Were really saying, it is not about anything but helping them understand, what do you do when you get mad . How do you handle it . There are ways to create a new vision for america, for our beloved country, that is peaceful, people getting along, knowing how to disagree without being disagreeable, how to argue without picking up a weapon and going after someone. Thats the future were envisioning and the national weefk nonviolence is one way to get that moving. Youve got a lot of support, obviously. The mayor of alexandria is here with you. And d. C. Mayor vincent gray promoted the nonviolence. Hi, iimvincent c. Gray. The National Week of nonviolence is august 16 through august 23rd sponsored by black women for positive change ,the purpose of the national weefk nonviolence is to focus on changing the culture of violence in america. Far too many innocent people are killed through senseless acts of violence. I invite you to aten the National Summit on nonviolence on saturday, august 23rd, from 9 00 to 5 00 p. M. Watch the press conference that encourages Community Leaders to sponsor their own events on nonviolence, anger management and conflict resolution. Go to channel 16 or on demand at oct. Dc. Gov. To register for the summit to post your own event on a master calendar, go to blackwomenforpositivechange. Org. During this National Week of nonviolence, do your part to help stop the violence. Do your part and be a leader. Dr. Myers, according to the council of governments annual report on crime, this regions nonviolent crime rate but rape, assault and homicide rates continue to climb. What are you seeing . Well, we are very concerned about local violence, although from 2010 we understand that it is down slightly here in the District Of Columbia, were glad to see that. But every day when you turn on news you see another shooting, another incident, another tragedy. This is why we are calling on citizens in the greater washington, d. C. Area and around the country to find a way to fix this. We know that there are other countries in the world that dont suffer the kind of violence that we have here. So theyre doing something were not. We know even in the mayors city of alexandria, if they have three murders a year, they consider that to be a lot. So there is a new way we must approach these issues. I would thank the mayor for the psa he did. And also mayor uhl. Is the city of chicago involved. The city of chicago is really going through such a nightmare. We are reaching out to they will as we have been, trying to connect. But theyre really focused within the city right now. Chicago is saying we dont really want to hear from other cities, we want to do what were doing locally. We certainly hope to have an event in chicago. Pittsburgh is very involved. This week the entire city council of pittsburgh issued a proclamation in support of the week on nonviolence. Were working on events in new york and california. So chicago has to be at the top of the list. Mayor, your thoughts on whats happening in chicago . Its certainly depressing and devastating. The u. S. Conference of mayors just about a month ago had our annual convention in dallas. As part of our topic discussion many among, there was a conversation certainly about gun violence if the united states. You talk about the recent report by the council of governments here in washington. I serve on the bourse as the vice chair person. We are seeing a reduction in nonviolence here in the d. C. Area, but nonetheless, any level of violence is too much. In my city of alexandria, we dont have the daily shootings and other types of nonviolence activities that are occurring in chicago, but certainly in chicago i think that the community has to come together in a more holistic way to address those challenges. Want to talk more about whats happening in alexandria and how you have got an handle on it there when we come back from this break. Stay with us. Welcome back. We are talking about the National Week of nonviolence. Mayor, what are the biggest crime issues in alexandria. Unfortunately, we recently had two shootings, murders. Actually, two folks heard a knock at the door, answered the front door and were gunned down. But that was certainly an uncommon situation. We believe that the individual that committed that crime is currently off the streets and so were much Safer Community as a result. But we really dont have the level of Violent Crimes in my community. In 2012 i was at a National Mayors convention talking and highlighting how we went the whole year with zroero crimes. The year before, two. That was domestic. Last year, in 2013, i think weve had four. Weve had three so far year to date. People ask me mayor, why are you so engaged, so involved with the issue of nonviolence with our city is pretty much excluded. I said, well, in terms of what were doing in my community, the city, intervention, prevention programs, youth mentoring programs, Court Services through our schools, of job training and employment programs, and afterschool program, all those things that benefit, enrich the lives of youth and young adults to keep them off the street, keep them engaged in positive activities means an awful lot. Through best practices, if i can share that regionally and on a national basis, well all benefit. Where do you go to school. I go to d. C. Public school. Do you feel safe at school and do most of the kids who go to your school in your opinion feel safe . I think i feel