![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By Vagnes De La Rosa The summer of 1989 was the best summer of my life.<\/p>\n I had just graduated high school and was spending it getting ready for college with three other teen friends. They called us The D\u2019s, because we had a D in our name. They happen to be some of my best friends to this day. Our lives were on the cusp of a trajectory that would lead to us becoming a business owner, a social worker, a pastor and me, an executive at a nonprofit whose mission is to help victims of crime<\/a>. I\u2019m proud of where we landed. But it would have been so easy for our lives to have turned out differently.<\/p>\n I grew up a Latino male in Washington Heights, just a few blocks from Central Park. That summer, I could have very well been hanging out in Central Park. If I had been, my life might have dramatically changed forever.<\/p>\n That summer, Trisha Meili, a white woman who had been jogging in Central Park, was assaulted and raped. The crime was vicious. She was left for dead and remained in a coma for 12 days. It was one of the most widely publicized crimes of the decade. Following the rape, five boys of color, ages 14 to 16, were arrested and convicted of the crime. Known as \u201cthe Central Park Five,\u201d they spent between 6 and 13 years in prison.<\/p>\n Later, another man would confess to the crime. DNA evidence would confirm his guilt, and the Central Park Five\u2019s convictions would be vacated. This confirmed my belief that the five boys had suffered a great miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n The Central Park Five\u00a0are back in the conversation because of Ava DuVernay\u2019s mini-series, \u201cWhen They See Us,\u201d a dramatization about the legal proceedings that put five young men of color in prison for a crime another man admitted committing.<\/p>\n The night\u00a0the Central Park Five\u00a0were arrested, I was 18, only a few years older than them. When I see Antron McCray,\u00a0Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam, I still see me in the summer of 1989.<\/p>\n Part of the reason that\u00a0the Central Park Five\u00a0continues to resonate so deeply with me and many others is that young men of color still face injustice at the hands of our criminal justice system.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a problem on a systemic level. It also makes our work at Safe Horizon more difficult.<\/p>\n When someone mistrusts the system \u2013 especially if they mistrust it with good reason \u2013 they are less likely to seek help, even from Safe Horizon.<\/p>\n At Safe Horizon, we serve thousands of male survivors of crime and abuse every year. But we know many more need our services but don\u2019t get them.<\/strong><\/p>\n Young men of color are more likely than any other group to be a victim of violence. Young black and Latino men face the highest rates of homicide. And black youth are more likely to be robbed than any other demographic group.<\/p>\n Yet research shows that these young men frequently cope with the aftermath of violence alone.<\/p>\n We must start to see young men of color as the victims they often are. Then we can do a better job offering and connecting these young men to the services they need and deserve.<\/p>\n We will also be able to better acknowledge that young men of color are at greater risk of being victimized through a wrongful arrest or conviction.<\/p>\n \u201cSummer of \u201889<\/em>\u201d happens to also be a song by Butch Walker and the Black Widows which contains this line: \u201cCan I go back to when I was a winner, way before the rain came.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n For me, when I think back to 1989, I remember the fun times I had connecting with my boys, planning our futures and looking forward to a great life ahead of us. But for too many young men of color, that hope can be taken away by an inequitable criminal justice system or another type of victimization that\u2019s never even acknowledged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Safe Horizon Chief of Staff Vagnes De La Rosa reflects on “The Central Park Five” in light of Ava DuVernay\u2019s mini-series, \u201cWhen They See Us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":7085,"alt_text":"It Could Have Easily Been The Central Park Six","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":2048,"height":1363,"file":"2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-300x200.jpg","width":300,"height":200,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-300x200.jpg"},"medium_large":{"file":"It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-768x511.jpg","width":768,"height":511,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-768x511.jpg"},"large":{"file":"It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-1024x682.jpg","width":1024,"height":682,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six-1024x682.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":7083,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/It-Could-Have-Easily-Been-The-Central-Park-Six.jpg"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2013],"tags":[1291,1283,1285,1115,1287,1289,811,547],"class_list":["post-7083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements-and-press-releases","tag-ava-duvernay","tag-central-park-five","tag-cp5","tag-racism","tag-systemic-racism","tag-when-they-see-us","tag-ymoc","tag-young-men-of-color","issue-victims-of-other-abuse"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","page_header_excerpt":"","page_header_image":false,"custom_scripts":false,"show_author_bio":true,"original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"How do we help survivors of crime?","related_initiative_link":"\/get-help\/victims-of-other-abuse\/","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn about our services","featured_posts":[{"ID":6052,"post_author":"12","post_date":"2018-06-28 17:27:55","post_date_gmt":"2018-06-28 17:27:55","post_content":"
