Tuesday, June 09, 2009Contact:
For immediate releaseMary Vriniotis (617)922-4643
The Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center responds to the Murder of Travis Davis
On Friday, June 5, 2009, Travis Davis, 29, the beloved son of Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center member Janie Gibbs of the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, was found murdered in Roxbury. For nearly a decade, Ms. Gibbs has worked with our Center to promote the importance of addressing violence as a public health problem, noting that effective prevention evolves from synergy between all sectors, including community members, researchers, and policy makers. As we strive as a city to build comprehensive and sustainable violence prevention strategies, we have a responsibility to bear in mind the following lessons learned from prior efforts:
- Violence is a learned behavior that can be unlearned or not learned in the first place; it is preventable.
- Cities with more coordination, communication, and attention to preventing violence have achieved lower violence rates.
- Violence is costly to individuals, families, communities, businesses, and government, and preventing violence can contribute to economic recovery and growth.
- Community members, mayors, police chiefs, school superintendents, and public health officials have stated that violence is a serious issue and responses inadequate.
- The prevalence of illegal guns on the streets of Boston facilitates deaths where there otherwise may be nonfatal injuries or no injury at all. As a city we must ask: “Where did the gun come from?”
Ms. Gibbs is the 22nd mother to lose a child to violence in Boston in 2009. Violence prevention continues to be a high priority of the City of Boston and its community partners. “This tremendous loss reminds us that we still have work to do,” said HYVPC partner Clementina Chery, who founded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute after her own son was murdered in Boston, “[These deaths] are all painful but it hurts even more when you know the people who are doing the work. We have to keep asking ourselves ‘Why are our children killing each other?’”
Travis’ death is extremely tragic, but it was not inevitable. We must all work together to arm children with skills instead of guns. By reducing risk factors for violence perpetration, such as poor educational achievement, and increasing protective factors such as positive adult mentors for those exposed to violence, we can prevent violence before it occurs. Providing youth with the proper set of tools to handle adversity will improve outcomes for them and in turn their families, communities as well as the city as a whole. The cost of losing our young people to violence is severe; everyone must play a role in seeking the peace of Boston.
For more information on and recommendations for preventing violence and promoting peace in cites, please visit our website: www.hsph.harvard.edu/hyvpc.