A version of this story appeared in the Higher Ground newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Higher Ground delivered directly to your inbox each Sunday.
A diverse group of clergy and civic leaders who gathered in the District on Wednesday said that nothing short of a spiritual renaissance will stem the regional tide of street violence fueled by aimless young people.
Pastors and imams from churches such as Bethel Christian Fellowship and Adams Inspirational AME Church met with Nation of Islam disciples in Anacostia to promote a message tailored to the teens and young adults behind the bloodshed: Learn who you are so you can learn about the innate divinity bestowed to you by God.
The religious leaders said they are trying to address an “identity crisis” created when parents don’t take responsibility, leading young people to become consumed by the disputes that often precede slayings.
“Our young people are going through this crisis because they have basically been left to grow up on their own,” said George Stallings of the Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation in Suitland, Maryland.
“They don’t have models,” he said. “They don’t have mentors who are saying to them that ‘This is what is important in life.’ Where are your priorities? Where are your values? I don’t think parents are talking to their children about values, about their identity.”
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Mr. Stallings said one way to impart that lesson to young people is to stop them from introducing themselves by saying, “My name is ….” Instead, they should say, “I am …” as a nod to Exodus 3:14 in which God introduces himself to Moses as “I am who I am.”
It’s a small way of linking their identity with God. Mr. Stallings said he shared it with a young man before Wednesday morning’s meeting.
The faith leaders acknowledged the uphill fight against a culture that has contributed to a 20-year high in homicides throughout the District.
The nation’s capital is on track to exceed 200 homicides for the third year in a row, the most violent year yet. The District hit the 100-homicide mark in June, the fastest the city had reached that grim milestone since 2003.
Political and civic leaders are scrambling for solutions to the violence.
D.C. police arrested a man Monday in the May killing of 10-year-old Arianna Davis.
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The girl was riding in the back of a car in Northeast when a stray bullet struck her in the chest. She died days later in a hospital.
Koran Gregory, the 19-year-old homicide suspect, lived in a home where police found an arsenal of illegal weapons, according to court documents.
The leaders at Wednesday’s meeting said young offenders must earn the trust of their flock before they become hardened criminals.
The pastors and imams said they must meet the troubled youths where they are.
“Our leader, Jesus Christ, took the love in the church to the people,” said Rev. Rick Seavron of Allen Chapel AME Church on Alabama Avenue Southeast. “When the people trust those leaders, then you’re able to lead.”
Community advocates said city resources dedicated to reaching those at risk of violence are falling short.
Tyrone Parker, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance of Concerned Men, said the District’s ecosystem of violence interrupters and other support programs aren’t collaborating to squash the blood feuds.
The various city services are functioning in “silos,” he said, and their inefficiency exacerbates the sense of hopelessness on the streets.
Dyrell Muhammad said he is cutting out the middleman and going straight to the young people who need him.
The Nation of Islam follower and convicted murderer was released in 2020 as part of the D.C. Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act.
He told The Washington Times that he settled conflicts between gangs while in the federal prison system for 22 years. Now, he said, he is trying to take that skill set to those in the District who might follow his path.
“You’re not going to be able to relate to them if you don’t go amongst them,” said Muhammad, who legally changed his last name from Gamble in 2021. “That’s just like a doctor trying to prescribe medication for a patient he’s never seen. This is why I use the terminology ‘hustling the death of our people.’ … Many of us are getting the money, but the resources are not given to our people.”
E. Gail Anderson Holness, senior pastor for Adams Inspirational AME Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, bemoaned other aspects of the broken culture that faith leaders are trying to repair.
They include abuse of ever-stronger drugs, the loss of the “village” feel in neighborhoods, and a scourge of mental illness, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder, from exposure to violence.
Those local problems are cropping up because of the broader degradation of values across the country, said the Rev. Zagery Oliver.
The vice president of the Universal Peace Federation in the District said a lack of love — for their fellow man, as well as from their fathers — is why teens and young adults are glamorizing immorality. This upside down value system has created more dysfunctional families and, as a result, more violence, he said. The Universal Peace Federation is a core organization in the Unification Church, whose affiliated business enterprises include The Washington Times.
Mr. Stallings said the only way to reverse that trend is to realize who we are as “holy beings,” not just as physical beings.
“I’m just not simply flesh and blood. … I’m a vessel, I’m a conduit, I’m a medium” of God’s will, he told The Times.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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