\nMay 31, 2019<\/em><\/p>\nI also see our clients, some of whom are boys and young men of color.<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Jose-Antwon-Junior-SH-2-300x169.png\")
\r\n\r\nBy Brian Pacheco\r\nJune 28, 2018\r\n<\/em>\r\n\r\nWarning: The story below includes descriptions of violence and murder.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s impossible to make sense of senseless violence. And yet so many of us have been trying to do just that over the last few days. Jose Velez. Lesandro \u201cJunior<\/em>\u201d Guzman Feliz. Antwon Rose II. These are the names of three young men of color who were killed in separate incidents of community, gang, and police violence last week.\r\n\r\nA harsh fact is that young black and Latino men are more likely than any other group to become victims of violent crime<\/a>, according to NYC\u2019s Vera Institute of Justice. But we don\u2019t usually hear their stories or even learn their names. All too often, they are blamed for their own deaths. But as my colleague Brooklyn Community Program Director Kimmi Herring reminds us, \u201cAny life lost is of the utmost value.<\/em>\u201d\r\n\r\nHere in New York City, no one could escape the news coverage of Junior\u2019s murder.\u00a0 There was video surveillance footage of the killing. It was deeply disturbing and painful to watch. I saw the footage by accident when I clicked on the #JusticeforJunior viral hashtag. I was filled with rage and grief after viewing that atrocity, as I can imagine so many others were.\r\n\r\nAs a man of color, these three tragedies brought up memories of my own, like the time I came back from college to learn my childhood friend had been stabbed and killed by another childhood friend. Why? They were \u201cfighting<\/em>\u201d over a girl. Or that time my uncle was a victim of police violence in Massachusetts, and my concern for my mother when she got out of the car to intervene. In speaking with my colleague Sebastian Vante for this article, he shared with me his own experience of being \u201cjumped<\/em>\u201d as a kid.\r\n\r\nThe truth is that too many boys and men of color have a story that includes violence and loss. That\u2019s why I am proud to work for an organization that is strengthening and expanding their services for young men, recognizing our hurt and pain. Part of that commitment is having staff who reflect the community. I sat down with two colleagues who identify as men of color: Paul Barrett, Jr., Project Manager for Safe Horizon\u2019s Enhanced Service for Boys and Young Men of Color and Sebastian Vante, Supervising Coordinator for Safe Horizon\u2019s Streetwork Project. We talked about these recent tragedies, how we can better support boys and young men of color harmed by violence, and why toxic masculinity can be a problem for many men.\r\n\r\nThese tragic deaths have fueled more conversations among boys and men of color concerning the realities of violence in our neighborhoods. As men of color who do this work, what do you want people to know?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nPAUL: The people affected are more than just the young men. Their family, friends and neighborhoods are impacted. Jose left behind a fianc\u00e9e and daughter. We\u2019ve seen Junior\u2019s mother grieve publicly. We\u2019ve seen whole communities mourning. Part of our work is engaging families and communities in healing, such as our work with our families of homicide program.\r\n\r\nSEBASTIEN: We have to talk about the relationship between police and communities of color. Deaths like Antwon Rose Jr., can contribute to the distrust. This is relevant as I think of Junior\u2019s murder: Why didn\u2019t the bodega owners call the cops? I grew up in the \u201chood<\/em>\u201d and I know that there can be a distrust of the police. There is this valid feeling that, \u201cJustice isn\u2019t for us. It\u2019s for other people.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 There can also be this mentality that \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t involve you, mind your business.<\/em>\u201d Some of it is a survival tactic, \u201cIf I get involved, will I be harmed?<\/em>\u201d\r\n\r\nFor Junior Feliz, it was a case of mistaken identity and a gang looking for revenge. Acts of revenge like this often intentionally cause more harm in retaliation than in the first event. Why is that?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nPAUL: This can be true for boys and young men regardless of socio-economic or racial identity, but there is this idea of exerting power to demonstrate manhood. I don\u2019t know what was in the heads of those young men who killed Junior, but I imagine that in the range of options in their mind, violence felt like the only viable option. This is rooted in toxic masculinity.\r\n\r\nToxic and hyper-masculinity can do great harm. Talk to me more about that. <\/strong>\r\n\r\nPAUL: I (heard) that the sister of one of Junior\u2019s assailants was sexually assaulted and it was videotaped. They mistook Junior as one of the guys in the video and that\u2019s why he was targeted. You hear that your sister is sexually assaulted and you go straight to ten [on the emotional scale]. I understand having an extreme emotional response to something like that; it\u2019s valid and normal. But when you take that response and add the way that violence is normalized as a way to \u201cget payback\u201d for the harm that was done to you or a loved one, it can be a vicious cycle. This is not just true for men of color. Think about how many times you\u2019ve seen two men arguing because one of them felt disrespected by the other. One of the most common examples I can think of are the numerous times I\u2019ve seen a guy yell at some random person because he thought the stranger was staring at his girlfriend.