PORTLAND, Ore. — Dr. Shon Neyland is senior pastor at Highland Christian Center (HCC). Neyland held a virtual youth summit at HCC this past Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, to address the damage that violence is doing in Portland, and how to help find a better way forward.
Neyland, like many in the community, is concerned about a continued surge of violence that is disproportionately affecting young people of color, especially black youth.
The violence last year included more than 90 homicides in Portland, and 35 of the victims were black; most died from gunfire. So far this January, Portland is has tallied five homicides.
Monday's virtual summit, which was streamed on Facebook and YouTube, was intended to bring awareness to youth who joined in.
“To say enough is enough, there are opportunities for you to change your life,” said Neyland.
The panel of pastors and community members talked about the opportunities and offered them up, from job fairs to help with education, and coming out of poverty.
Pastor Neyland said after the summit, he knows it's been especially tough these past two years.
“And the frustration for me is that people lost the sense of connection during the pandemic, and I think that’s part of it: that sense of community, that sense of family. And what we talked about at the summit was this idea of rebuilding community,” said Neyland.
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The in-person audience was limited for the summit, but Samuel Howard was there.
His daughter Shai-India Harris was shot and killed in July of 2020; she was 18. Her boyfriend was arrested for her murder.
And Howard's nephew, 19-year-old Keion Howard, was shot in December. It was one of the last homicides of 2021. Through that pain, Mr. Howard had a message for other young people, based on his own experience emerging from a troubled past.
“I started caring about me, I started seeing the light in me that a lot of my older parents and aunties and uncles, they all seen," said Howard. “I just want our youth to know themselves and know that we are here standing in the gap with them not against them no matter how you look.”
And that was a message that fit the theme that came out of the summit, according to Neyland.
“We need to get involved, we need to accept our youth, embrace our youth, connect with them to move forward.”
Specific resources for youth were offered at the summit, and while there are several civic and non-profit organizations, Neyland named Love is Stronger and The Contingent as two that are working to help young people improve their lives.