ATLANTA — A well-known comedian and actor is lending his voice in the growing rate of violence in Atlanta.
Kenan Thompson, who is from College Park, is participating in a fundraising virtual forum called “Violence Ain’t No Joke.”
The Saturday Night Live actor said he wanted to help raise money because he says mentors are so important, especially with the level of violence Atlanta is seeing.
Thompson said he understands the value of mentors. He said he had many growing up in metro Atlanta.
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“What we really had was positive male figures. Coaches. People like officer Griggs,” Thompson said.
It helped lead Thompson to comedy and acting, landing major roles on Nickelodeon, SNL and movies. He said he has noticed the violence in the city and was disturbed after hearing a 17-year-old was shot and killed at a public pool.
“It’s like where did they learn that at. Know what I’m saying. That don’t make no sense,” Thompson said.
That’s why Thompson said he’s participating in “Violence Ain’t No Joke.”
“This is like a call to action. This is a state of emergency,” Thompson said.
The effort is to help raise funds for a mentoring program from the man who helped Thompson when he was a teen: Juvenile probation officer Bruce Griggs.
“This senseless violence is crazy,” Griggs said.
Griggs runs the “Correct Start Program.”
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Money raised from the forum will benefit his organization. Griggs said it will allow him to gather teens in several metro Atlanta-area parks and teach them tools to steer clear of violence.
“We’re going to walk them through an eight-week process teaching them how to eliminate certain risk factors in their lives,” Griggs said.
While Thompson doesn’t live here anymore, he said he’s still very much invested in saving lives where-ever he is.
“We got to figure out ways to get them excited about saving their own lives,” Thompson said.
The fundraiser will last all week. They will begin mentoring young people this weekend.
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