has been
requested to assist these
Congressional
Representatives in drafting
this legislation. We are
trying to ensure that the
legislation will focus on
positive, resilience for
children, youth and families
and their communities. We
want to look at what
communities need (and will
endorse) to support the
positive social-emotional
growth and safety of its
members. We know that
there are numerous small,
caring violence prevention
efforts within most
communities whose effects
may be greatly enhanced by
coordination and planned
resourcing. We know some
duplicate each other and
some are ineffective but
continue. Community driven
coordinated efforts can do
better. The proposed title
of the legislation is:
Communities in Action
(focusing on local control
and grass-roots
involvement).
Give us your ideas, your
vision for what is needed in
this legislation. Focus
on applied evidence-based
practices for education,
health, mental health,
policing, justice, housing,
work, public and private and
non-governmental partners.
We will quickly pull these
ideas together and present
them to Congressional
staff. There are no
guarantees regarding the
outcome. We are providing
information that we hope
will have the result of
increasing community safety
and viability and reducing
homicides and youth
violence.
DC MAYOR
ADRIAN FENTY, COUNCILMEMBER
JIM GRAHAM BEGIN AGGRESSIVE
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO
ADDRESS GUN VIOLENCE
PRESS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY,
APRIL 6, 2007 ANNOUNCES
ANTI-GUN VIOLENCE PROACTIVE
CAMPAIGN
Mayor Adrian Fenty,
Councilmember Jim Graham,
Department of Health,
AMERIGROUP, Washington Metro
Area Transit Association (WMATA),
and ROOT, Inc.
Danny Govan, 16 year old and
mother, Sheila Govan,
speaking for those
victimized by gun violence.
The Govan family has had 10
members of its immediate
family murdered as a result
of gun violence in past
years.
Victims of Gun Violence, MPD,
USDOJ, DMH, DCPS, DYRS, EMS.
Members of the Clergy,
Community Organizations, and
Concerned Citizens, Crisis
Response Team, Homicide
Liaison, youth, and members
of the City Council.
What: Public
service announcing GUNS
ASIDE poster on metro buses
to begin proactive awareness
campaign at efforts to
reduce gun violence in the
District of Columbia.
Where: Steps of John
Wilson Building, 1350
Pennsylvania Ave, NW,
Washington, DC 20008.
When: Friday,
April 6, 2007, 10:30 AM.
Why: In January
of 2006, the Guns Aside
Resolution calling January
Guns Aside month in the
District of Columbia was
introduced by the Ward 4
Councilmember Adrian Fenty
and Ward 1 Councilman Jim
Graham and was unanimously
approved by the City
Council. A press conference
was held at the National
Press Club declaring the
District of Columbia was
facing a public health
crisis with escalating
incidents of gun violence.
The city is even now still
in crisis with incidents of
gun violence seen on the
news daily, read in our
newspapers, as well as
reported on list servs and
blogs daily/
The city itself declared a
state of emergency in July
of 2006. Prior to that
declaration, ROOT had its
outreach workers circulating
petitions throughout the
District of Columbia for
citizens to sign expressing
their concerns about gun
violence. Over 8,000
petitions were signed by
citizens young and old in
the city prior to the city
declaring the state of
emergency.
As of April 3, there have
been 40 homicides in the
District of Columbia.
6,412 individuals have
been murdered in the
District of Columbia from
1986 through 2005.
According to MPD statistics,
robbery with a handgun is up
8% over 2006, and assault
with a deadly weapon –
handgun is up 5% over last
year.
Over the past several years,
ROOT has conducted
preliminary research on
children that are impacted
by gun violence and homicide
and results have been
astonishing. Children from
the 5th to the 12th
grade are reporting that
upwards of 90% know a family
member or friend that has
been victimized by gun
violence, and upwards of 90%
hear gunshots in their
community
In
a recent survey conducted
among young women during an
empowerment symposium at a
high school in Ward 8, we
found that 75% of the young
women surveyed either had
access or knew someone with
access to guns.