safe, for the most part. The people in my school, i really dont know if they feel safe or not, but i for, for my part, i feel safe. Dr. Myers, do you think most people who live in and visit the washington region feel safe. I think overall, yes. Washington, d. C. Is one of the greatest cities in the world. People come here from everywhere. We know that the violence crimes are down a little bit but we know that they are still a problem in certain parts of the city. Overall, tourists are visiting our exhibits, the mall. But in this country we know violence is the leading reason for death in black youth up until the age of 20 years old. Thats reflected here locally as well. So we have to face the issue that Domestic Violence, i think theres 24 victims of Domestic Violence every minute in america. We know some of that is local. We know the gun violence is local. We want to see it changed. And fortunately, we have leaders here in the city and, like the mayor and people around the country who are getting onboard with what were trying to do. We have a network around the nation of black women for positive change, and men, who are part of our organization. And the goal is to reach out to parents, faith leaders, business leaders, here in the district and in other states as well and say, this can change. Lets go to zero. Thats the goal. We want zero. We dont want to hear about it down from 300 to 250. We want to hear zero. Mayor, virginia allowed citizens to carry loaded guns in public. D. C. s gun ban has been overturned. What do you think about the citys gun ban and the federal judges ruling overturning it and sort of the confusion thats resulted . Well, first and foremost, as a lifelong resident of virginia, im opposed to the i support the First Amendment to the right to bear arms, and so forth. But then excuse me, Second Amendment the right to bear arms. But i am opposed to folks carrying guns around in public. But virginia is one of those gun rights states and so as a politician, ive been conflicted. But in my city of alexandria, again, we dont have an abuse of guns, violence, necessarily. However, in the District Of Columbia i think this all goes back to why it is so important that d. C. Has their own rule, so when they make the laws, they can be adhered to as opposed to having congress or another legislative body tell them what they can or cannot do. We have to take another break. Well talk about the National Week of nonviolence right after this. Welcome back. Dr. Myers, to pick up on the point about d. C. s gun ban, if it is overturned permanently, what kind of impact do you think that will have, here in the Nations Capital . I think that the idea of overturning this gun ban is just a bad idea. Were an international city. We have tourists from all over the world who come here and we dont want people to be discouraged from coming and supporting local businesses, restaurants, all kinds of businesses are part of our economy. Also, washington is home to embassies of all over the world and thats one of the really wonderful things about our nation, is we have embassies of every country right here in washington, d. C. Now if you have people carrying weapons openly around the city and we know that there are International Conflicts going on in ukraine and in syria and the middle east, what impact does that have on International Visitors . What about the decriminalization of marijuana . Where do you think that comes in to play in especially because the argument is, it impacts young people, like brianna, more than other young people. This is a very tough discussion and certainly as a mayor, ive participated on a National Level whether or not we should decriminalize it or not and whether or not it should be made legal. First of all, i think it only should be made legal for medical purposes. But in terms of decriminalization, i think thats each locality should have the opportunity to weigh in and make that choice. Simply because right now there is a disparity in terms of particularly young africanamerican males and hispanic males that are being charged with possession for small amounts, and then theyre being convicted and then it goes on to their record and hurts them in terms of their employment. So the fact now is that if we decriminalize it, you can levy a fine and you get charged for the event, not it doesnt go on your record permanently. Brianna, im curious to know how you feel about it, making, smoking, possessing marijuana less of a crime. I feel that thats not that shouldnt have been out in the world, period. Or that petition should have been signed. Because you think its a bad idea. I think it is a bad idea. Because now that you look around, you see everybody on everymarijuana. And its a point where, like i said, it is a point where you do think people take it in the wrong direction. If i may add, again if my ta city, and im sure all across the country, we have abuse programs. Thats really where the whole message in terms of education and outreach needs to be more prominently and more holistically promulgated, certainly not only in terms of marijuana, but alcohol and smoke cigarettes. For pure health reasons, it is not just good for you. Doctor, your manifesto calls on people to stop the violence about violence. What do you mean about that . There is a denial, pat. There is a denial going on within the country, within families. People dont like to talk about it. Domestic violence is going on. Like i said earlier, 