Ronald Moten co-founded Peaceoholics, a nonprofit group that advocates for youth and underprivileged citizens in the Washington area. The group also specializes in meditations with boy and girl crews, youth development, re-entry for detained youth and working in D.C. public schools.
Why and how did you get involved in helping children?
I naturally care about people. I’ve always been a people person. While incarcerated, my brother was killed. I used to sell drugs, which damaged my community, and I wanted to give back. Once released, I worked with “Cease-Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers,” where I learned a lot.
Peaceoholics. How did you come up with the name?
In 1997, I envisioned having a name that all people could relate to. My partner, Jauhar Abraham, and I thought the name “Peaceoholics” would send a positive message, which means, “People addicted to peace.”
How do you get hard-to-reach children to listen to you?
Children listen because most of the staff experienced similar situations — foster care, we committed or were victims of violence, parental neglect. And some are perfect citizens, so the Peaceoholics are very well-rounded.
How does the juvenile crime today compare to you when you were growing up?
When we came up, there was more activities for children ages of 7 to 12 years old and it was support by the community. It was a “village.” Due to the deterioration of these two factors, we have created a situation in which we have children as young as 7 selling drugs and stealing cars. They’ve become predators and victims of violence.
How can things get better?
The only way things can get better is if the community is engaged and empowered to help themselves first. Secondly, we must concentrate on creating a school system that will educate and motivate our students to be the true leaders they have the potential to be. Last but not least, we must practice what we preach. We often have high expectations of our youth, but we don’t lead by example. We must work together as adults, clergy, organizations and leaders to change the social ills in our community.
