Youngsters...

For the last two Fridays I have had the fortunate experience of working with a really great group of young people who call themselves "The Youngsters". What's cool about these "kids" is that they came together as a group - without the facilitation of an adult - and decided that they weren't going to get involved in gangs, but instead be committed to each other and to their community. In an area that has a terrible reputation for gang violence and where gang membership seems to be almost an expected “right of passage”, these teenagers are going against the norm and making a positive difference in their neighborhood.

Considering the loss and heartache they have experienced in their lives, The Youngsters bring an incredible amount of energy and spirit to their meetings. The challenge lies in harnessing that energy and finding ways to put it to productive use – I left the my first meeting with them feeling overwhelmed at what I perceived as a very disorganized, chaotic meeting where they spent much of the two hours they had together teasing each other and making side comments that led to defensive arguments. I really wondered what I’d gotten myself into.

But the more I get to know these kids, the more I’m encouraged by the potential they carry inside them. Right now they are working on a video about “Our Lady of Sorrows”, which will be shown at the mass for her in a few weeks. This may come as a shock, but the theme is sorrow, much of which is linked to gang violence in this neighborhood. As the group talked about what they wanted to include in their video, amid their “hard” exteriors I saw a sensitivity and softness that could only be present among a group of people that has experienced the loss of a loved one at the hands of gang violence. There was one boy whose brother was killed, and the group wanted to interview him for the video (I myself thought it would add a great amount of sentiment and realism to the project), but he clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about the issue. Instead of ragging on the kid and nagging him to do it until he gave in, the group was completely respectful of his resistance and quickly moved on to the next idea.

Working in this area, with a population that has been historically oppressed for centuries, is proving to be a challenge that I am barely beginning to understand. But I think of The Youngsters and what they are doing – by their own will – to improve their community, and I am hopeful for their generation, and thankful to have the privilege of working with such an extraordinary group of leaders.