24 Domestic Violence incidents going on every minute. People are ashamed and they dont want to talk about it. And because of this anger problem, a lot of adults have anger that they express towards their kids. I go to the malls and i see some young moms talking to their kids with what i call verbal violence. Those young moms have got to learn how to handle that conflict better. So the silence about violence is a real problem. We see that silence and that tension in different parts of communities. Even in the faith community. And we have some tremendous faith leaders supporting our initiative from the muslim, jewish, buddhist, hindu and christian faith. But they will tell us within the church, people dont like to talk about violence because you never know which family may be suffering from it. So we have to get it out on the table. At the summit on august 23rd at metropolitan, we invite people who are listening or wafg, plea watching, register for free. No registration charge. Well talk about some of these issues. How do you change the culture of violence. Silence is a cultural issue. It means that people say, oh, im not going to get in their business. Im not going to meddle. I know that my sisterinlaw is being beaten but im not going to say anything. Thats got to stop. Youre raising children to commit violence and to accept it. Thats got to stop and thats really what we are about. We have to take another break. Stay with us. Every mercedesbenz is made with the highest level of engineering. Design. Safety. And performance. Our latest creation is no different. With one exception. Introducing the mercedesbenz bclass. Its electric its electric the First Electric vehicle from mercedesbenz. Welcome back. Mayor, do you believe people have misperceptions about what violence is . I do. I think for the most part we always assume that were talking about fistfighting, using guns or using some other form of weapon. But violence is anything that causes harm to others, and it can be include human trafficking, child abuse, sex abusing with bullying, Cyber Attacks even know is considered violent crime. And so im glad that coming, in addition to the National Summit on august 16 to 23rd, buthat we have a National Crime night out, next tuesday august 5th, throughout communities all across this nation where police and Public Officials are out in neighborhoods encouraging folks to keep a watchful eye out for criminal acts, to report them, but more importantly to do away. Type of violence and illegal activities that take place in our cities and towns. One of the issues you are working on at your school, brianna, is bullying. Tell us about that and how your school handles it. Well, my school handles it by, they had a convention where they brought the whole School Together to watch a video of how this boy bullied another boy and he thought that it was wrong. Afterwards, he thought about it. Him and a group of boys were ganging up on this one boy, bullying him, calling him names, throwing things at him. And when i looked at that video, i thought to myself, how can that little boy go to sleep at night thinking about all the bad things he goes through and how do he takes that, like do he ever tell his parents . Thats a problem with our bullying suspects now i mean our bullying victims now, they dont speak up and tell somebody about how they get bullied because theyre so scared theyre going to get bullied the next day. Youre actually on the program at the National Summit to perform an original rap . Would you per just just a little of it . Yes. Go ahead. Please stop bullying its so wrong the people youre bullying theyre not strong coming home with bruises and scratches theyre too scared of reacting is not suicide is not the way to shut them up you tell somebody. Tell somebody. Thats right. Even though a lot of kids are afraid to do that. The summit starts at 9 00 in the morning. Then at 4 00, brianna and other young people, including the metropolitan choir, are going to do songs that are optimistic, upbeat and positive. Were trying to show them the transformative power of art and music. We dont want gangster rap. We want positive songs like happy. We want upbeat kinds of things. Brianna has written her own rap and other young people will be performing. We invite all young people to come. Theres no registration fee. Register at blackwomenforpositivechange. Org thank you all for joining us. Thank you for being with us. Thats viewpoint. Have a great sunday. Well see you next week. [ shutter clicks ] hi there [ laughs ] im flo i know im going to get you your rental car. This is so ridiculous. Were going to manage your entire repair process from paperwork to pickup, okay, little tiny baby . Your car is ready, and your repairs are guaranteed for as long as you own it. The Progressive Service center a real place, where we really manage your claim from start to finish. Really. Easy as easy can be bye at 6 00 all new this morning, new details about a crash involving d. C. s marion berry. The Longtime Council member says himself about what happened. Plus, d. C. Streets shutting down as a number of dignitaries head here for a major summit. We are mapping out what will be block off starting this morning. But first off, glad to have you join us on this sunday morning. Welcome to news4 today. Were getting a second round of cloudy skies for the morning. Yesterday though we dodged it as far as rain is concerned. Turned out to be a pretty nice day