A week before the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the formation of a violent crime task force made up of state officials, the office of the attorney general and Virginia State Police.
The task force was created to address Virginia’s soaring rate of violent crime amid the pandemic. Virginia saw a 24% increase in homicides involving firearms in 2020 compared to 2019. The task force pledges to work with localities across the state to better provide law enforcement resources.
Valerie Slater, executive director of RISE for Youth (Photo courtesy Valerie Slater)
Valerie Slater, executive director of RISE for Youth, a Central Virginia organization that focuses on youth violence prevention, fears that Youngkin’s task force is part of a Republican focus on heightened policing and tougher sentencing, which disproportionately impacts Black and brown youth. It also doesn’t address the root of the problem, Slater says: the growing mental health crisis among young people and the expanding poverty epidemic.
We recently caught up with Slater, who is also a member of the Virginia Community Violence Prevention Coalition, to discuss the increase in gun violence and what to do about it.
Richmond magazine: Why do you believe that tough-on-crime approaches, such as longer sentences and increased policing, don’t work to reduce gun violence?
Valerie Slater: What being tough on crime and adding more police does not address is the hurting family. It does not address the hurting young people. It does not address that young folks have not been given what they need to find healthy ways to deal with all the traumas that they are living through. During the pandemic, we saw folks losing jobs, young folks no longer had the job of going to school, and many lost true, consistent access to their learning environments. And so there’s all of this trauma, and our response now that it’s bubbling over is to add police rather than to address what’s needed? Being tough on crime is not going to solve those issues that were already present and were just simply exacerbated by the pandemic.
RM: Youngkin says his violence task force will also focus on creating afterschool programs and other activities for children, and address the fear of witnesses surrounding testifying. Is this positive progress?
Slater: I will say that there is good to be had when we are looking at providing safety for individuals who would otherwise be too intimidated to share what they know. The culture of it’s OK to tell the truth, it must be bred within a community. Police are not the ones to come in and do that. The police and other supports can come in and aid that, but, again, it’s got to be born first of a community’s desire.
RM: How does more policing perpetuate the inequitable prosecution of Black and brown people in Virginia?
Slater: All you have to do is look at who is already incarcerated. All we have to do is look at the communities that are struggling the most — they’re Black and brown communities. And if we continue to just pour resources into policing, rather than health and healing, we’re just going to open the spigot and allow even more of our Black and brown community members to end up incarcerated.
RM: After Uvalde, and amid the continued risk of school shootings, do you think that there should be more police in schools?
Slater: The call for more police in schools in Virginia to deter active shooter situations is a reactive measure attempting to address a problem after it is already out of control. Greater police presence in schools has to date not proven effective at stopping active shooter incidents. However, funding mental health services, counseling services, community support services and the resources to create healthy communities will solve the root causes [of gun violence].
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
