Philly teens lead a summit against gun violence: ‘The solutions lie with us’

Last fall, after five teens were shot outside Roxborough High School, a handful of students at the storied Philadelphia High School for Girls gathered to talk about the city’s gun violence crisis — and how it was increasingly leaving young people wounded or killed.

Yasin Bah, now 18, who attended the meeting, said nearly everyone there had known friends or relatives victimized by gunfire, and students felt they needed to do more to make their voices heard — to speak up for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t, and to add their perspectives to the mix. Gun violence was claiming so many young people’s lives, Bah said, “it literally feels like we’re walking around, missing people.”

“It takes away from you,” Bah said, “and it’s hard to not do something.”

In just a few months, Bah’s advocacy journey — which she has undertaken with about a dozen classmates — has already taken the girls from that small gathering at their school, at Broad Street and Olney Avenue in Logan, into the gilded corridors of City Hall to meet with a City Council member.

And Wednesday, it led the students to the campus of La Salle University for an event they organized and dubbed the Students Advocating For Everyone (S.A.F.E.) summit — a day in which about 70 students from 14 high schools gathered to discuss safety, advocacy, and solutions to violence.

“Nothing about youth without youth,” Bah said in between morning sessions, in which students were leading conversations about topics including empowerment and action. “The solutions lie with us.”

The summit came at an important time. As gun violence has reached record heights in Philadelphia over the last three years, children have increasingly been among the victims. At least 27 children have been shot so far this year, police statistics show, and 217 children were shot last year, the most of any year in recent memory.

Already this academic year, 17 students in the Philadelphia School District have been killed in shootings, the district said, and dozens more have been wounded.

On Monday, a 15-year-old boy who attended Kensington High School, Neko Rivera, was fatally shot in Northeast Philadelphia. And Tuesday, stray bullets from a shooting near Willard Elementary in Kensington flew into empty classrooms — the second time this year that school has been damaged by gunfire.

The effects of gun violence “are really close to my heart,” said Folasade Ajibade, 17, a senior at Girls’ High who helped organize Wednesday’s event. And activism to address the issue, she added, “is something we have to keep going.”

In the fall, when the Girls’ High students kicked off their efforts, Ajibade said they initially discussed ways to keep students safe getting to and from school. Some early ideas included having classes to teach students self-defense, or developing an app that would allow students to check in as “safe” once they were home in the afternoon.

But they also thought it could be a good idea to modify SEPTA’s “Student Fare Cards,” which currently provide free rides to high schoolers who live at least 1½ miles from their school. The girls wanted to reduce that distance to three-quarters of a mile, making more students eligible for the passes.

That idea — which would require legislative input — is what took them to City Hall in December.

There, they met with Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, a Girls’ High alum, and presented their research and ideas. Gilmore Richardson’s office said she was unavailable to comment Wednesday, but her office said on Instagram after the visit: “We are so proud of these ladies and all the hard work they’ve done!”

The girls say they’re continuing to pursue the change to the fare cards. But they also soon began planning for Wednesday’s summit, inviting students from other high schools and working with staff members to develop an agenda in which teens would lead group discussions on topics including self-affirmation, the emotional impact of a shooting once it fades from the news cycle, and how to work within the city’s existing systems to inspire change.

“Today is all about your voice,” Lisa Mesi, the principal of Girls’ High, told the students at the beginning of the day. “You have the power of: The city belongs to you.”

During one morning session, a group of about two dozen students gathered in a classroom and talked about how to be persistent and effective in their advocacy, and how to share their reality with adults who may have had different experiences while growing up.

“We want everybody to see different perspectives,” said Rowan Arthur, 16, a Girls’ High sophomore who helped facilitate the discussion.

Ajibade said it was “amazing” seeing students volunteering their time for such an event, both as facilitators and attendees. And although she and Bah are both seniors, they said they have faith they’ll be back for future installments of the summit even after they graduate.

“I can’t believe [this] hasn’t happened yet,” Ajibade said. “And I hope it doesn’t stop.”