Kansas City won’t get homicides under 100. There’s another goal that matters more | Opinion

Late last week, DeShawn Reese updated the cover photo on her Facebook page. The new post featured a picture of the Kansas Citian and her son, 16-year-old DeVohn Dudley-Reese, who sported a stylish wine-colored vest over a black button-up long-sleeved shirt and matching bow tie. As DeVohn looks over his mother’s shoulder and into the camera, he flashes a radiant smile, which nicely complements the formal attire the teen wore. DeVohn was a budding football talent with a bright future when he was fatally shot in a triple shooting in November. He was a potential college recruit who dreamed of playing quarterback at a historically Black college or university.

“I miss him … so much,” Reese wrote in the comments.

DeVohn and another teen, 18-year-old Jazion Sanders, were shot and killed Nov. 27 near East 28th Street and Garfield Avenue in Kansas City. They were among 18 people younger than 18 killed in Kansas City last year, according to a Star database that tracks homicides, including fatal police shootings.

Kansas City saw 171 homicide victims in 2022, the city’s second-highest total on record. In 2021, 15 of the 157 people killed in Kansas City were children 17 or younger, according to police data. Six children were killed in 2020, the all-time deadliest year on record in Kansas City with 182 homicides.

This alarming trend of violence affecting kids — particularly gun violence — must be collectively addressed at every level of law enforcement within the city. Community groups such as the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime and other stakeholders must continue to collaborate to forge a citywide comprehensive strategy against violent crime — something Kansas City lacks. Mayor Quinton Lucas, the City Council, new Police Chief Stacey Graves and the Board of Police Commissioners must be actively involved as well.

Lucas’ pledge to reduce homicides to fewer than 100 per year needs to be redefined because, sadly, it appears to be unreachable for the time being. Instead, we call on the mayor’s office and other elected officials to pledge to reduce the number of children under the age of 18 killed in Kansas City — to zero.

In a year that saw near-record homicides in the city, how do we prevent the lives of young people from being cut short? As a community, we must invest in children and their education, and provide more opportunities for young people to work or learn a trade.

Lucas is optimistic about a new city partnership between the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office and the Kansas City Police Department. Launched late this summer, Partners for Peace is a good start in addressing violent crime. But the arrangement lacks the necessary funding to pay immediate dividends as we enter a new calendar year, one we hope brings about more peace than violence.

Will the philanthropic community step in to help, as the DeBruce Foundation did in 2020 when the Kansas City-based nonprofit helped secure $2.5 million in funding to equip Kansas City police officers with body-worn cameras?

We’re hopeful. The lives of young people such as DeVohn, the 16-year-old aspiring college athlete, are at stake.