Birmingham principal talks impact of social media on youth violence

MINUTES. BACK TO YOU, ADRIAN, THANK YOU. WELL, THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, WE’VE REPORTED ON NUMEROUS INSTANCES OF YOUNG PEOPLE SOLVING THEIR CONFLICTS THROUGH VIOLENCE. YEAH, AND IN SOME CASES, THAT VIOLENCE TURNING DEADLY. WVTM13’S CHIP SCARBOROUGH LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM TONIGHT WITH MORE ON WHAT ONE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ATTRIBUTES TO MORE ACTS OF VIOLENCE. AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE. CHIP. WELL, JARVIS AND GLADYS, THE PRINCIPAL HERE AT RAMSEY HIGH SCHOOL IN BIRMINGHAM, SAYS YOUNG PEOPLE THESE DAYS ARE OFTEN ON THEIR PHONES TALKING TO OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE ONLINE. AND SHE SAYS THOSE INTERACTIONS CAN SOMETIMES GENERATE NEGATIVE AND LIFELONG CONSEQUENCES. MOSSES EDUCATOR SAY THERE WAS A TIME NOT THAT LONG AGO WHEN VIOLENCE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE WAS HARDLY EVER A CONCERN. YOU KNOW, MAMA DIDN’T HAVE TO SAY, YOU GOT TO GO TO SCHOOL TODAY. WE WERE READY BEFORE IT WAS TIME. AND IF THERE WAS THE OCCASIONAL FISTFIGHT, IT USUALLY WASN’T LONG BEFORE THOSE INVOLVED PATCH THINGS UP. SO WHAT CHANGED? OF COURSE, WE DID NOT HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA THE WAY THAT WE DO NOW, AND I JUST HATE TO SAY SOCIAL MEDIA IS, IS IT’S PART OF A LOT OF THE ISSUES THAT OUR OUR STUDENTS HAVE TO DEAL WITH AND BATTLE ON A DAILY BASIS. IT’S A SILENT BULLYING TYPE THING. AND AND WE JUST HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT. STUDENT ATHLETES SAY IT’S EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE TO EVEN HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE VIOLENCE AMONG PEOPLE, THEIR OWN AGE. NO, WE SHOULDN’T BE TALKING ABOUT IT LIKE THIS, ESPECIALLY AS ADULTS AND AS TEENAGERS. YOU KNOW, WE SHOULD ALWAYS WANT TO, YOU KNOW, GO OUT AND JUST LIVE LIFE. I GUESS ATHLETES IN OUR AREA ARE DOING WHAT THEY CAN TO HELP ENSURE OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE CAN LIVE LIFE DEDICATING THEIR CRAFT TO ENDING GUN VIOLENCE. YEAH, SOMETIMES YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT’S YOU KNOW, NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, NOT ALWAYS HAVING GOOD INTENTIONS, BUT, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN’T ALWAYS RETALIATE. YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES YOU JUST YOU JUST GOT TO LOOK AT THEM AND, YOU KNOW, JUST SAY THANK YOU. AT LEAST, YOU KNOW, AND JUST JUST SAY THANK YOU AND WALK AWAY. YOU CAN’T ALWAYS, YOU KNOW, FIGHT BACK. EDUCATORS SAY PART OF FIXING THE PROBLEM INVOLVES SIMPLY LISTENING TO THE STUDENTS. I MEAN, THERE’S TEXT LINGO, SOCIAL MEDIA, ALL THESE PLATFORMS. AND THERE’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE THAT WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT. IT. AN ND EDUCATORS SAY THEY HOPE BY THOSE YOUNG ATHLETES TALKING ABOUT VIOLENCE, IT’LL PROMPT OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT VIOLENCE AND TO COME UP WITH OTHER WAYS TO SOLVE THEIR CONFLICTS. LIVE IN BIR