Cori Bush — Congresswoman Cori's Youth Speak-In

Thank you. Thank you. Calvin Adams

Speaker 1: Good morning. My name is Calvin Adams

Speaker 2 (lower-pitched voice): Superintendent of the St. Louis Public School District. I want to welcome everyone here today to Southern High School for today's young, speak

in

Speaker 2 (lower-pitched voice): with Congressional Woman Cori Bush. The purpose of this event is for young people from across our region to be able to discuss the issues that impact them the most. We need to look no further than this morning's headline, one of the most significant gun violence. Here at Summer today, they are mourning the loss of a South North student who died over the weekend after being shot. His name is Tarion Smith, and he was 16 years

old. This

Speaker 2 (lower-pitched voice): sort of tragedy is something no child or teenager should ever have to face a cope with. However, many young people in our region face these issues on a daily basis, directly or indirectly. It is a problem that will take all of us to solve

I am

Speaker 2 (lower-pitched voice): hopeful today can play a role in finding a solution

So

Speaker 2 (lower-pitched voice): with that, I welcome everyone and I'm proud to introduce St. Louis Congresswoman, Cori Bush

Speaker 3: Okay. Well, good morning. Good

Speaker 4: morning. Good morning. I am absolutely honored, first of all, to have this opportunity. to be with every

Speaker 5: one of you students from across this district. Thank you for answering the invitation and wanting to be in a space like this. We don't take it lightly that you give us this opportunity, first of all. Again, my name is Congresswoman Cori Bush. I am the representative for Missouri's First District. and I call myself the St. Louis Congresswoman. I rep St. Louis everywhere and every day. As you can see, happy 314 day

Speaker 4: happy St. Louis day. So we're in our 314 gear for today. I want

to also

Speaker 4: thank Dr. Kelvin

Speaker 5: Adams. Thank you for making this happen and thank you for that introduction. It's so good when we can partner and be able to have a bigger vision about all the things that we can do. And it starts with us just starting. To Sumner High School, to be in this historic high school, a high school that was that open door for so many members of our black community, this being just a historic place, why not start another page in history here? So thank you. to Sumner High School, to St

Speaker 6: Louis Public Schools, and to

Speaker 5: all of our schools in St. Louis County, to our parochial schools, thank you all for just coming together to be able to do this

Speaker 7: So, how we're going to do this

Speaker 6: We have some questions that we asked students all across St. Louis. to turn in questions. What is it that

is the

Speaker 6: thing that is on your minds? What's

Speaker 8: bothering you the most? What is it that you feel

should be

Speaker 8: heard? And you feel like not enough attention has been put

Speaker 9: to this issue, or you feel like nobody's talking about

Speaker 10: it at all

It's

Speaker 10: been a while since I've been in high school, a few years, and so I won't act like I

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): know. I know what I think, but isn't it best to talk directly to you who are walking through what it's like to be in

Speaker 12: high school right now, what it's like to be 14, 15, 16, 17, 18? Right now, it's better to talk to you. And so, what this is about, this space is not for

me

Speaker 12: to tell you about all the things necessarily that I'm doing in

Speaker 10: Congress. That's not what this is for. That's, you can find that in the media. This space is for you to talk

To

Speaker 12: speak out whatever you feel comfortable speaking. For you to let others know something that they may

Speaker 13: not know or they may not understand

Speaker 14: Also

We

Speaker 14: have students from all across the district watching right now. So, also remember

Speaker 12: that you are bringing experiences from your different schools. Just because you are all around the same age right now doesn't mean that what's happening in one school is the same thing that's happening in another. So, we have

Speaker 14: questions

that

Speaker 14: We're turned in, a bunch of questions were turned in all across the district and so to keep this going, I know we don't have as much time as we would love to have, but we have some questions. So we're going to dig in and we have about four questions. We're going to try to answer all of those questions. So what I would like to see, I'm going to call

Speaker 12: out a question

and you

Speaker 12: all can just pop in and just answer the question, talk about it, we can have a discussion

Let me

Speaker 13: say this. You cannot hurt my feelings. Whatever you say. You

Speaker 12: cannot make me feel disconnected and out of place. And there is nothing that you can say to

me to

Speaker 12: make me not want to help you. There's nothing that you've done in your past or any way that you live or anybody around you that would make me say Oh, you're not good enough. Let me I didn't like what that person said. Let me not. We don't want to help that person Absolutely, not it's the exact opposite I have my own past and I went through some really really horrible things in my life and

I know

Speaker 12: what it's like to feel like

Speaker 8: who's listening so Your congresswoman loves you, I love you, and because I love you, I want to help you the best way I can. So let's

Speaker 6: open this up. First question, and

remember to hit the

Speaker 4: you're going to hit the button when you want to speak

so

Speaker 10: let's just put it out there I know that COVID-19 on top of everything else all the other stressors that you all have had going on in your lives entered

high

Speaker 6: school started

a new

Speaker 6: started at a new place with new new things and people and you have this pressure about where you're going to

Speaker 9: go what you're going to do what's next so

You

Speaker 9: have home, you have friends, you have your environment

And then

Speaker 9: COVID happened. So, so many things going on at the same time. Let's talk about anxiety. Someone asked the question, "How can teens deal with anxiety

Maybe you

Speaker 9: have had anxiety or you were just feeling

Speaker 12: like the pressure and you figured out a way for yourself how you have been able to overcome or get through

Let's

Speaker 10: go around and let's just talk about it. Maybe you can help someone else today

Say your

Speaker 10: name and what school

Speaker 15: Hello, my name is Mariah Morrow. I am 17 years old, and I am a senior at Villa Duchenne and Oak Hill School out in

