In a recent panel discussion including his upcoming film, Luv, music artist and actor, Common, discussed his views on the structure of black families and its affect on gun violence in America.
Luv, which is set to release on Jan. 18, centers around an 11-year-old boy in Baltimore learning what it means to be a man while longing for his family to be whole again. After his hero, Uncle Vincent (Common), is released from jail with plans to turn his life around, Woody is faced with figuring out the direction of his own life.
The film’s lessons connect with Common’s belief that better parenting and reconstruction of the black family is needed within inner cities. During the panel, he talks about figuring out how elders and young people can better support each other. Disagreeing with the NRA Executive Vice President, Wayne LaPierre, who suggested putting armed police in every school, Common feels that guns are not the answer to reducing violence among youth.
“I think the biggest issue for our young people is to have opportunities to dream, to have guidance, to have love and support,” he said. “More guns are never the solution. Putting more guns in there is not going to solve anything.”
Common recalls that while he was exposed to poverty and “street elements” in his native Chicago, he was fortunate to grow up in a black middle-class neighborhood. However, he acknowledges that seeing positive and successful black figures outside of entertainment like President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama is what black youth needs.
Read the complete article on MSNBC’s website and check out the video below.
BMWK– What do you feel is needed to cut down and eventually put an end to violence in youth? How can we as black parents change the future for our own children?