The prevalence of guns in
the community are a concern
to all. The recent
appellate court decision has
created a great deal of
controversy in the District
of Columbia, when the
District is trying to reduce
the amount of guns not
increase the numbers.
Media Contact: Clarke &
Associates at 202-723-2200
or email at
pclarkepr@aol.com
FENTY TO APPEAL
OVERTURNED GUN BAN IN
FEDERAL COURT
By Gary Emerling - THE
WASHINGTON TIMES
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty
said city officials on
Monday will file a legal
challenge to a federal
appeals court decision that
struck down the District's
30-year-old gun ban.
"There's enough illegal guns
in the District of
Columbia," Mr. Fenty said
during a press conference
yesterday at the John A.
Wilson Building. "We don't
need to add to those guns
with legal guns, which would
then become illegal as they
move from one person to one
person to the next, until
someone is killed with
them."
On March 9, a three-judge
panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
overturned a previous
lower-court decision against
six city residents who filed
suit to keep guns for
self-protection.
The panel ruled in a 2-1
decision that the right to
bear arms as guaranteed in
the Second Amendment applies
to individuals and not only
to militias.
The ruling overturned
portions of D.C. law that
prohibit residents from
keeping firearms in their
homes and require owners of
registered guns, including
shotguns, to store them with
trigger locks or keep them
disassembled.
Mr. Fenty said the city
would be filing a petition
to have the full court
rehear the case and that he
is confident the District
will win on the appeal.
"We believe we'll be able to
have the whole circuit court
review this case," he said.
The District's gun laws,
which are among the nation's
strictest, will remain in
place through the appeals
process.
Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist
for the National Rifle
Association, said the
District's appeal was
expected.
"This action was anticipated
all along," Mr. Cox said.
"Mayor Fenty seems
determined to do whatever he
can to deny the lawful
residents of the District
the constitutionally
protected right to defend
yourself or your
family in your own home."
Mr. Fenty's announcement was
made during a press
conference announcing a
program to place anti-gun
violence posters on Metro
buses across the city.
The posters -- most of which
will feature a hand forming
a peace sign with the words
"guns aside" -- are part of
an awareness campaign to
reduce gun violence
spearheaded by the nonprofit
Root Inc.
Each bus placard costs
roughly $800 and was paid
for by the health care
provider Amerigroup and the
D.C. Department of Health.
They will be placed on
roughly 20 Metro buses.
Organizers of the campaign
said there had been 40
homicides in the District
this year as of Tuesday and
that the number of robberies
committed with a handgun had
so far increased by 8
percent compared with last
year.
Council member Jim Graham,
Ward 1 Democrat who also
attended the press
conference, tied efforts to
decrease gun violence with
the fight to overturn the
court decision.
"We face not only a
situation where we've got to
keep guns off the streets,
but now we've got to fight
Congress and the courts from
opening up the floodgates,"
Mr. Graham said.
Copy
of
E-mail
sent
to
Kenny
Barnes,
Sr.
-
Aug
9,
2007
from
Alfred
McComber,
Radio
Host
-
Code
Red
Radio
Broadcast
Hello
Mr.
Barnes,
Sr.,
Thanks
so
much
for
taking
time
out
of
your
busy
schedule
to
be
my
live
studio
guest
on
yesterday's
It
was
a
pleasure
to
meet
you
in
person
and
get
a
chance
to
talk
with
you
regarding
all
the
positive
things
your
organization
is
doing
to
help
reduce
the
violence
in
our
communities
throughout
the
nation.
Attached,
please
find
a
photograph
from
yesterday's
broadcast.
Please
be
sure
to
let
me
know
if
there
is
anything
I
can
do
to
further ROOT's
message
and
work.
I'd
be
delighted
to
work
on
any
projects
involving
training
or
talking
with
community
members about
Personal
Security,
Safety
or
Emergency
Preparedess
issues
for
individuals,
businesses
and
organizations.
be
immediately
downloaded.
I'll
make
sure
my
team
mails
you
an
audio
CD
of our
broadcast
interview
together.
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