NORFOLK, Va. — Tuesday night, roughly 70 people gathered at Norfolk State University discuss the impacts of gun violence on communities of color.
'Stop the Shots' was a conversation panelists and organizers said is vital.
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, young Black Americans ages 15 to 43 experience the highest rates of gun homicides across all demographics.
Black Americans are 10 times more likely than White Americans to die by gun homicides, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
More than 12,000 Black Americans were killed with guns in 2020, according to the Center for American Progress.
Another startling fact was repeated over and over: Gun violence is the number one killer of children in the U.S.
Statistics like these are what drove Tuesday night’s panel.
With the ongoing question of how do we stop it?
Looking at gun violence as a whole, panelists with law enforcement, legal, health and public policy backgrounds joined together to figure out what to do next.
"Stem the tide at the proliferation of guns on our streets. We didn’t get here overnight," panelist and Delegate Cliff Hayes said.
Earlier this year, Hayes spearheaded a bill, that ultimately failed, to extend the waiting period to buy a gun in Virginia to three days.
He said the Chesapeake Walmart mass shooting inspired him to do that, after the gunman bought the weapon the same day as the shooting back in November.
"Some of those types of shootings can be curbed. They can be stopped if there is a cooling off period."
Norfolk Assistant Police Chief Michele Naughton-Epps said it’s not so much the amount of violence that’s changed in the last two decades, but it’s the type of violence.
"Especially, when we’re looking at our schools and looking at the ages of the suspects that have guns in their hands," she said.
Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said doing things like eliminating cash bail can help end the vicious cycle.
"Cash bail does not make us safer. In fact, what makes us safer is less poverty and you know what causes poverty? Cash bail."
Fatehi has directed his prosecutors not to ask for cash bail.
CEO of Sustain Equity Kayla Hicks said in order to move the needle forward, we must first understand trauma and ditch the notion that PTSD can only happen to those who have been in a war zone.
"How that impacts us, so we better understand how to deal with it and have coping skills and understand what to ask our legislators for," she said.
Dr. Cynthia Romero with EVMS told the crowd that it’s vital to consider the impact on the entire family and community when a single shot is fired.
"We have a public health crisis in that we have kids who don’t get to live to see 19 years old."
Dr. Soji Akomolafe, Executive Director of the Center of African American Public Policy, said tonight was about putting a new spin on gun violence because nothing is working. He said it is time to take a different approach.
"The whole idea is that even if we cannot stop these shots, at least we can do something to help move the needle forward. Everybody is tired. I don’t know about you, but I am tired," Akomolafe said.
He said he knows people might be tired of 'just talking' about stopping the shot, but he believes conversations like this one can lead to significant change.
"The more we talk about it, the more we have people to listen. Am I next? When your child is asking you, 'Dad, am I next?' What explanation should I give that child? How can I explain to that child 'Alright, let's stop talking about it because we've been talking about it for the past 10, 20 years. Nothing is working.' We're going to find something and if we have to talk about it 10 more years, so be it."
Zakkiyya Cunningham, Director of Impact with the YWCA, moderated the forum.
She said it's all about working to create an action plan on how to move forward.
"So, we can kind of discuss the holistic approach to how we can prevent that gun violence, but also looking at some of the root causes of why it’s happening and how it impacts our families," she said.
This conversation can seem overwhelming because it’s such a huge problem to tackle.
But Cunningham said even just taking a small step of getting to know your neighbors can make a bigger difference than you might think.
"Communities that are out together, that are having fun together, that are more well connected have less crime in them. So, what this can mean today is let's talk about it tonight, let's have a conversation, but go to that pool party, right, that your neighborhood civic league is hosting. It can be as simple as that."
Homicides increased 7% to claim a total of 220 people last year across the seven cities, according to local police departments, FBI data and records kept by 13News Now.
That is double the amount from just a decade ago and the worst year on record for the region, according to FBI data which dates back to 1985.