“I had always been interested in social justice and how I could improve my community,” the 17-year-old Washington native said. “But I wasn’t sure how to go about it.”

After September 20, 2017, she knew. That was the night that her 16-year-old friend, Zaire Kelly, was shot to death outside his home by a teenager trying to rob him.

Zaire was the first person Shana knew personally who had died from gun violence. And she wanted him to be the last. Police statistics showed that the percentage of gun-related deaths in the city was rising.

“It was time for it to be enough,” Shana said.

Believing strongly that youths can make a difference, she engaged in anti-violence activism. She was on Pennsylvania Avenue a few months later for the student-led March for Our Lives demonstration supporting gun-control measures. Other rallies and meetings followed. Last year, she was elected a D.C. youth “mayor” through a city-run program that develops future leaders.

“I have a unique perspective as an African American girl living in Ward 8 and seeing how gun violence and poverty affect families in my community,” Shana said.

Now she is working on a proposal to help students who are at risk of turning to a life of crime. She calls it “preventing the school-to-prison pipeline.”

At youth government meetings and town hall gatherings, she urges nonviolent solutions to problems. She calls it “practicing peace.”
Here are some of her suggestions for young people feeling angry or stressed: Breathe deeply, write down your feelings, talk to someone, try to see the other person’s point of view, and look for activities you enjoy, such as listening to music.

Shana expects to graduate in May from BASIS DC charter school. She wants to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall and plans to become a doctor. She is not planning on giving up her activism, though.

“Things need to be changed,” she said. “I want to be part of that change.”