[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 44 (Thursday, March 5, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1592-S1594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GAME CHANGERS STUDY
Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I recently had the honor of being welcomed
by Game Changers, an organization based in Louisville, KY, devoted to
guiding our youth toward productive and meaningful lives, for a panel
discussion on the impact of violence in our community. The executive
director of Game Changers is Christopher 2X, whom I have known for many
years and watched change the lives of so many Kentuckians through his
advocacy, leadership, and community building efforts. In December of
2019, just a few months ago, Christopher showed me the findings of Game
Changers's study on the impact of youth violence recently released by
his organization. Subsequently, I asked him to organize
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an event in West Louisville with a panel of community leaders and
parents to discuss the report and how violent crime affects the lives
of Louisville youth.
At the event, we not only discussed the findings but also heard from
Louisvillians whose real-life stories are contained in the pages of
those reports. Earnestine ``Tina'' Tyus described how the ongoing
physical and the mental suffering of her grandson, Ki'Anthony Tyus
resulted after being shot. Rather than excelling at football and
basketball, Ki'Anthony was focused on learning how to walk again.
Violence also has indirect consequences. Stevonte Wood started failing
out of school, treating those around him poorly, and had trouble
sleeping at night. This downward spiral was a result of witnessing the
murders of his mother and older brother. Jarron Jones, a behavioral
therapist, recounts a story of how a once-promising baseball career for
one student may now never come to fruition because he is too afraid of
violence to continue playing the sport. Only personal stories such as
these truly demonstrate the extreme toll taken on children exposed to
violence.
That is why I feel compelled to share Game Changers's findings on
violence and its impact on our youth with my colleagues. Tragically,
children are exposed to violence in every corner of our Nation. I ask
unanimous consent that this report be printed in the Congressional
Record with the hope that every Member of Congress will read it and
work with me to create safer communities for our children.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Violence Impact on Children Learning
The Christopher 2X Game Changers Target Education--Crush Violence
KI'ANTHONY TYUS AND HIS GRANDMOTHER ERNESTINE ``TINA'' TYUS
Tina Tyus has a comfortable home in West Louisville where
photos of grandchildren she has raised are on display or
within easy reach.
There's Ki'Anthony as an infant along with one of the last
pictures of him, at the family's Thanksgiving gathering last
year, a lanky teenager smiling next to a proud grandmother
who ``had him since he came into this world.''
Their world, from the time Ki'Anthony was 9, has been
devastated by gun violence.
At age 9, Ki'Anthony was shot by a stray bullet while
playing basketball in a park and suffered a debilitating leg
injury. Four years later, on Dec. 22, 2018, he died when the
stolen Lexus SUV he was riding in crashed into a utility pole
on Fern Valley Road after a police chase. Four other
juveniles in the car including the driver survived.
His family is grabbling with the circumstances of his death
and does not understand how or why he ended up in the stolen
car.
Known as ``Lil King,'' playful and fun to be around,
Ki'Anthony was a symbol of resilience in a media spotlight
during anti-violence efforts after he was shot. He was an
active participant in a Christopher 2X ``Hood2Hood''
antiviolence movement. He visited other gunshot victims in
the hospital to offer encouragement and comfort.
He also struggled with his wounds, both emotional and
physical, and navigated among peers who were not always good
influences.
His gun shot injury put him in the hospital for several
days. He had multiple surgeries in the aftermath followed by
months of physical therapy. He had a rod in his leg for a
year and a bullet was left there permanently because of the
damage it could cause if it was removed.
The boy who loved to play football and basketball ``wasn't
able to play any sport and that devastated him. He had to
basically start all over again walking,'' his grandmother
said. He was ``angry, very angry.''
He began disobeying rules in her home, and feared getting
shot again, she said. His grades suffered, and she said a
contributing factor was his assignment to a middle school far
away from home that required a long commute on two buses each
morning and afternoon while he was using a walker because of
his leg injury. He acted out, she said, so he could be sent
to another school.
His two sisters--11 and 16--also have been impacted.
Neither are doing well in school, and ``they are just hurt,''
she said.
A happy time was last Thanksgiving, a few weeks before
Ki'Anthony died, and she had made his favorite foods
including a strawberry cake for the large annual family
gathering in her home. ``He was jumping around here,
dancing.''
At Thanksgiving, she told Ki'Anthony she would buy him a
purple suit for Easter like the ones he saw and admired at a
gospel program they had attended, ``not knowing I had to bury
him before Easter. He died on my mother's birthday. It just
eats me up.''
385--Number of people shot in Louisville in 2017, an
average of 32 people each month.
355--Number of people shot in Louisville in 2018, an
average of nearly 30 people each month.
276--Number of people shot in Louisville in the first nine
months of 2019, an average of more than 30 people a month.
