New Insights Expected from Young Men at Norton's Youth Violence Roundtable Tuesday

New Insights Expected from Young Men at Youth Violence Roundtable Tuesday with Norton's Black Men and Boys Commission

November 8, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC - The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that members of the audience will be permitted to offer brief testimony and ask questions following the D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys Roundtable hearing, entitled, Youth Violence: Helping Young Boys Become Young Men, on Tuesday, November 9, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 901 G Street NW. Three witnesses, who have encountered or been involved in violence as youth, will offer new insights into the issue. The witness panel will include Tony Lewis, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency Vocational Development Specialist and son of one of the District's most notorious drug dealers, "Little Tony" Lewis who remains incarcerated; Ali Moore, a former felon who, at the age of 16, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for second degree murder and now works for the D.C. Department of Employment Services' Project Empowerment program; and Ivan Cloyd, a one-time gang member and current Potomac College student who volunteers with the Alliance of Concerned Black Men. U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen will not be able to attend, as previously announced, due to a scheduling conflict.

"This Roundtable will offer a unique opportunity to hear from the very men who directly experienced youth violence," Norton said. "As concern about youth violence among younger and younger African American youth has grown, we have seldom heard from those who have been immersed and managed to survive it to become productive law-abiding men. We will come to grips with remedies that work when we look more deeply into the lives of our youth and young men. This Roundtable will allow them to speak for themselves."

Among the issues expected to be probed by the witnesses are how they became involved in crime; how they extricated themselves from crime; what they would do differently today; and what can be done to reach youth who grow up amidst violence, stereotypes, low expectations, and limited employment opportunities.

The Congresswoman established the D.C Commission on Black Men and Boys in 2001. Since its formation, the Commission has worked to reveal and help resolve the pressing issues that Black men and boys face, such as high school dropout rates, criminal justice issues, HIV/AIDS, marriage and family issues, and discrimination. The members of the Commission are Chairman Isaac Fulwood, Ronald Moten, Tyrone Parker, Marvin Dickerson, George Starke, Russ Parr, Joe Madison, John Matthews, Rahim Jenkins, Ernie Jarvis, Reverend John Isaacs, Charles Hicks, Jeffrey Barton, Dr. Ron Simmons, Byron Browder, Marvin Dickerson, Joseph Askew, Kamal Ali, and Jair Lynch.

WHO: D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys Roundtable with Witnesses Who Have Faced Crime in D.C.

WHAT: Youth Violence: Helping Young Boys Become Young Men

WHERE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 901 G Street NW

WHEN: Tuesday, November 9, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.