By Juliet C. Dorris, Columbus Dispatch, July 18, 2020
I refer to the Wednesday article “Stopping teen gun violence in Columbus tough when teens involved don’t care, officer and others say.” With respect to the “officer and others” — Do they care? Do they care to know what that teen’s life experience is or has been? Do they care if that life experience has been impacted by trauma? Do they know and recognize the signs of trauma?
Are those teens’ life experiences affected by racism? Are they chronically hungry? Are they safe? They have obviously experienced and witnessed violence.
Any one of those experiences is on the trauma spectrum. Taken together, they indicate a high ACE (adverse childhood experiences) score. Teens, and the adults they will become, when impacted by trauma, can look like and sound like they don’t care. They may be wondering if police officers care. They may be wondering if anybody gives a damn about the reality of their life experiences.
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