On the 16th April, I had the opportunity to visit The City Hall situated in Central London for an event called One Big Community. One Big Community is led by a group of young people who want to make a change to ending youth violence. I am so inspired that it is young people who are behind the campaign as it clearly conveys if you want to make a difference you have to work hard to do it.
The first question "Is all youth violence associated with gangs?" had many different perspectives as people were trying to define what a gang is. To some it was a group of friends, to others it was a group of people with bad intentions to steal or cause trouble. Either way, everyone came to the conclusion the word has negative connotations of black boys in hoodies.
It was interesting to hear how people felt from different ages, genders and backgrounds. I felt so empowered by a spoken poem, my favourite quote "Richer getting richer, poorer trying to imitate that picture", I feel that this is our generation because people are so concerned with having materialistic things for the image of it to fit in. Life isn't about materialistic things, they may make us happy for a while but they do not do anything for us mentally. I feel that in our society people have to show off everything on social networking sites to feel respected or to feel part of the team like everyone else.
I felt that many of the members of the audience felt it was the panels job to make changes however if you want something to be changed then you have the power to do it yourself.
Some people do not realise how lucky we are to live in London as there are so many opportunities around us. I understand that when you are surrounded by violence or a bad upbringing it can be hard to change your frame of mind alone however as Shaun Bailey said "Ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years time" If you do not want to be where you are now then you can change that.
This inspired me because a year ago I was too scared to voice out my love for natural hair and when I was younger I was afraid of wearing my crown to show I am African because of the people around me however it is your life, you cannot allow people's judgement to control your life.
Jermain Jackman; did exactly this, he worked hard for his goals and his dreams and won this years The Voice.
Some people do not realise how lucky we are to live in London as there are so many opportunities around us. I understand that when you are surrounded by violence or a bad upbringing it can be hard to change your frame of mind alone however as Shaun Bailey said "Ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years time" If you do not want to be where you are now then you can change that.
This inspired me because a year ago I was too scared to voice out my love for natural hair and when I was younger I was afraid of wearing my crown to show I am African because of the people around me however it is your life, you cannot allow people's judgement to control your life.
Jermain Jackman; did exactly this, he worked hard for his goals and his dreams and won this years The Voice.