After Parkland, TNT Youth Leaders Speak

Posted: March 6, 2018

Young Oakland Voices Heard

The outrageous, unnecessary destruction of lives in Parkland, Florida, has rightly inspired great sympathy for the grieving. For many (though somehow not all), it has reinforced their will to make our country a safer, more peaceful place. It has also opened the nation’s ears to the energizing voices and fresh ideas of young peoOak Northple.

So it made great sense, after the Parkland tragedy, for journalists from Oakland North to visit our Teens on Target program, where we amplify the voices of Oakland youth affected by violence. Alondra de la Cruz and some of our Castlemont youth leaders, along with TNT Coordinator Hisham Ali Bob, had a conversation about where the trauma of American mass shootings and the violence on American streets intersect. You can see their important comments in a 3-minute video at Oakland North.

In the meantime, at Youth ALIVE!, where we comfort and support the grieving and wounded every day, we promise to keep doing all we can to heal trauma, heal our community, and change lives hurt by violence.