Living Water Fellowship Church hosted a social and criminal justice panel of esteemed community leaders and professionals to discuss desired changes to the criminal justice system on Monday, March 11.
“We are honored to host this important discussion on criminal justice reform,” said Living Water Senior Pastor Kim Outlaw in a press release. “By bringing together diverse voices and expertise, we aim to cultivate understanding, collaboration, and actionable solutions that uplift our community.”
The panel included Deputy Chief of IMPD Kendale Adams, Deputy Mayor of Indianapolis Judith Thomas, Reverend Malichi Walker, and Bishop John Smith. The panel was moderated by Deandra Dycus, the founder of Purpose for My Pain.
Adams works in the criminal investigation unit for the IMPD. He shared statistics on homicide and gun violence, some of the misconceptions related to those statistics and why these crimes are prevalent in the community. He also shared tools and organizations that are working to combat these problems, including mental health options.
Thomas brought her experience and insight from municipal governance, voicing options for community engagement and addressing gun violence and arrests before they happen.
Walker and Smith discussed their personal experiences with talking to teenagers and young men in the African American community. They emphasized the need for mentors, resources and places like the church to support youth to keep them away from gun violence and learn to handle conflict without violence.
Much of the panel’s focus was on youth violence and the obstacles teens are currently facing. The panel discussed how social media, easy access to guns, handling confrontation with violence and lack of information play a major role in these issues.
“As I worked in this system, I realized that so many of us don’t know how to deal with conflict. And even when we try to teach them about conflict, there’s something in the streets that makes a young man and even a young woman want to pick up a weapon and feel like it’s necessary to use that weapon to defend themselves, no matter how small the conflict is,” Smith said. “And I think that when we go back and we look at the state of gun violence, we’ve got to go back and look at some of the root causes.”
Smith provided recommendations for reducing gun violence such as parents teaching their children conflict resolution, anger management and how to cope with trauma from a young age.
“We don’t realize that sometimes the thing that ignites some of the conflicts or the trauma that was caused to these young men and women was when they were toddlers. And if it goes unchecked and undealt with, then we get what we get because they don’t know how to handle the conflict,” Smith said.
The panelists also covered the importance of grassroots organizations and community collaborations investing in the youth.
“There’s a lot of work that’s being done now since 2020 that was not done in the past, but we’ve got to make sure that our councilors know that we want this to keep going in our neighborhood organizations. If you’re active in your neighborhood organization, stay active. Get more people in there so that you can make sure you have that power in your neighborhood and talk with your councilors to say this is what we need,” Thomas said.
Contact Racial Justice Reporter Garrett Simms at 317-762-7847.
