PEORIA, Ill – Peoria’s Don’t Start Initiative hosted a friendly basketball tournament Saturday at the RiverPlex, in hopes of showing kids how to win in the game of life.
This year’s event paired kids with firefighters and school resource officers to play basketball together, in an effort to build community. There were also motivational speeches and songs, designed to counteract messages in mainstream music that Don’t Start leaders believe are violent.
“We’d rather play positive message music into our youth minds. Educational music, informational music, instead of just music that they’re hearing all the time that’s trying to convince them to kill each other over a little bit of nothing,” Don’t Start Co-Founder Warith Muhammad told 25 News.
The group’s goal is to keep kids from getting involved in gangs, drugs, vaping, and other similar behaviors. They use events like the one Saturday to encourage young people to stay in school.
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