VQ Intern Carlos Rodriguez Reflects on Gun Violence

The following blog post is written by Carlos Rodriguez, a member of the Vision Quilt/Lighthouse Teen Council and our internship program. As a seventh grader at Lighthouse Charter School, Carlos completed the three-month learning expedition focused on gun violence. His piece focuses on his perspectives on gun violence, then and now.

It’s pretty wonderful seeing how my mindset hasn’t really changed since seventh grade to tweflth grade. I still hold loyalty, respect, and agency as the highest values a person can have for others and themselves. These values elevate one onto a different plane from those who go around disrespecting, backstabbing, and being complacent with where they are.

Although I have matured and some of my ideas are more refined, I would say that my main understanding of gun violence and how to deal with it has stayed relatively the same. When I went through the Lighthouse/Vision Quilt expedition in seventh grade, I was still pretty young and couldn’t properly express exactly how I felt about gun violence. But I still believe that the best way to improve the situation with gun violence is to have more education, and social and mental checks to whoever owns a firearm.

Carlos as a seventh grader during the Lighthouse/Vision Quilt expedition

A recent picture of Carlos, and his sister Monserrat, working on a Vision Quilt art kit

Now I am an twelfth grader. I am more articulate, and I’m able to express myself as an educated person and a critical thinker. Although this wasn’t always the case, I feel that my experiences of gun violence, and other personal and family issues, helped me to mature at a young age.

Most of the arguments people have about gun control are caused by people being unable to see or imagine the bigger picture. This comes from ignorance and being close-minded. When I started studying gun violence in the seventh grade, I was still pretty sensitive about the topic. Although I had experienced it multiple times in my life, I didn’t really have a thick skin to be able to deal with it. One example I can easily think of is when I used to live in West Oakland and three people were gunned down in front of the apartment complex where I lived. It was the first time I had experienced gun violence so close to where I lived. I knew that it happened in all of Oakland -- and the world -- but it had never had it happened so close to home.

Gun violence is a big part of why my mom left Mexico. The majority of the people in her neighborhood have been killed or traumatized by guns. I have dealt with gun violence my entire life but now that I am a twelfth grader, I am able to process it in better and healthier ways.