How Are the Children? A Reflection for National Gun Violence Awareness Day
By Tiffany Garner, FUTURES
June 6, 2025
The Maasai community in East Africa greet one another by saying:, “Kasserian Ingera?” which translates to “How are the children?” In response, a community member would say: “Sapati Ingera,” meaning, “All the children are well.” This simple yet profound greeting places priority on centering the care and well-being of the children — the next generation.
If the children are not well, then how can the community be well?
As a former children’s mental health counselor, many children walked through my door carrying such heavy experiences of trauma and violence. Some masked their pain with smiles and laughter while others wore somber expressions.
If someone asked me, “Kasserian Ingera?” I would sadly answer that our children are not well.
Why?
- Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and youth under 18.
- 3 million kids are exposed to the trauma of gun violence every year.
- The violence continues to rise.
How can our children be well?
Today is the 11th Annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day and marks the beginning of Wear Orange weekend. We wear orange to honor the life of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl killed in a senseless shooting on the South Side of Chicago in 2013. Today, we remember Hadiya and all the 125 people shot and killed every year and the hundreds more wounded or traumatized.
Is this the legacy that we want to leave behind for the next generation?
I aspire to leave behind a legacy of love, hope and safety for the next generation. I want to leave behind a world where all children can feel safe, thrive and reach their full potential. I want a world where children have the freedom to laugh, learn, play and love — not one where their little bodies are riddled with bullet holes while their friends endure the trauma of attending their funerals.
This is unacceptable. We can do better.
There are 5 things we can do today to protect our children and communities:
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- Champion common sense firearm violence prevention policies that save lives. Universal background checks, waiting periods, assault weapons ban, extreme risk protection orders, and safe storage laws all help reduce risk and save lives.
- Support laws that restrict access to domestic abusers from purchasing guns and ammunition. Every year, more than 750 women in the U.S. are shot to death by intimate partners—roughly one every 12 hours. Children are often at risk of being killed in a home where there is domestic violence. In some truly horrific cases, abusers have been known to murder their own children or their partner’s children as a means of control or punishment.
- Call for the reinstatement of school mental health grants. The current administration has ended $1 billion in federal grants for school districts to hire mental health professionals. Counseling services and youth mental health programs are vital to help young people heal and to prevent future incidents of violence.
- Learn about and advocate for funding for Hospital Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs) & Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention (CVIPI) programs. These programs, including school-based and youth programs, contribute to safer neighborhoods by focusing on healing, rehabilitation, and long-term solutions.They have a proven track record of reducing violence in urban, suburban and rural areas, helping children and youth heal from trauma and violence and reduce firearms-related risks and tragic outcomes.
- Maintain federal funding for domestic violence and sexual assault programs. Survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children need access to lifesaving services including shelter and counseling. Children are often injured or murdered as a result of a domestic violence relationship. A five year study found that at least 866 kids ages 17 and younger were shot in domestic violence incidents at home and 621 of them died.
So how are the children? Ask yourself that question and do your best to take bold steps to make your community safer, so that together we can say, “The children are well” because we ALL did the right thing to keep them safe.
That’s the legacy I’d like to leave behind.
