In the   “American Heritage Dictionary,” violence is defined as “physical force exerted so as to cause damage, abuse, or injury.” Unfortunately, violence is the definition of Boston. Today, the people of Boston live in a city where they are afraid to walk down the streets after the streetlights turn on.

The 4 o’clock news announces that “a man is murdered”, the 5 o’clock news “a baby is killed”, the 6 o’clock news “woman found dead”, and at this point we are afraid to watch the 10 o’clock news because of the horrible, unimaginable truth we are faced with. Today, violence is happening way too often. It’s sad, because now when someone gets killed, it’s no longer a shock, but just a sense of sorrow. In 2006, there were 76 homicides.

Starting off 2007, there was hope of less violence, but instead on January 1st, the city’s first homicide took place. What a way to start the new year. The youth are dying out slowly, it’s almost like genocide. From the youth’s perspective, violence is like an epidemic; once it starts, it just keeps going and as it keeps going it keeps getting worse. The youth need to be more involved in their communities. Instead of having nothing to do they can be learning about how to prevent themselves from catching STD’s or HIV/AIDS, another factor that strongly affects them.In hopes of being activists and taking on the role of helping others be more aware, a classmate and I interviewed people from all ages, to see the different perspectives on how violence is affecting the people of Boston, because sure enough, it’s not only the youth that are affected by it, but also the older people of the communities.