CINCINNATI — Community activists spent four hours talking with teenagers at a bus stop by the federal courthouse, the same spot where a 15-year-old was jumped less than one week ago.
"We don’t want more police down here," said activist Iris Roley. "We want more resources for the children."
Roley said she called several other activists and asked them to meet her downtown after she saw videos of recent violent attacks involving teenagers.
On Jan. 23, a man was robbed and jumped by eight people on E. 6th Street. Two people, one of whom was a teen, were arrested but later released. The next day, Cincinnati police said a 15-year-old boy was jumped by multiple people one block away on E. 5th Street.
Police put out an arrest warrant for two more teenagers wanted in connection to both attacks. One teen was taken into custody Wednesday night.
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Roley said it’s up to the adults in the community to make the city safe for children and teenagers.
"It is not their fault that society is the way it is today. They were just born into it. It is up to us to provide for them. It’s not up to them to solve these adult problems," Roley said.
Bernice Prude, 15, and Desia Johnson, 15, said they want the violence to end.
"The violence, and the guns and all the fighting as well as, it just has to stop," Prude said. "I feel like that would make everybody feel safer."
Prude and Johnson are sisters. They take the Metro bus to get home.
"It’s too much, it is really too much," Prude said. "I feel like in certain areas, you know, we feel safe and then in certain areas, we don't."
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Daryl Jones said he has family members who also take the Metro bus.
"I got grandkids that get off the bus down here, and when I [saw] that on TV, it kind of hurt me a little bit," Jones said.
Jones works with Andrew Williams at Oasis Elite Boxing Club inside the Dohn Fitness Academy.
"We help kids get off the streets and learn about the business of boxing to try and curb the violence," Williams said.
Jones said the goal is to show kids there are other things to do instead of "come down here and start fights."
They run a before- and after-school program. Activists and teens all say more of these types of programs are needed.
"These kids don’t have anything to do," Williams said. "They’re not really welcome anywhere and those are the things as a community we have to fix."
Activist Stephan Pryor said he also felt compelled to help after he saw the videos.
"It starts at home with the parents — get your children, parents. Teach them, love them, love on them, that’s the key."
Roley added it will take a village to change this violent course.
"We need the school systems, we need parents, we need the churches, we need everybody," she said. "We need all hands on deck."
She said she also wants to change the negative perception people have of Black kids.
"What I hear from adults is how all Black children are savages and that’s not true, and so that narrative needs to stop today. We need to be about problem-solving and finding ways to help children," she said. "There are not enough resources, safe spaces, that teachers don’t like them, the people that are supposed to be helping them with trauma don’t look like them, are not culturally competent, that schools are not teaching them how to be competent and connected."
Prude would also like that perception to change.
"I feel like people have this narrative that they have and they think it’s for like all Black kids and we’re not the same … I feel like everybody is different and the narrative has to stop because it’s not true at all," she said.
Roley said they will be at the bus stop every day as long as they are needed.
