Youth brutality causes concern for Baltimore anti-violence group
BALTIMORE -- Midway into January, and youth violence is continuing to ravage Baltimore's inner-city communities.
Two 16-year-old boys were shot Tuesday evening along Radecke Avenue in Northeast Baltimore.
Elijah Miles, the chairman of the Tendea Family organization, is calling on community members to help make a difference.
"How many of us in our new year's resolutions included what we're going to do for the community? How many of us thought about how we are going to play a better role in our communities than we did last year? The problems in Baltimore City's Black communities are not going to change, not going to shift without people willing to change them," Miles said.
According to police, at least 10 teenagers have been shot in Baltimore City and two have died in January.
"They are the victims of a system that is well above their heads," said Miles.
He said teens are falling victim to outside influences.
"The movies, the music, the TV and social media, all it tells me is to be a Black man is to be a killer, a robber, and a drug dealer, then I strive to be like that," Miles said.
Miles urges neighbors to volunteer or donate to local organizations, "and make sure that they have the resources to know that the streets, the corner, or these things are not an option."
The Tendea Family organization runs transformative programs for teens, focusing on self-improvement, community service, and identity.
"We have conversations with them about what it really means to be man, a healthy Black man within your neighborhood, what does it mean to be a black woman. If we are not defining these things then our kids don't have a roadmap to go off," Miles said.
Anyone who has information about the shooting involving two teens in Northeast Baltimore is urged to contact detectives at 410-396-2444.