Dr. Iesha Sekou

Dr. Iesha Sekou 

Dr. Iesha Sekou is a prominent New York City activist, community organizer, and violence interrupter who serves as the Founder and CEO of Street Corner Resources (SCR).

Below are 30 notable quotes and statements by Dr. Iesha Sekou, reflecting her work in violence intervention, youth advocacy, and community empowerment:

​On the Root Causes of Violence

​"I always say the trigger is pulled long before the trigger is pulled. There are a whole series of possibilities of things that happen that leads a kid to feel like it's okay to pull the trigger. And the consequences don't even matter. And so those things have to do with housing, poor nutrition, mental health issues, lack of education."  

​"We need to make gun violence an important issue and we need to have real conversations... People don't want to feel this, like 'Oh, she gonna come in talk about the dead kids.' Damn right, I'm gonna come in and talk about the dead kids... Because we need to keep our kids alive."  

​"They were losing their sons. A number of young people were getting shot and killed and losing life. And I was helping these women to bury their children."  

​On Youth Engagement and Alternative Outlets

​"We must give young people an outlet to redirect their energy."  

​"When you give a young person a microphone instead of a gun, you change what they put into the world."

​"Youth don't wake up wanting to participate in violence; they wake up wanting to be heard, seen, and valued."

​"If we don't occupy the corners with jobs, education, and love, someone else will occupy them with guns and drugs."

​"A recording studio or a community center isn't just a building—it's a safe haven where peace is created before conflict starts."

​On Community Ownership and Taking Action

​"When you see something that you want to see different, then you be the person to make it different." (quoting her mother's advice that inspired the founding of Street Corner Resources)  

​"We were out there to disrupt the violence. To talk to young people, to get them to think about their behavior."  

​"Public safety isn't just a police issue; it's a public health issue that requires community-driven solutions."

​"Peace-building is work you do on the ground every single day, not just when a tragedy hits the news."

​"You can't solve community issues from an office downtown—you have to stand on the block where the pain is."

​On Systemic Change and Advocacy

​"Healing our communities requires investments in people, not just investments in policing."

​"Trauma in our neighborhoods didn't start overnight, and curing it takes consistent resources, patience, and presence."

​"When we talk about stopping gun violence, we have to address the pipeline of illegal weapons coming into our neighborhoods."

​"Credible messengers—people who have walked in those same shoes—are often the only ones who can mediate a conflict before it turns deadly."

​"Every single young person saved from gun violence is a whole future restored to a family and a neighborhood."

​"Silence is an accomplice to violence; we have to speak up for our youth even when it makes people uncomfortable."

​"We aren't just trying to interrupt violence; we are trying to replace it with opportunity."

10 additional quotes by Dr. Iesha Sekou, capturing her direct advocacy on public safety, allyship, and intervention:

​On Early Intervention & Youth Trauma

​"When the gun shows up on a young kid, that kid is reeking with fear. I know that when you see the kid at 13 with a gun... if we don't deal with that at that point, we're going to see that kid again. Either we're going to see him in a box in the morgue... or we're going to see him in cuffs."  

​"Our public schools, because we know violence begins there... I want to see more school counselors relieve some of the trauma and stress that these kids are having."  

​"When children are getting shot, something needs to be done. We should have a community where everybody is protected."  

​On Parental Accountability & Community Safety

​"Open the door to your children's rooms. Check out what they're doing on Facebook, Instagram... That responsibility falls on parents to make sure their kids are not involved with guns."  

​"We shouldn't normalize this. We need to take action because we have systemic issues that are driving these shootings."  

​On Meaningful Racial Equity & Allyship

​"Demand that we have better policing, better policies, and legislation. Use your voice, your privilege, your access to people we may not have access to."  

​"Standing up for justice shouldn't be a monumental act—it should just be a humane, everyday act. You're doing it because you know that it's the right thing to do."  

​"When you hear people ask, 'Why does this keep happening?' what it says to me is that they don't have a full understanding of how often it is actually happening."  

​On Street-Level De-escalation

​"Were there guns? Yes. Did we take guns? We didn't physically grab the gun and take it, but they turned in guns to us because we were out there to disrupt the violence and get them to think about their behavior."  

​"It's not just about showing up when there's a tragedy; carrying a sign or kneeling when it's in the news is too late. We need consistency every single day."