Violence is Hot Topic For Greenbelt Middle School Students

The oasis of nature and recreation that Greenbelt prides itself in offering barely resembles the dark confines of the apartment walls where many of our children hunker down behind bolted doors.

“Our neighborhood” said Greenbelt Middle School eighth grader Emmanuel, “it’s like an episode of 'Cops.'”

“I got robbed,” said Rahat, who lives in Greenbriar. He wishes there were more police patrolling his neighborhood.  “You’re not safe at night,” he said. “You can’t just go outside because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

I went to talk with Danica Woodyard’s honors talented and gifted eighth grade reading class at Greenbelt Middle School to get a kids-eye view of our city. Expecting answers like – ‘I’m glad we have a nice library,’ or ‘I want more McDonald’s,’ I asked the students to tell me what they liked about Greenbelt and what they wanted to change.

Emmanuel was among the first to answer.  He waved his hand and addressed me by name, and within seconds had the class captivated with his story.

He feels the crime is getting progressively worse at his Franklin Park apartment complex. “Now – Don’t go outside past 6 p.m.,” he said, referencing violence, screaming and window breaking, “It’s like, just let me go home and hide.”

“I’m kind of glad that I don’t live in Greenbelt, because in College Park, I feel safe. I can go outside, ride my bike around,” Cheyenne said. “Nothing bad happens,” Angelica said.

“It’s peaceful there,” Brenda said.

“It’s safe to like play outside,” chimed in Krystal.

I asked whether they could live the same way in College Park, in Greenbelt. A barrage of sarcastic laughter and a chorus of “no” statements was my answer. To these students there was no comparison.

“Greenbelt is like College Park’s bad little brother. Especially the very large apartment complexes. It is a mess,” Emmanuel explained.

A sea of hands waved, eager to elaborate.

Kayla lives in the Gates of Cipriano and feared she was going to die last summer when a man stormed the pool where she was swimming. “He started shooting,” Kayla said, then he targeted a teenage girl, “and he grabbed her and was putting the gun toward her head.”

Kayla and the girl were eventually rescued by a policeman who she said "flipped" the gunman to the ground.

Nathaniel from Franklin Park said he was in a car with his dad near Beltway Plaza when carjackers started shooting. The police arrived on the scene and a high speed chase ensued with more gunfire, until the carjackers hit a pole. Nathaniel’s dad turned the car around and left.

These eighth graders are in Ms. Woodyard’s honors class because they’re hard workers who strive for good grades and do their homework. Along with eloquence and good behavior, I noticed an energy in the classroom – the type that feels like it wants to change the world.

At the start of the talk, I had told the students that they were the future of Greenbelt. By class end, I was convinced of it.

“They’ve definitely experienced tragedy,” Ms. Woodyard said, “The fact that they can work through that and still even focus on school is incredible to me.” But they not only focus, they excel.

Before coming to Greenbelt, Ms. Woodyard taught high school students in a small Nebraska town she described as very nice with a close knit community. Yet she said her honors eighth graders at Greenbelt Middle School surpass them.

They turn in drafts of reports seven times on their own initiative. Twice would be impressive, but they continue to turn them in and edit them right up until their due date, showing a quest for perfection that astounds her.

Ms. Woodyard said hearing her students talk to me about the “robberies and gunshots and crazy stuff at their own home,” made her want to cry because these 12 and13-year-olds were witnessing violence that she’s never had to see, even as an adult.

She wants other Greenbelters to reach out to them. “It’s not their fault,” she said, referring to the bad reputation some of them get for living in their neighborhoods. “I don’t think that they deserve it at all. I think they deserve a lot better. And it’s unfortunate that they’re stuck there.”

“Give them opportunities to meet with people that are in better parts of Greenbelt or that have real careers and real things going on in their lives,” she said. “My students need more role models that are positive.”

Some of Woodyard’s students feel they have it better than those who live in the apartment complexes. Kobby, who lives in a home in Windsor Green is glad he doesn’t live in a more crime-ridden area. But he has still seen his share of what he called “weird and surprising events,” like shirtless men jogging down the street in the middle of winter and his dad’s car being stolen.

Chetlan lives in a home in Greenspring and, although a teenager did try to steal his phone, he feels his neighborhood isn’t as bad as some of the apartments.

Forty-five minutes in to the hour long class, no Greenbelter had addressed a concern other than crime. So I told them I was going to change topics and asked if there was someone who wanted to talk about another issue. Ghozaif from Windsor Green agreed to. His issue, he said – drugs.

Even when trying to switch topics, I couldn’t. Crime was in the forefront of these young Greenbelters’ minds. Ghozaif told me that a boy who used to be his friend in the fifth grade had joined a gang and was selling drugs. The boy ended up being beaten and robbed. He responded by toting a machete and telling Ghozaif, “I’m going to get my revenge.”

In the last few minutes of class, I got the students to discuss what they appreciated about Greenbelt.

Tory, who lives in Glen Oaks apartments, said “the thing I like about Greenbelt is the pool and the recreation center.”

Jamia, from Windsor Green, brought up pool parties and the Labor Day festival with its rides, food and kids’ performances.

Some lifelines survive. But according to Ms. Woodyard, her students also need mentors.

From what I saw, these kids are made of some pretty tough stuff. Maybe they’re not here just because developers leveled woodlands and built apartments. Could they be our next worthy venture?

From the start, when our town has come together — giants topple. Will crime ridden neighborhoods limit the boundaries of our activism, and cower us into becoming two separate cities — one where children are terrorized by violence, the other green and thriving with organic food on the table while artists play music in the town center?

Or will the great spirit that birthed us, take stock and decide we still have enough fight in us to champion one more grand battle?