ST. LOUIS — You wouldn't think 10-year-old Madison Tolliver would have shooting and other crime in St. Louis on her mind, but she does.
"It's because I don't like people dying. Yes, I'm tired of it," said the fourth-grader.
It's three weeks into the New Year and police say as of Monday at least nine children have been shot in the St. Louis area. One of the children, a 14-year-old boy, was killed.
"It makes me feel sad because the children are dying for no reason," said Madison.
Monday on Martin Luther King Day, dozens of elementary students attended a Youth Activism and Engagement Workshop at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.
The kids made t-shirt shaped posters with personal messages for their community. Messages that included "Stop Bullying" and "Stop Racism".
Madison Tolliver's passionate plea: "Let's Make a Non-Violent City."
"It makes people sad and it makes me sad," said Tolliver.
The event was put on by the National Conference For Community Justice in St. Louis.
"We want this program to teach the kids that they can play a bigger role in creating a better world," said Dewitt Campbell who's with the National Conference For Community Justice in St. Louis.
"I think the violent crime is preventable. I think we have to address racial inequity. We have to address educational inequity and soci-economic inequity," said Campbell.
Meantime, if Dr. King were alive today?
"I think he would have tried to change it. Yes, I believe I can change it also by trying to make people see the good in other people," Madison said.
