Violence interrupters face Sisyphean task in Iowa

The holiday season can be a difficult time for Iowans, especially emotionally. For Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, December holds numerous reminders of pain endured. “It’s always difficult this time of year, my son was killed by gun violence on Dec. 10, (1997) and his birthday would have been the 14th.”

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that, similar to Rep. Abdul-Samad, half of American adults have been threatened, hurt, or witnessed someone else being injured by a gun. Strain and cost to the health system has caused experts to declare gun violence a public health crisis.

And it is an issue not just affecting adults. Alarmingly, gun violence has surpassed all other causes to become the leading cause of death of children between 1 and 19 years old.

Iowa has traditionally trended lower than other states with regards to firearm death and injury; however, violence has been veering upward, especially as a result of the passage of bills easing firearm restrictions. Iowa is considered one of the leading states when it comes to least restrictive gun laws. But Iowa also exceeds national average on another sobering statistic — Black Iowans “are 16 times more likely to die by gun homicide than white people.”

“There is confusion because the narrative is being written that individuals are trying to take gun rights. This isn’t true — a majority believe in the 2nd Amendment and what it was set up to do. When we talk about making guns accessible to people who are abusers, we are going beyond 2nd Amendment.” Rep. Abdul-Samad voted with colleagues against HF756 and HF654 not to weaken the 2nd amendment, but instead, to ensure guns don’t end up in the wrong hands, and to prevent them from winding up on school grounds.

Given that we have broken records in numbers of school shootings two years in a row, voting to retain common sense gun laws is logical. Unfortunately, Iowa laws are becoming exceedingly effective at evading logic.

While Abdul-Samad is one of millions of Americans who are affected by gun violence, his organization is actively doing something about it. “Now here I am in my 18th year in the Legislature, and have 27 years at the helm of Creative Visions, and I’m still fighting the same issues I was fighting at the age of 16.” And his work does not stop in the Legislature or at his nonprofit. Abdul-Samad receives constant calls from the community and was one of the only legislators showing up with proverbial sleeves rolled up during the COVID pandemic and the George Floyd murder protests.

There is no shortage of work to be done, and our social and political environments are not making the work any easier.

A common issue with tracking outcomes in public health interventions is that it is hard to prove when a disease, or in the case of violence — an incident — is prevented. However, the dedication and complex nature of the work done by the Creative Visions VIP staff is evident in reports to Des Moines City Council.

The problem itself is also complex, and multiple contributing factors are causing the spike in violence in Iowa and across the country. One factor is access to firearms. For a country with 5% of the world's population, we own almost half of the world’s guns. Abdul- Samad also cites the other issues — livable wage, disparities in policing and sentencing, homelessness, education. “Whenever you perpetuate hate and ignorance, we will have violence.”

Tony Wilson, who also works in violence prevention, agrees on the roles that poverty and stress play on the perpetration of gun violence. “When you are hungry you will do anything it takes to eat.” But he has also witnessed significant changes in Cedar Rapids. “We have seen a 50% reduction in Black male victimization over a two-year period.” He has also seen other evidence of healing. Wilson and his Group Violence Intervention colleague, Rachel Rockwell, were asked by the 6th Judicial District to do CBT programming with young men with gun charges. They had a graduation for these men last week: “The most amazing part was when we asked, ‘who do you want to invite to graduation?’ Four out of six wanted their probation officers.” GVI is changing the dynamics in community and law enforcement relationships.

Group Violence Intervention utilizes similar components to the Cure Violence program that Creative Visions uses, but they also pull in partnerships they have been able to develop with the Cedar Rapids Police Department. Many people shy away from the model, Wilson explains, however, “work in CR has shown this to be effective. Unless we reconcile differences in the community it doesn’t work. It gives us a chance to work together.”

Abdul-Samad says there are many policy levers Iowan’s can advocate for. “It was at one point required to go through the diversity, equity, and inclusion training to be a more perfect union. This (training) would have continued to curb violence.” He also worries about the increase in firearm access without a parallel increase in firearm education. “We don’t have any gun safety being taught to our children.”

In addition to advocating for better policies across the board, Abdul-Samad sees a simple solution that all Iowans can participate in. “I think we need to put neighbor back into the hood. We need to make sure we do not get accustomed to violence — let’s gets accustomed to peace not to violence.”

When asked what Iowans ca do to make a difference, Wilson agreed that kindness is a solution “it’s simple – random acts of kindness. Something that everybody can do daily.”

If you are looking for a way to commit a random act of kindness, you can donate hats, gloves, coats, or funds to Creative Visions at 1343 13th St in Des Moines Iowa or online at cvonline.us.

Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.esperson@thegazette.com