Speaker 16: Frontenac, Missouri. I have never been clinically diagnosed with anxiety or depression, but when I feel anxious, I find it best to meditate. So my school, even though most of us hate this practice, we have a thing called Espacio, and so every day From 940 to 945, we sit and we listen to meditation music and we just like do deep breaths, like four count deep breath in, deep breath out. And so box breathing and different breathing exercises helped me to release the stress and focus my mind on what I have to do. Because senior year, a lot of things are overwhelming and especially with COVID that just added so much pressure. and so I learned that I need to stop and take a moment to breathe experience the emotion of being anxious don't like

ignore it

Speaker 16: or push it aside experience that

Speaker 17: emotion but also breathe through it and then move along and do what I need to do so that's how I deal

Speaker 18: with anxiety

Speaker 7: thank you thank you anyone else because I also think

Speaker 9: that sometimes we

Speaker 8: think that it's just

us You

Speaker 8: know, we'll think like, oh, I'm feeling nervous about something or my mind is just, you know, flooded with these thoughts and we think that it's just us

But it's

Speaker 19: not. It's something that everybody experiences at some point. So anyone else want to talk about

how you're doing? Good

Speaker 20: morning, everyone. My name is Precious Berry. I'm a student at North Technical High School in Riverview Gardens High. I always tell myself that boundaries will always be a lifelong practice. Anxiety also plays a part in it because in dealing with anxiety, one of my mechanisms that I use is meditations as she explained and also affirmations. Affirmations is something that I tell myself every morning because you never know what your day can be like. starting your morning fresh with a fresh mindset is one of the things that i use and also just saying affirmations and so especially with the uprising of covid in schools you know i just feel like i'm placed in a grade right now after covid we're dealing with a lot of teacher burnout school burnout students burnout if there's ways that we can implement mental health into schools and just show that we are all seen and heard would make a big difference in our society thank you

Speaker 22: Hi I'm

Regina

Speaker 21: Washington student of Sumner High and I'm a I'm a junior I feel the

Speaker 23: best way for me to deal with anxiety is first realize what it is making you anxious once you realize the problem you can execute a certain way and as they say meditation meditation

is a

Speaker 23: major, major key to dealing with anxiety. It really calms, it don't just calm your mind, it calms your whole body. It gives you

a like

Speaker 23: reset in the mind. So you're not focusing on everything that could be going wrong. You're focusing on the things that you need to get done and what it is you need to do to get it done. Also, I feel like you

should You should

Speaker 23: trust yourself. You get a lot of anxiety not trusting yourself and

just thinking of

Speaker 23: everything that goes wrong

Speaker 24: Sometimes you should just breathe

Speaker 25: smile, and think

And

Speaker 26: remembering that it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to not be okay

Speaker 8: But the other thing is that there is help. And we want to make sure that help is out there. I

Speaker 19: remember feeling like I didn't know where to turn oftentimes, or how can I tell somebody what I'm feeling

Speaker 9: There is support out there, but when you feel like, in this

Speaker 10: moment I can't find support, like you're saying. Meditation, affirmation, affirmation. But use your support systems

Speaker 19: You have support systems within your schools. And then there are also, we have on our website a list of support

Speaker 10: resources for if you're dealing with something and you just don't know who

to talk

Speaker 10: to, bush.house.gov

there

Speaker 5: are resources where you can find out who you can speak with. Because I think about, you know

everybody here

Speaker 12: this morning, everybody at this table, you all came in from a different experience

Speaker 9: Some of you, you know

Speaker 10: had a great morning walking in, some of you may not have, but that's what we want to talk about. So

Speaker 27: like how that, even just your morning, I remember, I have children, but my children are 20 and 21 now, they went to Hazelwood West, and I made a point to never upset my children before. Even if I was upset

Speaker 10: they didn't get that project done, or whatever it was, in the morning just let me

know

Speaker 10: Oh, I need, we got this today and I need to run to the store." It's like, "How do you have a project you didn't tell me about it? Now you got to turn it in today." But I never would upset my children before going to school, as much as I would sometimes, they would hear it when they got home, but because

Speaker 6: I wanted to start their days off from a place where they weren't anxious or upset or questioning themselves. And you all are going through a lot. Gun violence

It's

Speaker 10: such a huge issue in our community, and so someone asked a question, and it still ties into anxiety, so if you still want to answer that you can, but someone asked the question, they said that some of the biggest challenges that they face on a daily basis is when unexpected things happen. So you have your regular life, you know, you think you've got it, you know, I got this test this day, I got this, I got to take care of my little brother, I got this, I got practice on this day, at this time, and then something unexpected happens

Speaker 9: This person talked about fear of leaving their home because dangerous things happen. They talked about being robbed, being killed, and other things, even

Speaker 8: chemical spills, like the whole thing

I know

Speaker 8: that you all just suffered another loss at Sumner. For those

Speaker 5: of you who are here at Sumner, that is a problem in our society that we have

Speaker 6: to fix, that we have to face and directly fix, and so let's talk about that. Let's talk about how this is so prevalent, but how it's affecting you all. You don't have to give me stats on what it looks like. We know what it looks

like. How is

Speaker 6: this affecting

Speaker 9: you when you wake up in the morning and you find out we lost someone else

Let's talk

Speaker 9: about that

Good morning

Speaker 29: everybody. My name is Stephon Riggins. I'm a junior here at Sumner High

