WASHINGTON -- Some of D.C.'s younger residents made their voices heard at a town hall to discuss the state of policing in the District.
The town hall at the Deanwood Recreation Center was one of two similar listening sessions to take place in D.C. on Thursday. Both events follow a series controversial incidents involving MPD officers within city limits.
In recent weeks, a series of cell phone videos showed questionable police tactics; Police walking uninvited into someone's fenced in backyard and searching. Officers using a gun found in a man's waistband as justification to frisk an entire group. And a confrontation between police and angry members of Northeast D.C.'s Deanwood community.
At the Deanwood town hall, 16-year-old Shawday Cunningham grabbed the attention of city councilmembers and the audience when she described her interactions with police.
"There's officers following (us), saying you can't stand right here," she said. "We move around, they're (still) following us."
She said she felt ignored as a black kid in D.C. She said she has complained about the issue before.
"We tell them everything and nothing changes," she said. "The same thing continues. It just gets worse."
Cunningham and Antonio Thompson, 15, said kids in Southeast and Northeast need more activities to keep them off the streets.
"Give them programs, give them opportunities, give them events," Thompson said.
They say if they had more activities, they would be out of the sight of the police, which would make some kids feel safer.
"They think we're doing something bad," Cunningham said. "We're trying to find something to do."
The police were not invited to the town hall in Deanwood. Organizers wanted them to stay away so speakers could feel that they could speak freely.
