Derrill Maynard is still angry.
It's been two months since his friend became the fourth homicide victim this year in Annapolis. Two months since Kwame Travon Johnson, a 17-year-old junior at Annapolis High School, was shot and bled to death on a sidewalk in the troubled public housing community where he lived. Two months since they'd hung out, watching Lil Wayne rap videos on a portable DVD player and teasing neighborhood girls.
He's still angry because Kwame was the second friend he has lost to street violence. He says he's sick of hearing gunshots at night and doesn't feel safe in the Robinwood neighborhood where he lives and Kwame was killed.
The 19-year-old senior is trying to work through his anger and fear in an anti-crime group formed at Annapolis High in the weeks after Kwame's death. What started out as a support group of sorts has become part of a budding youth movement to combat crime in the capital city of 36,000 - which has had six homicides this year, nearly double the per capita homicide rate of Baltimore.
"Losing Funk - it scared me for real," Derrill said at a recent meeting of the group, FUNK, Kwame's nickname and loose acronym that stands for "Family and friends together Unified for success Non violent action Knowledge and growth.""I found out about this group and I wasn't sure how it would be, but I know violence ain't the way you gotta solve an issue. So I think this group can make the difference."
FUNK's members are planning to participate in a citywide unity march today to spread a message of peace through nine Annapolis public housing and low-income communities, where crime has been concentrated. The march is being organized by community leaders.
The students also plan to attend a city government-sponsored youth meeting Thursday to discuss crime in their neighborhoods and how the city can help. The group's work is also being linked to a schoolwide anti-bullying campaign also named FUNK, after Kwame. Members are decorating Kwame's locker and transforming it into a tip box for anonymous reports on bullying, fights and other concerns about school violence.
"We can't just let the adults take care of everything, they need to hear from us," said Natalie Black, a sophomore. "It's our friends who are getting killed. We're the ones afraid of not getting to 21. We are the ones committing the crimes, too, so we are the ones that need to get out there and start making our voices be heard."