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): School. And on the previous topic that we were talking about with anxiety, I feel that the same methods that these three had presented, meditation, affirmations, really help with finding a sense of self. You know, I believe that if

you can be

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): in the moment and not expect things, then when these things do come to be, then you won't be so surprised. And you just realize that nothing lasts forever you know and even your problems you know none of these things last forever so when it to deal with the anxiety is I feel like you should just

focus on

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): the present a lot of people focus on what is to come or what was when these things don't even exist anymore like your past and your your future don't exist these are merely like memories and your imagination

so I

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): And with the topic of gun violence, one of my neighbors actually was killed right around the corner of Sumner, mistaken identity. And I sent condolence to the family of Jayden Byrd, and he was just killed. And yeah, I most definitely think that the first step to a revolution in my opinion, is a change of thought. You know, when people start looking at the world from a different perspective, then how we act towards the world will be different. How we treat the world will be different. And in turn, our reality will change. So, yeah

Good

Man 31: morning, my name is Kenneth Dwight III, senior at Cardinal Ritter. to add on, along with what you were saying, with a problem of having fear of being robbed, killed, and much more, as Jocelyn stated, things to prevent this thing from happening is love one another. That's a key thing, because there is a lot of hatred around the world that's not seen, a lot of animosity, secret animosity, that's not known, and you would not recognize the mistaken identity, you should not want to kill your brother or your sister, although we're not blood related, we're all still brother and sister, we're all kings and queens and that we need to treat each other like that, this started a long time ago, this is nothing new, it's just getting worse and worse over the years. To prevent this, as I said, we can do community events, bond with each other

have

Man 31: sessions where we can talk amongst each other talk about the trauma talk about our experiences make each other feel comfortable because there's a lot of things there's a lot of resources that we don't have that we do need to have in our community such as events after

school that

Man 31: can lower the rate of gun violence. It's a lot of things, also in the community. With the community, your environment has a huge effect on you. And not only does it start in your community, but it starts within the home. It starts within the music. The things that you feed your mind, you can adapt to, such as songs, rap songs. If they're talking about negativity, you're going to adapt to that, and you're going to want to draw towards that. What else? There's a lot of things

that

Man 31: are key concepts to the negativity that we can also change and make it a positive. Sports, you see that people who seriously, who take their sports serious or take school seriously, they focus more so that they don't make time for the negativity, they don't make time for things that will decrease their interest within things that draw their attention. So those are some key concepts that we can do

Speaker 32: So what happens though

Speaker 10: when, and I agree absolutely, well let me ask this question. How many of you at this table have

lost someone to gun

Speaker 5: violence? Everybody at the table. How many of you have lost someone

in your school to gun violence? Schools

Speaker 33: across our

Speaker 6: St. Louis community where students who are only passing through for four years all sitting together right now to say that, yeah, almost everyone has lost someone and has also lost someone within their schools. So how do you experience that? How do you

Speaker 12: experience that? When I know

that this

Speaker 12: person was here yesterday, and now we got information that this person is not

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): here today. Grief counselors

Speaker 8: are talking to you. But what -- I mean, tell me about you. What happens to you? How do you experience that, and how are you able

to move on

Speaker 34: How you doing? My name is Severn Robinson Laney, and I'm a senior at Vashon

High School. And

Speaker 34: the answer is you can't

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): because I lost my friend a couple weeks ago and he was a big part of my life. He impacted me a lot. He taught me a lot. He was like the first person I called Big Bro. So it's hard to talk about it

Who have you

Speaker 36: been talking to? Do you have someone you can

talk to? I talked to my

Speaker 34: mama

I

Speaker 37: It's good to have mom to talk to

Speaker 34: I write down my thoughts

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): on how I feel. So since you can't feel away

like you're numb

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): because it's like you said, a person was here yesterday and they're gone, you never talk to them again. That's

it, it's

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): like the water

cut

Speaker 38: off. So you

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): got to basically, like, what would they want you to do if they want you to be positive, remain humble, remain sane, remain kind, and go be successful. And

since

Speaker 39: we lose

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): people so much

it becomes

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): normal. You become numb to pain. Like

I'm numb

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): right now. I don't know how to feel because you've never been taught how to feel when someone dies or when you lose somebody. You just keep going on with life. The day he died, I had to go to school. I

had to go

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): to work. I never got a chance to mourn. I never got a chance to feel sad. I never got a chance to cry because I have to continue to live my life. So

what do

Speaker 35 (lower-pitched voice): you do? And

that's the reality

Speaker 6: is because we... We do have to go on. People still expect you to show up at school. You're expected to show up to work. You still have to take care of whatever you have to at home while you're dealing with that loss

Speaker 8: And grief

is a

Speaker 19: real thing. That trauma is a real thing. PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, it is a real thing

And that's

Speaker 19: something

Speaker 14: that we want to deal

with. we

Speaker 14: want to deal with it I'm not going to push it under the rug that you

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): all face those things and I'm not going to push it under the rug that so many of our students live with some type of

Speaker 14: trauma that it that sometimes is not being addressed simply because

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): sometimes we we don't we keep it to ourselves because that happened

to me or

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): we don't know where

to turn But there

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): are resources. I need you to know that it's okay to not be okay, but it's okay also to get services. It's okay. And

so

Speaker 12: again, on our website, we have information, even for youth, for services, but you

Speaker 14: can also talk to your schools, talk to your teachers, talk to your guidance counselors. Find out. Ask them. It's okay to ask for help. And if you felt like before today, "Oh, I can't talk to them." No, they won't listen. Or they

Speaker 6: think I'm this type of person, but they just don't understand. There is always another chance. There is always -- I am not a believer in second chances. You will never hear me say, "Oh, that person deserves

