Redemption is forgiveness and the second part is actually moving forward and starting to bring the positive things into light. The accountability and responsibility is looking inside your pain. Then the redemption part is when you start taking the lessons from that pain.
Merced County just counted its ninth homicide of 2015 a few days ago. The previous year had the most homicides on record in the county at 31. Many of the Merced County victims have been young people of color, like the young man shot and killed in Winton earlier this week and a Merced teen who was shot and killed in the parking lot of Tenaya Middle School back in February. Much of the media coverage around the violence has focused on law enforcement, gang activity and property values. We’ced youth reporters asked our community members a different question: How has violence affected your life?
A safe stabilized home for our families, like a plant plotted in the richest soil on Earth, is what we desire. A safe community for everyone, like the fertilizers that protects us against from harm, is what we desire. A Merced that is like a plant showered with the love of the rain, soil, oxygen, and sunlight, is what we desire.