JAMIE DENTON WITH HER SON ROBERT LEACHMAN
Jamie Denton chokes up talking about the impact her son's
violent death has had on his three younger brothers and how
she's struggled.
Robert Leachman, 20, died on Aug. 2, 2017, from multiple
gunshot wounds at Parkway Place Apartments two weeks before
he was to start nursing school. The family believes the
shooting stemmed from an earlier argument on a basketball
court.
Jamie's three other sons, who were 9, 11 and 16 at the
time, were close to their brother and their behaviors all
changed in different ways after his death.
``It took something out of them,'' she said.
Before the death of their brother, they were good students
with good grades, she said. Afterward, her 16-year-old ``shut
himself off and didn't go out, was scared to take TARC and
had to have a ride with someone to go anywhere. He no longer
wanted to attend Ballard and instead now attends Jefferson
County High School.
The 11-year-old became out of control in school, not
listening, but now is doing better, she said. The 9-year-old
withdrew but also began writing rap songs about his brother
and at the end of the school year he chose the topic ``Stop
the Violence'' for a project.
She and her children have all had counseling and their
public schools have been helpful but her children ``are hurt
and stressed and looking at me, they see more stress because
they are worrying about me,'' she said.
They moved after the shooting, she said, and now feel safe
in their neighborhood but not safe enough to visit a nearby
park. Her older son warned her to stop walking in the park
because of a gang that frequents there. ``So, I don't go to
that park,'' she said.
A few weeks after her son was killed, when she was still in
her old home on Madison Street north of Broadway, during a
neighborhood cookout on Labor Day weekend, shooters fired
bullets at homes including hers and shot up cars. ``We were
terrified,'' she said.
``I switched up my house and I switched up my car. I had
to, to survive.''
In the aftermath of her son's death, her health declined,
and she suffered a heart attack at age 39 last spring.
``Kids will keep you strong because they know what you're
going through. They want to see you the same.''
Murders from gun fire are a ``totally different'' level of
dying than by other means. ``It's the cruelest thing, that a
person can die of that.''
1,616--Number of times in the first six months of 2019 that
an electronic gunfire detection system alerted police to
shots fired in an area totaling six square miles, an average
of nine times a day, 269 times a month.
The system called Shotspotter operates in parts of the 1st,
2nd and 4th police districts in West Louisville, and
Smoketown and Old Louisville just east and south of downtown.
STEVONTE WOOD
Stevonte Wood, 23, earned a college degree in three years,
has a fulltime job as a security officer, and is recently
married--a happy, fulfilling life that was highly unlikely 10
years ago.
Stevonte was 13 when he witnessed a horrendous act of
violence, the shooting deaths of his mother and older brother
after an argument on a basketball court at his family's
Shively apartment complex. After that terrible day, for
Stevonte, ``things really took a turn.''
He was on a grieving, trauma-filled downward spiral marked
by anger, bad conduct and failing grades. Family support,
counseling, caring teachers, others in his life--and his own
hard work and determination--helped Stevonte rebound.
Before the shootings, he had been a good student, making
A's and Bs, which he credited in part to his mother who
``made me book heavy.'' His father worked long days, taking
two buses to and from their home to his construction job.
After the shootings, Stevonte was deeply troubled and
struggling. He was still living in the apartment where his
mother and brother were killed, and he had trouble focusing
and sleeping. When he did sleep he often had nightmares. He
argued with his father, who had been injured in the shootings
and was grieving. (They now have a close relationship).
Angry and withdrawn, he failed 9th grade. He went to school
but had trouble concentrating. ``I was there but I wasn't
there. I was constantly thinking about what happened.'' He
wanted to communicate but he said he didn't know how; his
words were angry, and he said he felt ``a lot of self-
hatred.'' He worried about his father's safety and that
someone might retaliate against his family in another act of
violence.
From Butler High School he was sent to Western High School
to repeat 9th grade, which turned out to be blessing, he
said.
Counseling helped him manage his grief, overcome his anger
and detachment so he could focus on schoolwork, he said, and
teachers encouraged him while holding him responsible. A
turning point came when one told him he didn't want to fail
the same grade twice, that would ``not be good, trust me.''
``I started listening in class, participating and my grades
climbed up.''
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He was motivated to make up for failing at Butler. ``The
people I was surrounded by were well-rounded people. Once I
put myself around people who wanted me to succeed, that was
one heck of an opportunity. I didn't want to miss out on
it.''
With good grades, he pursued advanced placement classes in
his junior year at Western and started racking up college
credits through courses taught through Jefferson Community
Technical College. When Stevonte received his high school
diploma in 2015 he had 31 college credits toward his degree
from the University of Louisville, which he earned in 2018.