Speaker 10: a second chance." I will never say that

you

Speaker 10: deserve another chance. So if that's four, five, twelve

we all make

Speaker 14: mistakes. If someone stopped me at a second chance, I would not be your congresswoman right now. I'm probably at chance 97 or

something. We

Speaker 40: all have

we all

Speaker 40: deserve

Speaker 8: that chance in that space. So with what you are dealing

with, And

Speaker 8: with what anyone else at this table and anyone else listening on the live stream if you are feeling that trauma, if you don't know, like you said, I don't know how to feel, I don't, like you just feel numb

there's help for

Speaker 41: that

Speaker 43 (lower-pitched voice): that we need to continue doing things such as this to bring awareness to the hurt and the pain that we go through. A lot of people feel, they don't feel comfortable speaking about these things. They don't feel, they feel embarrassed because they think that they're

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): alone when there's always somebody that is going through what you're going through and even worse than what you're going through. So I believe that we should uh continue to speak on these topics like talk to people about these things like do more things like this like nationwide and you know these live streams to bring awareness to

Speaker 43 (lower-pitched voice): this you know and i feel like that is the is the is the time when people as people will come together as a collective consciousness um youth and the adults, now we can come together and actually build solutions to these problems

Speaker 44: that we face

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): You know, there's this quote also, if this could help anybody, "Life is not a problem to be solved but a journey to

Speaker 43 (lower-pitched voice): be experienced." So I feel like that once we start

just

Speaker 43 (lower-pitched voice): like

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): adapting

to what

Speaker 30 (lower-pitched voice): is now then we will be able to face the you know the the trauma that we've been that has haunted us that is haunting us in our path

Speaker 45: from

Speaker 46: our past yeah I agree and so add on that You mentioned something about getting help, and I think that

Speaker 47: there's sometimes the stigma in the black community that what goes on in your house, you don't talk about it. And so a lot of people don't think it's okay to go to counseling or to go to therapy or to get

Speaker 16: help, and there is nothing wrong with getting help. Just like when you have cancer, you go see an oncologist. When you need, when you have, like if you're at Liverfield's, like you get on dialysis, if you're sick, you go to a doctor. When you're mentally sick, when you're struggling, when you're dealing with trauma, it is okay to go get help. And I think many of us, we have so much trauma, we have so much built up anger and resentment over stuff that has happened in our lives and we never talk to anybody about it. And I think that's a part of the gun violence because you're mad at the world because of something that happened and you never talked to anybody about it. You never felt safe enough to talk to anybody about it. So now you're just angry and you feel like you need to go release your anger on everybody else. And so I think if we could

I

Speaker 16: always say this to my friends I'm like everybody needs therapy but I think if we all like look within ourselves and be like have I healed from that and do I need to talk to somebody to get through that part of my life then that's what we need to do because as a saying says hurt people hurt people and if you haven't dealt with your hurt if you haven't dealt with your trauma you're going to lash out on other people and that's not fair to them so I encourage everybody if you're If you're dealing with trauma

if you're dealing

Speaker 16: or grief, whatever you're dealing with, it's okay to get help, it's okay to press pause on whatever is going on in your life and talk to somebody. There is nothing

Speaker 17: wrong with you, there is nothing wrong with getting help. It is perfectly fine and it should be normalized

Speaker 9: That is right, thank you. And you know, sometimes we'll hear, I know 'cause I used to say it, I went through something when I turned 14 entering high school that changed my life and I remember it

Speaker 27: hardened me and I didn't realize it but I was like I started telling people oh this is just who I am oh I'm just oh this is just me you know and I knew something changed me

and I

Speaker 27: was just like oh this is the person I'm meant to be

Speaker 8: like tough like this or I'm meant to

be cold But

Speaker 8: no, I was not like that's something that happened that wasn't dealt with that I didn't even want to tell my really express to my parents Because I didn't want them to feel disappointed or you know, I knew they had a lot on them So

if so if

Speaker 8: you don't do so sometimes we may not even realize that That that there is an issue we just feel like we just know where we have this different personality now well Like you just said, it's okay to get help for

Speaker 12: that. So if you are someone who knows that I used to enjoy x, or

I

Speaker 48: used to smile a lot, or I used to sleep better than I

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): sleep. I used to, and something changed, but this is who I am now. Maybe not, maybe let's look at that. Maybe we should get help and

see about if

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): There is something underlying because if we don't do something about it now, you all, in 10 years, that thing will affect you

Speaker 8: in different ways. You will have gone through things differently, experienced life differently. What we need from

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): you is joy

What we need

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): from you is to live. You need to live. I don't mean live like exists only you need to live life you need to enjoy life you deserve that you know why you deserve it because you breathe so you deserve

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): to have life in its fullness and so that's what I want to do everything my office we want to do everything we can to help bring

Speaker 9: that to you by

way of

Speaker 9: through your families through your schools however we can

and So

Speaker 9: I know we're

Speaker 14: going to move on to the next question, but I want to ask a couple folks that haven't spoken yet, did you

Speaker 6: want to say anything on this topic of whether it's gun violence or just any violence in our community? We have housing violence in our community

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): We have people who slept in the car last night. We have people who slept on the street. We have students who don't have a home right now. We have food insecurity. We have folks that go to school every day and food at school is the only real meal that they get. And

we don't

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): fault

Speaker 14: the parents for that. No, we won't. We won't fault the parents for that. It's

not about pointing

Speaker 14: fingers at

Speaker 50: who did what or my mom or my dad or my grandma or whoever. No, we won't

We'll

Speaker 27: help get the resources to

Speaker 6: take care of that, but we just need to know what you're going through. So if anybody wants to speak on anything else as it relates to violence, and then we have one other topic that we're gonna talk

about. - Yeah, I

Speaker 51: actually just wanted

to like

Speaker 51: cause everybody's points were really good points and

Speaker 52: Oh, so you're not even where you're

Speaker 53: Oh, I'm sorry

Speaker 52: my name is Zipporah Lawal and I go to Hazelwood East High School. And just going off of the whole it's okay not to be okay, I think it's really important that we do things like this and raise awareness for things, for issues regarding all of us because

