The city of Atlanta has been in turmoil since the death of Rayshard Brooks by police officers on June 12th. There have been several protests in the town since, and the Wendy’s where Rayshard was shot was burned down. Some activists had a vision for the site as a peace center with job training, counseling, and youth programs. The high aspirations for Wendy’s remains have been clouded by continuing violence, especially from the violence this past weekend; especially since the death of a young girl on Saturday. Unfortunately, it is not only Atlanta that has seen children die at the hand of the turmoil in the country.

8-year-old Secoriea Turner was fatally shot over the weekend after an armed group stopped her family’s car. The killing unsettled the city that was already on edge. Even after weeks of unrest, including officers in the Police Department staging a protest after two officers were charged for the death of Rayshard Brooks. On Monday, the words “enough is enough” was printed across the front page of papers in Atlanta due to the death of the young girl. The reality is members of the community are now shooting each other, rather than the police. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is finally speaking out, and it only took a child to be shot. Atlanta wasn’t the only city, as several cities have seen a spike in recent weeks of gun violence, which involved children being shot.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the pain triggered by George Floyd’s murder, there has been a surge of unrest across the country, and children are beginning to pay the price.  There were at least four children killed across the country over the holiday weekend. An 11-year-old boy, Davon McNeil, was killed in Washington D.C. after a group of men started firing in the street by a Fourth of July cookout. Another 8-year-old-boy was killed when a shooting broke out at a mall in Hoover, Alabama, where at least three people fired guns. In Chicago alone, there have been nine children killed in the past couple of weeks as the city has struggled with a recent upturn in gun violence.

Right now, the country is in turmoil, and the children are starting to pay the price. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over racial injustice, Americans have been kept on their toes for what’s next. In recent weeks, there have been several child deaths that occurred when tensions have raised enough for people to bring guns into fights. Several cities have seen an increase in gun violence and children are being affected. Everyone is not going to agree, and that’s no problem, but guns should never be the answer, especially when children are involved.