\r\n\r\nAt Safe Horizon, we know that violence can be a response to a traumatic event in an effort to feel \u201cin control<\/em>.\u201d What alternative coping strategies do you want boys and young men of color to know about?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSEBASTIEN: Experiencing violence can make anyone hypervigilant and not trusting. Too often, boys and men can live in this world in fear but it\u2019s seen as weak for them to say \u201cI\u2019m scared.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Instead, that fear comes across as toughness or anger.\r\n\r\nAt Safe Horizon\u2019s Streetwork Project<\/a>, we have a men\u2019s group. \u00a0We do meditation, mindfulness and grounding exercises. We often talk about separation and loss, because so many of these young men have lost family and loved ones to violence, or have been disconnected from their families. It\u2019s a space for young men to heal and engage in conversations they may not otherwise have.\r\n\r\nIn the last group, I heard the sighs and like, \u201cUgh, what is this about?\u201d<\/em> when I asked them to close their eyes and do some breathing techniques. But afterwards, I looked around and asked \u201cSo, how does that feel?<\/em>\u201d \u00a0So many of them said it was amazing. Part of it is just exposure. They may have assumptions that something will not work or will not be helpful to them, until they actually experience it themselves.\r\n\r\nPAUL: Storytelling can be an extremely helpful coping strategy. It is a powerful way to gain a level of empowerment over experiences with harm or trauma. Storytelling can be a way of healing, to make sense of what happened to you. A key component of healing is reestablishing a sense of hope and seeing your life outside of harm. Storytelling can help a person understand and take control of their story. \u201cWho was I before this? How has this experience affected me? Who do I want to be?<\/em>\u201d\r\n\r\nWe know that many people, including boys and young men of color, may walk around with unaddressed trauma: witnessing or experiencing violence, abuse, and racism. How can we better support them?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSEBASTIEN: Create a safe and non-judgmental space for young men to talk in. So many young men are waiting for someone to say, \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/em> and really mean it, not just pleasantries. I see this in my own work with the young men at Streetwork. I ask them, \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/em> and they usually respond, \u201cGood<\/em>.\u201d Then I pause and ask again, \u201cNo, how are you? Tell me.<\/em>\u201d And the faucet opens and they start to communicate how they are really feeling.\r\n\r\nPAUL: There needs to be a more equitable dispersal of government resources to communities of color. Therapeutic resources, social services, and financial resources can all provide more options for young people who are managing stress and trauma. Providing more viable options like these may also direct a person away from situations that leave them exposed to harm. These resources are readily available in most white communities. Yes, there are poor white communities that also lack access.\u00a0 But at a disproportionate rate, these resources are not as accessible to communities of color. When you look at the intersection of class and race, people of color are more likely\u2014even if they are not poor\u2014to live in less resourced communities than white people. Investing in more resources can help victims, their families and their communities to heal.\r\n\r\n--\r\n\r\nAt Safe Horizon<\/a>, we are committed to strengthening our programs to better support and respond to the needs of boys and young men of color (BYMOC) harmed by violence. Since 2016, we have engaged other non-profit partners so we are part of the community that responds to BYMOC harmed by crime and violence. We have worked with these partners to develop a toolkit to provide tools to those serving BYMOC including tools for engagement, trauma screening, and safety planning. Lastly, we have engaged in self-reflective and interrogative conversations about race, racism, and our own bias to better understand how we interact with young men.\r\n\r\nMy heart goes out to the families and loved ones of Jose Velez, Lesandro \u201cJunior<\/em>\u201d Guzman Feliz and Antwon Ross II. Rest in peace young men.\r\n\r\nFor help with any crime or abuse, including support for family members of homicide victims<\/a>, please call our 24\/7 free and anonymous Crime Victims Hotline: 1-866-689-HELP (4357).","post_title":"Junior, Jose and Antwon \u2014 We Need To Address Violence against Young Men of Color","post_excerpt":"Following three incidents of violence where young men of color were killed, and the viral hashtag #JusticeForJunior, Safe Horizon weighs in on how racism, toxic masculinity and lack of resources can devastate communities.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"youngviolencevictims","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-10 13:17:08","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-10 17:17:08","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=6052","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"create_custom_authors":true,"authors":[{"author_name":"Vagnes De La Rosa, Chief of Staff"}],"title_font_size":"42","sub-headline_placement":false},"yoast_head":"\n