Use

Speaker 52: like just speaking out and saying something that like bothers you it triggers something in other people and it lets them know like Okay, like I'm not the only person going through this This is like a universal thing like I'm not the only I'm not alone, you know, so it's really important And it's okay to like, you know um speak out about the things that are affecting us like gun violence and mental health and anxiety because it lets everyone know like we are in the same position which essentially helps us unite together as a community and

you know it

Speaker 52: erases stigmas so i think that's really important absolutely

Hello, I'm

Speaker 55: Tyana Davis and I go to Junior

Speaker 56 (higher-pitched voice): Senior High and I'm a junior. I would just like to say that anxiety in my

Speaker 57: school was actually real because we experienced a lot of loss. It don't just be gun loss. It'd be other ways to like our teachers. We lost one of our teachers last weekend and we lost another teacher, both were to COVID though. And so it's like you've... You've dealt with this person all your life. You've known them up until you got to high school. You go back, like our students, we go back to our teachers and be like, I have graduated, or it's good to see you, or how you doing, and stuff like that. But it's like, it's hard to hear that you lost a teacher. And it's hard to hear that you lost a friend due to God violence. But the way we do it at Jennings is that we talk, like we have a superintendent panel where we just say how we feel, or we have ceremonies, or we go into the auditorium and we just, you know, express what you're feeling, express how you, what you want to be done so you can feel comfortable. School's supposed to make you feel comfortable. Even though you're getting your education, you're still supposed to feel comfortable. You're supposed to feel like you at home. If something's going on at home, OK, school is the place to get away. It's not supposed to be stressful. At home, it's not supposed to be stressful either. Some say, I'm scared to leave out the house due to my violence. Some may be scared to stay in the house because you never know what could happen. There's a lot of kids dying due

Speaker 56 (higher-pitched voice): to just being in their room and guns just going off. And you just get struck. You never know what could happen. And that's why it's hard to-- deal with things like trauma and

Speaker 57: like depression because sometimes you don't get help and when it's

too late it's too late

Speaker 58: we can

Speaker 4: always start so sometimes it can be layered like an onion and you have to pull that thing apart piece by piece

I go to

Speaker 8: therapy. I started therapy at 40 years old. And

I realized

Speaker 8: stuff that happened to me when I was younger, even that situation that happened to me at 14, was affecting me at 40. Had

I dealt

Speaker 59: with it then, things would have been different. I wouldn't have walked through doors that I walked through. I would

Speaker 60: not have. I know I would not have. I didn't realize I was hurt

Speaker 59: And so as long as someone is willing, we can get help. So I want you all to know, and anyone else listening by live

streaming, I don't

Speaker 59: care how old you are, or how long you've been carrying it, or what your hand was in whatever happened. And like you

Speaker 8: said, we don't deal enough with what happens when we lose our teachers, or we lose a loved one for other

Speaker 6: reasons outside of gun violence. It still hurts

Speaker 14: it's still grief and mourning happens

So you

Speaker 14: deserve

Speaker 61: that space to be able to heal

Speaker 62: So something

that

Man 31: Cardinal Ritter has came up with on April 8th, the exact date, to prevent all these things of happening, the lack of jobs, the trauma, lack of understanding of gun violence, the lack of things to

do

Man 31: counselor sessions and everything of that such. So what we decided to do is bring all high schools around the St. Louis area to come to Cardinal Ritter to prevent all these things. We will be talking about trauma. We will be talking about the lack of understanding of gun violence. We will have a job further to also help out with the lack of

jobs. The

Man 31: root cause of violence, we will have Chief Hayden there along with the Urban League and everything else to actually help us out with it so that we can also talk about things of this such because we realize that not only the children, but it's like students all around the city, all around the nation, all around the globe has also experienced the same thing, which is not just something that one person goes through so we all decided to come together as one to just prevent all these things from happening also June 4th June 4th we plan on having a block party to discuss things of that such as well have people come up on the stage and communicate how they feel towards gun violence and things of that such you know express how they feel because a lot of it's a lot of people that goes through a lot of things and something that I always refer to

as as

Man 31: a door you you can see inside of something when the door is open but when the door is closed you never know what's going on behind those closed doors so that's what we want to prevent from happening so that's something that we're going to do

Speaker 63: yeah okay all right and see every I know that everybody has their

Speaker 12: thing let me ask a question how old do you have to be to make

change I can't

Speaker 64: hear it. They can't hear it? There's no age limit

Speaker 14: Absolutely. There is no

age limit

Speaker 14: Absolutely. There is no age limit. So like what you just spoke about

the things that are coming up at Cartner-Ritter

Speaker 14: those things

Speaker 9: are student-led. Part of this came out of the

March, the

Speaker 9: Yeah, there was a peace march against

gun violence

Speaker 9: and just looking at how

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): students from all across the district came together to use their voices. We don't have to be in the front. As adults, we don't have to be in the front

Speaker 14: We don't have to be the ones to organize or put something together. It does not need to be our idea or

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): our vision. Let it be yours. And whether you affect the person next to you or you affect 800 people or more

You

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): still changed somebody's life

You

Speaker 14: affected someone's life

So I

Speaker 14: need you to know that today change happens because you make it happen. Change happens when we know you feel confident enough to know I bring something to the table. I mean, I bring all the things, but I bring something to the table. And so I'm going to put that forward, and that has to be good enough. And so I need you all to know at this table

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): and listening that you are good enough and you're good enough now. Don't care what you carry. Don't care what your baggage is. Somebody else needs something

that you

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): You have, you are great as you are. We're gonna build upon that greatness. We're gonna grow that greatness because something amazing has to blossom later. But right

