By Kylie Marsh
Kylie.marsh@triangletribune.com
Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams joined youth from GRACED, Inc. last week for a conversation about youth violence.
The GRACEDfully Unmuted Podcast is spearheaded by Durham teens. Williams and Attorney Jonathan Wilson sat down with the teens at the Weaver Street Community Center. GRACED, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that serves youth through mentorship.
Two weeks ago, firearms and ammunition were found at Southern School of Energy and Sustainability following a fight involving multiple students.
Monica Revels-Crawford is the director of GRACEDfully Unmuted. She is also a second-year student of social work at North Carolina Central University. Revels-Crawford said the violence in Durham is a community health, educational and social work issue. “Our goal is to always be connected to the people we serve,” she said. “But how do you remain connected to a young person who’s afraid to leave their home?”
Earlier this week, two NCCU students were shot in a drive-by shooting near campus. “North Carolina Central University students have opportunities to enter the community,” Revels-Crawford said. “But when violence increases, it creates another barrier. Students become afraid to come into the community to do the work they are passionate about doing.”
Khadija Jabbarkhel, 13, is a student at Sherwood Githens Middle School and lives in the Cornwallis community. Shanyla Hunter, Khadija’s mentor, is a senior psychology student at NCCU. The two gave a short presentation on the impacts of gun violence in Durham.
The Durham Police Department’s most recent year-to-date data on shootings in the city reports 366 incidents; as of Sept. 5, 17 of those were fatal.
Hunter said the emotional and mental impacts of community gun violence can include self-harm, distrust and disengagement, and a desire for revenge.
The two recommended the city provide free grief therapy directly in the communities impacted by gun violence, as well as increased law enforcement presence in these communities.
NCCU criminal justice student Gemaeka Smith was shot in October 2024. “There were times where I genuinely wondered where I was going to be, and if I was ever going to feel like myself again,” she said. “I don’t want people to look at me and only see what happened to me. I’m more than a victim, I’m a survivor.”
Smith said gun violence isn’t just about statistics or another news story. “I don’t have all the answers to gun violence, but I do know that we can’t become desensitized to it that we stop caring.”
Smith and Jabbarkhel asked Williams pointed questions on the topic. In early July, Durham brought together community organizations, law enforcement and researchers for the Summit on Saving Lives, but the two asked why youth weren’t included in the conversation.
Williams said his vote is only one in a council of seven. “There is no one single person that makes the decisions; it actually requires collaboration,” he said.
Williams said he supported crime prevention initiatives like the now-dissolved Bull City United or in bringing technology like Shot Spotter to the city. “My heart says that we have to start with the youth, but the data says there is a much more concentrated focus on 18- to 35-year-old Black men,” he said.
“Some of us are afraid to go outside, walk to the bus stop or play outside in our own neighborhoods,” Jabbarkhel said. Williams answered that the city has only just received recommendations that came out of the Summit on Saving Lives.
“There’s still work that we have to do,” he said. “This is only the beginning.” He also added that education, housing and “good-paying jobs” are all “public safety solutions.”
Jabbarkhel pressed Williams youth involvement in gun violence. “There’s still 13-year-olds now that – I know multiple – that have a track record because of no guidance,” she said.
Williams responded that he is only one person, and the community must engage other decision-makers in addition to him, and young people need to get involved in the public process.
“I have spoken out about this. I have been shut down several times,” he said. “I can’t do it alone.”
GRACED, Inc. conducted a multidisciplinary study of the communities impacted by violence, but founder Tiffany Swoope told The Tribune nothing came of it. Revels-Crawford also said there was a gun violence summit hosted by the organization where elected officials were invited.
“Until everyone in this community is safe, no one is safe,” Swoope said.