His decision to major in criminal justice was influenced by
the good relations he had with police officers after his
mother and brother were murdered. ``I began to idolize the
good police and those who interact with the community,'' he
said. Police were kind to his family and checked on them, he
said, and he thought he could be like them and help people.
He has shared his story with other survivors of gun
violence to offer hope and encourages awareness of the signs
of trauma in children.
Anger, withdrawal, depression are key signs, he said.
Schools and parents also need to be connected. ``When you get
that disconnect, that's when you start losing kids. We need
to find who these kids are and take the time to understand
their situation and help them to the best of our abilities.''
4,558--Number of times citizens reported hearing gunfire to
Louisville Metro Police in 18 months, from Jan., 2018-June,
2019, over 200 times a month.
JERRON JONES--LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR ASSOCIATE
As a behavioral therapist, Jerron Jones spends much of his
time trying to help families and children suffering from
trauma resulting from exposure to violence.
The symptoms of trauma in children vary based on age and
the individual child but a ``huge sign'' is an inability to
develop a relationship with an adult and show respect for the
teacher, Jones said. Children in those situations, he said,
often lack a consistent, nurturing adult in their lives.
A lot of kids lack confidence and self-esteem and don't
hear encouraging words or praise for what they do well and
the strengths they have, he said, and ``that leaves them
without a skill set to build on.''
Jones advises adults in their lives to celebrate them with
compliments and praise for their efforts. Children should
also be comforted by adults who remain calm and patient even
though the circumstances can be difficult, he said. Listening
to them and showing an interest in what they like to do, he
said, as well as working with them and sharing new ideas can
help them build self-esteem.
Parents and teachers should be aware of signs of trauma,
and seek help when needed, he said, but often parents don't
feel comfortable revealing upsetting circumstances that may
be a root cause of a child's trauma. Building trust and
showing integrity, he said, goes a long way in addressing a
traumatized child's needs.
``Early exposure to extremely fearful events affects the
developing brain, particularly in those areas involved in
emotions and learning. . . . For young children who perceive
the world as a threatening place, a wide range of conditions
can trigger anxious behaviors that then impair their ability
to learn and to interact socially with others.'' Source:
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2010).
Persistent Fear and Anxiety Can Affect Young Children's
Learning and Development: Working Paper No. 9.
Jones cites the following age-related symptoms children may
have in response to a traumatic event or series of events
including exposure to gun violence:
Five and under: May be irritable, fussy or difficult to get
calmed down. They may be easily started or show behaviors
common in younger children such as thumb sucking. Clingy
behavior and frequent tantrums may also be present, and they
may talk or act out a traumatic event.
Ages 6-12 may have trouble paying attention or be
withdrawn. Their performance may decline in school. They may
be in trouble at school or home, fearful, sad or want to be
left alone.
Teenagers may refuse to follow rules, talk back more often,
talk about the event or deny it happened, withdraw, engage in
risky behaviors, change sleeping or eating patterns, have
nightmares and may turn to drugs or alcohol.
Professional help should be considered, he said, if
symptoms persist, get worse or the child's symptom are
extreme and unresponsive to attempts to help.
NYREE CLAYTON-TAYLOR--2019 KENTUCKY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER OF THE
YEAR
Teaching predominately African American students in West
Louisville, NyRee Clayton-Taylor recognized symptoms of
suffering--anger and lashing out, or withdrawal and not doing
the work. Kids would tell her about an uncle who was shot, a
father lost to gun violence, parents in prison. Some couldn't
find words to express themselves.
So, Clayton-Taylor, a resource teacher at Wheatley
Elementary School, created a curriculum around their joys in
life, their interests, their culture. Her energy, creativity
and impact earned her recognition as the 2919 Kentucky
Elementary School Teacher of the Year.
``Academics will not happen if a student is not healed,''
she said. ``I decided to infuse academics with healing so
they could get it at one time.''
Her solution was to use hip hop, the popular music genre
especially among African American youth, as a primary
teaching tool, along with rap, graffiti artwork, and books
about African American history and culture to help children
focus, write, create, work in teams, and solve problems, all
beneficial lifelong skills.
``I had to bring in hip hop. It was a must so that they
could have a narrative that was their own,'' said Clayton-
Taylor, now in her 20th year of teaching.
In a nationally represented survey, 8.2 percent of all
children, from age 2-17, were reported to have witnessed gun
violence or heard gunshots in their communities. Youth ages
14-17 had the highest exposure at nearly 17 percent. Source:
Finkelhor D, Turner HA, Shattuck A, Hamby SL. Prevalence of
Childhood Exposure to Violence, Crime, and Abuse: Results
from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence.
JAMA Pediatr. 2015;169(8):746-754. doi:10.1001/
jamapediatrics.2015.06 76.
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