Speaker 3: now is that time for you to soak in and dig in and get the help you need because we need you

Speaker 68: this world needs you, this earth needs you, the earth is, you know, is burning

Speaker 4: you know, there's so much that has to happen and it comes by way of you all

I

Speaker 6: have one other question, then we're going to wrap. And you all may be able to give some-- this question is about racism. And whether you feel that or deal with that in your own school or not, or if you deal with it outside of school. But this was a question that came up from someone else in the district. Their question is, how can we stop racism in schools and in other places? Because I've been through racist

Speaker 10: moments at my school

So

Speaker 10: on top of everything else that

Speaker 8: we've talked about whether it's food insecurity, housing, gun violence, you know, even just stressors of trying to graduate, trying to get the credits, trying to get that grade

Speaker 27: you know, all of that, keeping your friends, you know, just situations, relationships, everything, racism

Speaker 47: So I can deeply relate to this question, because I go to a Catholic all-girls school at Villa Duchenne. And throughout my years there

Speaker 69: I think my school

Speaker 47: community has done a great job of fixing some things. But throughout my years there, I have experienced some racism. And it was tough. So I think-- What was tough about you? What was tough? Ooh, I think one of the biggest things that hit me was I started off at a predominantly black middle school and then I came to an all white, not an all white, but a majority white high school and so I had never felt

like

Speaker 47: I was an outsider or I was different. I was always like, "Oh, I'm just a kid." And so in that moment, when I switched over, I feel like I instantly grew up. I wasn't allowed to be a kid anymore. I felt like I was forced to be an advocate and an activist

Speaker 70: Freshman me, when I was at my other school, I

Speaker 47: was just a student. I had never thought about fighting

for

Speaker 47: anything like I was just a kid and as soon as I transferred I was like oh my oh my gosh like what is this and so being left out being excluded um

Speaker 16: hearing things from teachers who were surprised in my intelligence because I was black or just seeing different things like I had just realized and it's not not like you ever thought that you weren't black but it's just like I realized how black I was in that moment and so I instantly had

to

Speaker 16: become an activist which is probably why I'm sitting at this table because throughout my last three years at my school I I've had to be that voice to active to advocate for the other black girls in POC at my school like this year I put on a black history show that we're going to do next Next week the 22nd it had to be postponed because of snow, but We're gonna have a fashion show and we're gonna have a speaker and we're gonna have some poetry read And so nothing like that has ever been done in the history of my school And I've done a me and the other girls in my class We've done a lot of things that have never been done in the history of our school and so experiencing racism and experiencing pushback and people not wanting you to be there and talking behind your back and calling you all kinds of things, it hurts, but I think it made me stronger as a person. And I would just say to that person who's experiencing racism, to find who you are, to find your people, and to love yourself. Because in an environment where you feel

like

Speaker 16: you aren't loved, or you don't know about your history, you're not being taught about your history. You have to figure out who you are, appreciate your blackness, appreciate your history. And then also learn how to take a break. Because sometimes being in that environment can be so toxic and it can be tolling on your mental health and your wellbeing. And so knowing to take a break and maybe I don't know, go to a party or an event where there's a lot of people of color, there are a lot of black people, I don't know, whatever you have to do. But I know that when I feel like I'm overrun or I'm stressed out or like I've hit my max, I'm like, okay, where's my people? I need to be in a sanctuary where I'm with black people and I'm feeling loved and I'm feeling appreciated and I'm feeling wanted. So I say find who you are, learn to love yourself, learn to appreciate yourself in the midst of adversity. Always speak up for yourself, no matter what. Always, always, always. You will get pushback, but it's worth

Speaker 71: it. And when you need breaks, take your breaks. Because again, mental health is key. Like I never knew how much that can tell on your mental health until I experienced

it. you

Speaker 10: know when I speak about the thing that happened I spoke earlier and I said something happened to me when I turned 14 that's what happened to me okay I went

Speaker 5: from a school that was all black K through K through 8 and I went to a school that was not I was one of only a few black students And I had never, I experienced racism by reading

the books

Speaker 5: My dad would have us reading up on civil rights and all of that, so that was what I knew up until I entered

Speaker 8: school. And the horrible way that I was treated, it changed me forever

And because

Speaker 8: I didn't get help, it really changed my life. I went from being an A student

Speaker 5: Thinking that I would go to have all of these scholarships and all of that and you know life was gonna be great. So that experience happening and I barely graduated Cardinal Ritter. Like I was like really praying that I graduated. Stopped cheerleading. I went through, I just went through a lot. I went into

a very

Speaker 5: bad way. Got into some very, very ugly things because I didn't deal with it. and I need students to know

Speaker 8: that racism, it's okay to speak up about it. You

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): gotta talk, 'cause if people don't know what you're experiencing, then how can we help

Speaker 8: So you gotta talk, and it's not just for you. It's not because

you, you know, because

Speaker 8: Whether you're, you know, whether your family immigrated to this country, whether you speak English or not as a first language, you know, whether you, you know, regardless of what your skin color is, speak up, let people know, let your schools know, because it hurts and it affects you

It

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): affects you and you don't deserve it. Like that's a hatred that we have to eradicate in this world and it is so

Speaker 8: ingrained all over. But we have to do the work to get rid of it because you deserve that, you deserve better. And I'm so sorry you went through that. And for any other students that are dealing with that, don't hold that. We have to

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): get past it and how we get past it is we make sure people know. Let me tell you, one thing

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): that happened, I remember I

Speaker 8: had someone that I was working with and he talked about how his sister went to school. She was wearing a hijab and how she was treated. She was ostracized basically. People teased her and talked about her so bad

