Indianapolis youth lead peace walk pushing to end gun violence in the city

INDIANAPOLIS — A plea for change, this time coming from youth. On Saturday, they hit the streets of Indianapolis to promote peace.

As National Youth Violence Prevention Week ended, dozens of community members participated in the city's first ever joint peace walk.

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"Gun violence is becoming such a normal thing for so many youth. It's so scary but this does not have to be our reality,” said Asia Genawi.

The 15-year-old is a part of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council who helped organized the event held at the Landmark for Peace Memorial on East 17th Street.

It was primarily centered around reducing gun violence.

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"We brought together several organizations from the Indianapolis community comprised of both youth and adults to tackle this issue."

Those organizations included the Indy Peace Fellowship, Young Men INC, New B.O.Y. and many more groups who shed light on resources available to local youth, especially of ahead of summer.

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"When we have more idle time, kids out of school being able do programming and being able to do stuff like this to show the youth that we care is key,” said Tony Lopez, the Deputy Director of Community Violence Reduction for the Office of Public Health and Safety.

They believe keeping youth busy and making them a part of the conversation will help them reduce gun violence among kids in the city.

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"It's important to consider our experience when approaching policies and solutions because we need to make sure our solutions are grounded in the reality of youth lives,” said Genawi.

Hundreds showed up for the Peace Walk on Saturday.

The event also offered free gun lock boxes so families can safely store their weapons.