BYP’s Dennis Johnson on MHP Show: “Violence will never cease until we find a way to make money out of peace.”
On Saturday, the Black Youth Project’s own Dennis Johnson appeared on MSNBC’s The Melissa Harris Perry show to discuss the crisis of gun violence in his hometown of Chicago.
Dennis spoke eloquently and passionately to the consequences of gun violence and racism on young black people.
Regarding how to stem the tide of violence, Dennis made a fascinating assertion: “Violence will never cease until we find a way to make money out of peace.”
If gun violence is so profitable for some, what does a dividend look like for people like Johnson, who pay the price every day for that violence? Asked that question by Harris-Perry, the student offered a surprising reply.
“The North Side of Chicago,” he said.
“Where you’re able to walk and not have the police pulling you over and ask where you’re going, or you don’t have to worry about a person of the opposite race crossing the street, or either of the same race crossing the street. Where you’re comfortable, where you don’t have to keep looking behind you. Where you can take a deep breath, and you can take that deep breath because it was a good day, not because you made it home.”
Check out Dennis Johnson’s appearance of the MHP Show below:
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Thoughts on Dennis’ profound words?
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