So

Speaker 8: what she did was she

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): was able to go to her school, to the administration at her school, and she asked, "Can we do something where I can explain what this is?" And the school said, "Yeah." And actually they allowed her and then another student

a

Speaker 9: black African student, to talk about her

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): headdress as well. And they did like this workshop at the school where she was able to talk about it and so

Speaker 8: they broke down barriers of ignorance. They broke down barriers of just what happens when you're not exposed. They broke that down right there in the school and so I just want you to know like that's how we do it

We

Speaker 8: change that by speaking up and then giving it to somebody that we can trust to be able to help us to do that. So, you know, racism in any form, hatred in any form

Speaker 19: we won't tolerate in our schools and we need not tolerate it in our society. Anybody else want to speak to that

Hello

Speaker 74: guys. My name is Precious Barry. I wanted to speak about something else that involves in my society

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): and my community, along with you guys, is colorism. Colorism is a

Speaker 20: big thing, and the ways that I feel that we can fix the ways that we can speak about it. It's another

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): form of bullying, but within our society, within our culture, within our ancestors that dealt with it too as well. And those are ways

Speaker 20: that

we can

Speaker 20: fix. I go to a technical school, and bringing back with the gun violence and everything, I studied law enforcement. I have never learned

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): so much about the system until I went to law enforcement. And at my home school, Riverview Gardens

High

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): people come to me, "What did you learn in Nortec?" They're like, "How did you know that about the law?" And I'm like, I tell them the system is failing us, us people of color, and we have to take the initiative to have a voice and let the voice be heard. That's why I started my organization, Impassion Youth, where I not only just teach people about history, but teach people about the law. Because we know, if we keep continuing to fail, what the system is going to do to us after we graduate from high school

We

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): have to stand up for each other as brothers and sisters. We have a voice and it should be heard and that we can fix any inequity that we put our minds to as Representative Cori Bush did with probably a double handicap as being both black and female in the office as an activist coming into Congress. The ideology of white supremacy is real

And

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): the ways that we can fix that, the ways that we have Cori Bush can have a voice and that can fix the things in our society. As being an activist, marching in Ferguson, Florissant, all of these things, that we can fix. We can't let white supremacy take over our society and let, especially with systemic racism too, as well as real in our schools

The

Speaker 75 (higher-pitched voice): curriculum that we are teaching, critical race theory, all of those things are major issues. - Come on. - Are major

And we have to

Speaker 76 (higher-pitched voice): stand up as youth because the system is really a fear of us. 'Cause we're sitting at this panel having a voice and that's being heard. And when they say, oh, black kids have known what's going on, they're like, whoa. They know what they're talking about, that's an issue. So when we have people like Cori as having a voice, they stand back and they stand back and they wanna have criticism

But

Speaker 77: yeah, that's all I wanted to say. You said

Speaker 78: all. Thank you. Yeah. You

Speaker 47: know, that. Sorry. To piggyback off of what you were saying, I know something that I've done a

Speaker 16: lot over the past few years, that I've took on the burden of educating my peers and the people around me. And I just want to say, that is so burdensome. Like, that is such a burden. And to my white friends, to white people out there, it is not black people's or people of color's responsibility to educate you. It is your own responsibility to research, to learn, and unlearn the racism. Nobody's saying-- it's not because it's so hard on me to have to go

Speaker 79: through everyday life on top of that and then teach you how your microaggression is affecting me, when you could have

had

Speaker 79: some critical thinking or read a book or googled it and been like oh Maybe maybe I shouldn't compare my tan to Mariah's skin color and be like oh we're the same shape like There's there are certain things that

Speaker 16: you just you have to you have to take some things into your own control and just say Okay, I see this as a problem. This is a problem in our country. It's a problem in our world What can I do to help other people? what can I do to help the people around me? And the answer to that question is research, unlearn racism, and do your

Speaker 79: part. Correct people, correct the drunk uncle at the party who's saying the N-word, or correct your grandpa who was like, oh, black people are lazy. Like, correct those people, unlearn your racism, so that's one less thing that black people have to worry about. Like, we

Speaker 16: got a lot of stuff on our plate. We don't need to educate. all the white people around us on top of that. It's just burdensome. And so I think that's something, to Aaliyah, that's something that I faced throughout my years. And I don't know if she's faced that as well, but it's so tolling on your mental health. So to white people, please, please, please do your own

Speaker 17: research. Unlearn racism and take that burden off of the black people

around you. I'm Regina

Speaker 23: Washington. So I went to basically all-white school. It was kind of in the country, like Troy, Missouri. They are so mean, like they have no -- it's basically taught to them. It is taught to them. It's like installed into our

system of

Speaker 23: America, the Constitution, and even say that a black man is three-fifths of a white

man. We

Speaker 80: are in a country that's

Speaker 81: how can I say

this, not

Speaker 81: only the, I can't think. You got it. Not only the, what's the money system here? What's the

money system here? the social

Speaker 24: economic system is built off of

Speaker 23: racism, but the school system is built off racism, and the religion system is built off racism, which I learned that in the book that I read called Step. It really talks about how we are labeled creatures, basically, in this white world. Like, it's just

It

Speaker 23: disgusted me, honestly. I didn't even know racism existed until I got older. And when I experienced racism

made me feel less

Speaker 23: of myself

But as

Speaker 23: they said, you educate yourself of your culture and you

just

Speaker 82: live I'm very

Speaker 23: appreciative that my ancestors have built this pathway for us to be free, educated, and have a voice. Basically, racism is just built in our country, so it's going to take a lot to actually get racism

completely but

Speaker 23: it's gonna happen because you see what we're doing now. You see

Speaker 82: we have a voice now. You see that we can be in the same building as a white

