The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) today announces a new initiative in the wake of the recent killings of two black men in St. Paul, Minn., and Baton Rouge, La., and of five police officers in Dallas. The AAP will convene a group of pediatrician experts to identify new approaches to protect children, adolescents and young adults from the epidemic of violence occurring in their everyday lives. The initiative's members, agenda and goals will be shared in the coming days, and will address gun violence as well as the underlying contributors of racism, religious intolerance, homophobia, xenophobia, terrorism or any other form of intolerance.
AAP President Benard P. Dreyer, MD, FAAP, said the following:
"This week, a 4-year-old girl sat in the back seat of a car as her mother's fiancé was shot to death. Standing next to his mother at a press conference, a 15-year-old boy wept openly for his father, who was shot and killed while selling CDs. Five police officers protecting and supporting peaceful protestors were targeted and killed, and others were wounded. Today, it is not enough to issue another press statement expressing outrage and sadness, urging our national leaders to fix the broken systems that are failing our children and their families.
[For more of this story go to https://www.aap.org/en-us/
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