We Need A Resolution..... It should start NOW!!!!!

V'Lecea "Queen" Hunter
Graduate
UPREP High School

STOP THE VIOLENCE!!!!! Everyone just take a moment and think about the three letter words I’ve just mentioned. What does it mean to you? Does it mean, standing up for what you believe in, making a change in the community, or and/or having support from everyone around you to come together as one and encourage each other to do the right thing. Now, while you’re thinking about that let me tell you a little about myself.

My name is V’Lecea Hunter, but I go by the QUEEN. Queen symbolizes me being my own individual with a plan that I must hold. Having a plan that will help me become more successful and to be known as a role model the all teens that have been through the ins and outs of violence. I am a representation of violence, however, I have accepted that I once was apart of violence and now I am against it. I am 18 years old and I have been free from violence for three years now. I can truly say that it wasn’t easy taking the positive route, but I had to do it once my life was put on the line.

I will briefly give you an overview; I was apart of gangs that had no purpose, I dated boys that only wanted one thing, and I hung with girls that wanted children because their parents were out of their lives. I was sexually assaulted by a man with a black face, I had my dignity taken away twice, I was shot at, I fought to get respect, and lastly I had no respect for MYSELF.

It took me three years to change my attitude. NO, I didn’t do it by myself. I had help from Mr. Frank McGhee and being apart of NSO/ Youth Initiatives Project, which is a program that promotes non-violence and substance abuse prevention. This program has groomed me and helped me understand the value of leadership and commitment. Leadership is the ability to guide your peers into a positive path and to know what you want to do and how you want to do something. Commitment is your own ability to stick to a specific task or belief without allowing anyone to change your mind. Jumping to the plate when there’s a problem and not being scared to STOP THE VIOLENCE!!!

To go back to the question I asked you at the beginning, what does “STOP THE VIOLENCE” mean? It means, standing up for what you believe in, making a change in the community, or and/or having support from everyone around you to come together as one and encourage each other to do the right thing. I know you may be thinking like “those are the same examples she gave earlier”. Yes they are, I did this to make you think harder because I know that there are other positive meanings. So, basically I’ve just tested you. Being tested is something we go through everyday and since the outsiders see that we are falling, then our community is becoming worse.

So now the second question is, what can we do? What can we do to stop the violence in our communities? What can we do to show the outsiders that they can not win? What can we do to prove to the teens that they are not the only ones fighting? What can we do to protect everyone and everything that are valuable to us? We need to make a change and it should start now because I am tired. I am tired of seeing little children joining gangs just to gain respect, teens having to drop out of school because their getting bullied, teens just dropping out of school period! It’s crazy and we need a change.

To make a change, I and three of my other peers that are apart of the Youth Initiatives Project has started a campaign for young females. The Provocative Woman Campaign, this campaign is to let young females know that they are not out here alone and all of their challenges that they are facing, someone else is facing too, however, the issue that we are primarily focusing on is sexual assault. This is an issue in every community and some teens are scared to let people know what is happening or what happened to them, due to what other people may think or how people may treat them. So, I am here to let them know that I am a victim of sexual assault and yes, I was one of the people who waited a month before I told someone. But waiting a month I had to deal with the consequences of being pregnant, having a urinary tracked infection, and now my uterus is messed up for life. I’m not telling you this to scare you, but more so to show you that your not alone and I want young girls that are either in my situation, worse off, or in an easier predicament to be with me and allow their voices to be heard because until we speak out on our views on sexual assault no one will. We need to hear from you!! The web address to leave your comment on the campaign is http://www.provocativewomancampaign.blogspot.com/.

Being a teenager and knowing that violence in the streets is a way for most teens to gain respect, is being accepted by everyone. However, we can make a change by stopping it. Now, I know the same question that I asked earlier should be still squirming through your head. But when you actually sit down and think about it, please just know that there is a resolution to everything as long as you put your mind to it. You must first have a plan with passion, and then take action. So my challenge is what can we do? We need a resolution and we need one now!!!!!