Speaker 83: person now, so. - Yeah, absolutely

And

Speaker 8: you know, but that comes by us not allowing it to just continue, you know, we have to continue to speak up. You know, we can't wait on anyone else

Speaker 10: to say what's hurting us. You know, I think about

I think about, How

Speaker 10: if someone is stepping on your foot, I say this all the time, if someone is stepping on your foot and it's hurting you and you don't say anything and then they

Speaker 6: step harder and you say get off of my foot and they don't

move, then do you say

Speaker 8: well they didn't move and now I'm just going to take this hurt or

do you

Speaker 8: get them off of you

And

Speaker 27: so us speaking up and saying, hey, look, this is bothering me, and this is how it bothers me. When you say that I'm colorblind, I don't see color, everybody is the same, that

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): hurts me

Speaker 8: When you say, when we're clear about what it is, and it takes us, and you all are doing the work. I need you all to know your ancestors are smiling

I need you

Speaker 84: all to know that you all have blown my mind sitting here. I've been

Speaker 85: I've

Speaker 86: been fighting

Speaker 87: tears until just now because you all are absolutely amazing

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): You're blowing my mind but you're also giving us so much like what we need. This is what we need to work with. This is what we need to work on and

you all

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): You all are bringing that to the table so that the world can see it so that we can fix it We

might not be

Speaker 11 (higher-pitched voice): able to

Speaker 88: get it all done at once But we can start to chip away at this thing and and one of those ways that we are going to do that

Speaker 6: work To see I'm not the

one to

Speaker 6: bring you into something for a photo op or To say that we did something the thing has to be to bring about change you have

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): to have change I need you to have so much change you feel it like that's the kind of change that we want to see happen and so because of that

Speaker 4: we your congressional office Missouri's first district what we have decided

to do is So

Speaker 4: we have one initiative where we are in the

Speaker 6: we're in our local libraries, so we put our offices in the local libraries, we have four libraries across the community, it's called Congress in Your Neighborhood, it's so you can find us, you go to the library to get

Speaker 14: a book, you

know, oh, there's, there's, you know

Speaker 14: Congresswoman Cori Bush's office right there. I can go talk to them and get some services. I don't know what they do, but let me just find out if they can help me with my situation. Well, today we're gonna start, we're kicking off. Congress in your classroom

Yes, and so

Speaker 14: what Congress in your classroom is, is we're gonna pull this forward

So

Speaker 6: it's gonna be three parts to this. Congress in your classroom, first of all, there will be two different groups of student, like, almost like, well, groups. So one is going to be a group that we're looking

at having two

Speaker 10: students from every high school across the district where we come together once a month and we talk about the issues that you all are facing and we look at ways that we can

Speaker 6: work together to be able to bring about change. And so two students from every high school, so we're talking city and county within this district coming together. And so the schools will be giving out more information about how you can be that, be one of those representatives from your school, but it's open to everyone in the schools. And then there's another part that is where we take a smaller group. So there'll be a smaller group of students that will come together

Speaker 8: just to work on legislative policy. So we're looking at legislation, you know, this is something happening at my school or this is something happening in my community. How can we use, you know, make policy

Speaker 10: changes to be able to affect what's happening in our lives? And just for instance, when we look at how much money, if any of you all have jobs and you show up and, you know, they tell you, okay, you can make minimum wage

you know, You

Speaker 10: may think, "Well, I've heard that we should be making $15 an hour. I think that we should make $17. Why is it that we make what we make?" Or you're somewhere and they make $11, just a little over minimum wage, and you're like, "I wish I could make more." Well, that's a policy choice. So that's what students across the district will be able to come together to do. So

Speaker 14: it's two different groups. But then there's this other component where I'm coming to your school. So, what we plan to do is I want to go to any school that says, "Hey, Congresswoman, we want you to come. I want to come and talk to your classroom, your classes. I want to come and sit with you. I'll go to lunch with you. I'll sit in the cafeteria, you know. If you're doing something, invite me. I want to come." So, our office would like to show up and this isn't just high school. We're talking all the levels. If a preschool reaches out to me, I'm going. But

Speaker 6: so elementary school, middle school, high school, even our colleges and universities. So if

Speaker 8: you all call, we're going to put it on our calendar to show up because you have

to know

Speaker 8: beyond the shadow of a doubt that your congresswoman first loves you. Because I love you, I do work, and I do the deep work for you

I put my

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): name, reputation on the line. I don't care what they say about me. Did you get what you needed? They can say what they want. Did

you get

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): what you needed

Talk all you

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): want. Say all the negative things you want. But

did it

Speaker 49 (higher-pitched voice): change your life? Did somebody else get something to change their life? That's what I care

Speaker 89: about. So would you

like me to

Speaker 89: come to your school

Speaker 14: So that's what we're going to do. So we're kicking it off today so people can reach out. Schools can reach out

Speaker 8: directly to our office, bush.house.gov, but we'll be sending out more information so that we can come to your school. And I would

Speaker 6: just like to sit with you all and get to know you. You get to know me, know that you are represented, and we can talk about what we can offer you and your families and your schools to help make St. Louis better. so much better because we are what makes St. Louis better, right

Speaker 8: All right, thank you all for sharing. You all are

each one

Speaker 6: of you are amazing. And to those that are listening that weren't able to be here today, we plan to do something bigger where we can

Speaker 14: bring all the schools in, some type of way we can get into space together because that's what this is about. So this is only the beginning, you all

Only

Speaker 14: the beginning. I need you to know this is only the beginning. This is just the first one

So let's

Speaker 14: do this. Let's figure out how to

Speaker 8: do this again. But this time, you all will be the ones with the input. Thank you