The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is partnering with the Commission on Black Men and Boys to hold a roundtable hearing entitled Youth Violence: Helping Young Boys Become Young Men. The event takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Nov. 9 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown Washington.
Panelists will include Toney Lewis, a court services and offender supervision specialist, and the forum will explore — among many issues — why young African-American males are lured into crime.
Lewis is the son of one of the District’s most notorious drug dealers, “Little Tony” Lewis, who remains incarcerated. Ali Moore, a former felon, who at age 16 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for second degree murder, will speak as well as Ivan Cloyd, a one-time gang member who now attends college.
“Today’s concerns about crime and violence often focus on Black youth because statistics suggest a propensity toward violence in that population,” Norton said in a statement announcing the forum. “Almost never do we hear from these young men themselves. However, at the Roundtable our commissioners will be asking the questions that residents would ask. We fully expect new insights that we could not get by speaking to criminal justice professionals or experts alone.”
The commission, which was founded in 2001 by Norton and of which Peaceaholics founder Ron Moten is a member, has continually worked to unveil and help resolve the pressing issues that Black men face, such as high school dropout rates, criminal justice issues, HIV and AIDS, marriage and family issues, and discrimination.
The meeting is open to the public. For more information call 202-225-8050.
