Urban Youth
"A Much Needed Change"
Life, being one of the many precious gifts from God, in my eyes should be taken serious and never for granted. In today’s society, waking up to see the next beautiful day lie before your eyes can sometimes be a hard task to accomplish, especially when the city you live in is notably infamous for many various crimes as rape, theft, and even many counts of homicide; even if that means the person who’s life was taken was only a child.
As we all know, one of the many inevitable things we shall come across during our lifetime is death, but parents shouldn’t have to worry about facing that horrible and indescribable feeling of hearing the news that their child didn’t make it home from school because they were murdered. As I sit back and reflect on the many tragic events that have happened in the city of Detroit, I often wonder how or why, in today’s society, it seems to be okay that lives are tragically being taken at such young ages. Why 368 homicides were committed during the year of 2008?
All of the unnecessary violence--homicides and crimes--have sadly become a normality for the citizens in the once thriving city of Detroit. Crime and violence should never be something I’m used to when I wake up everyday. When I hear about people not even being able to sit on their porch and relax in the comfort of their own home or go to school without being murdered, it bothers me and makes me pray that the change that is much needed in this city will come soon. The youth of my generation shouldn’t have to grow up in such an environment where they’re used to people their age being shot at or violence erupting right down the street from their very home. There are so many teenagers that sadly never made it to their prom, or graduation that they so anxiously awaited. So many mothers and fathers are left weeping over the child that never got to live the life that was taken from them and so many destinies left unfulfilled.
Detroit’s situation that without a doubt is spiraling out of control should most definitely be fixed. How many more grandmothers and parents need to bury their child? How many more innocent lives need to be lost before someone realizes that this unacceptable normality that lies before our very eyes needs to be taken under control? I don’t understand how people can just go about their day and not think about this city crying out for help and what they can do to make a change. What happened to the once peaceful and beautiful city that I still (to this very day) hear stories of? All I ever hear is what Detroit used to be. How it used to be such a thriving, beautiful and safe city. If there is any way possible for it to somehow progress and make its way back to what people used to know, I hope it happens soon. I believe I speak for all people in my generation when I say that a change is overdue and I hope one happens before it’s too late. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about my sixteen year old cousin, Christopher Walker, who was brutally shot and murdered last year at Henry Ford High School and still today I think about my close friend, Justen Solomon, who at only 19 years-old, was murdered in front of his own home on August 1st 2009.
With only eight months of high school left for me, I can honestly say I can’t wait to go off to college and take a much needed break from all the bad memories and pain that resides in this city, but I won’t be gone for long. Even though I plan on leaving, I’ll never stop hoping, praying and even doing my best to come back and help this city; as much as I can. Maybe the change can start with someone like me who doesn’t want the generation after me to have to deal with the pain and negativity that seems to be attracted to the city. Even though the chances of the city progressing and changing for the better don’t seem too high, I believe that there’s hope and one day the city will, hopefully, be on its way back to how it used to be. For, nothing is impossible and of course, anything can be done when the right people set their minds to do it.
Adrienne Ayers
As we all know, one of the many inevitable things we shall come across during our lifetime is death, but parents shouldn’t have to worry about facing that horrible and indescribable feeling of hearing the news that their child didn’t make it home from school because they were murdered. As I sit back and reflect on the many tragic events that have happened in the city of Detroit, I often wonder how or why, in today’s society, it seems to be okay that lives are tragically being taken at such young ages. Why 368 homicides were committed during the year of 2008?
All of the unnecessary violence--homicides and crimes--have sadly become a normality for the citizens in the once thriving city of Detroit. Crime and violence should never be something I’m used to when I wake up everyday. When I hear about people not even being able to sit on their porch and relax in the comfort of their own home or go to school without being murdered, it bothers me and makes me pray that the change that is much needed in this city will come soon. The youth of my generation shouldn’t have to grow up in such an environment where they’re used to people their age being shot at or violence erupting right down the street from their very home. There are so many teenagers that sadly never made it to their prom, or graduation that they so anxiously awaited. So many mothers and fathers are left weeping over the child that never got to live the life that was taken from them and so many destinies left unfulfilled.
Detroit’s situation that without a doubt is spiraling out of control should most definitely be fixed. How many more grandmothers and parents need to bury their child? How many more innocent lives need to be lost before someone realizes that this unacceptable normality that lies before our very eyes needs to be taken under control? I don’t understand how people can just go about their day and not think about this city crying out for help and what they can do to make a change. What happened to the once peaceful and beautiful city that I still (to this very day) hear stories of? All I ever hear is what Detroit used to be. How it used to be such a thriving, beautiful and safe city. If there is any way possible for it to somehow progress and make its way back to what people used to know, I hope it happens soon. I believe I speak for all people in my generation when I say that a change is overdue and I hope one happens before it’s too late. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about my sixteen year old cousin, Christopher Walker, who was brutally shot and murdered last year at Henry Ford High School and still today I think about my close friend, Justen Solomon, who at only 19 years-old, was murdered in front of his own home on August 1st 2009.
With only eight months of high school left for me, I can honestly say I can’t wait to go off to college and take a much needed break from all the bad memories and pain that resides in this city, but I won’t be gone for long. Even though I plan on leaving, I’ll never stop hoping, praying and even doing my best to come back and help this city; as much as I can. Maybe the change can start with someone like me who doesn’t want the generation after me to have to deal with the pain and negativity that seems to be attracted to the city. Even though the chances of the city progressing and changing for the better don’t seem too high, I believe that there’s hope and one day the city will, hopefully, be on its way back to how it used to be. For, nothing is impossible and of course, anything can be done when the right people set their minds to do it.
Adrienne Ayers
