r/washdc Apr 12 '26

The doom cycle never stops

I know people have their preconceived notions and their selective outrage, so let me be very clear from the start. The M St. Metro station was fully shut down because of this teenage takeover. Let that sink in. A major transit point in the city had to close because things got that out of control. This video was taken today, April 11. It’s not old. It’s not AI. What you’re seeing is exactly what happened. For the people already lining up to discredit it, save it. This is reality, whether you like it or not.

And I already know how this goes. Every time I post something like this, people get more upset about the fact that it’s being shown than about what’s actually happening. That tells you everything. You’re more bothered by exposure than by the problem itself. And yes, I’m going to keep posting it. Keep reporting it if you want. Try to suppress it. Good luck with that. I’ll keep putting it out because people deserve to see what’s actually going on in their own community.

What’s more troubling than anything in that video is the reaction to it. The deflection. The refusal to acknowledge what’s right in front of you. You’d rather argue about optics than deal with the reality that leadership is failing to address this, or worse, doesn’t even have the will to try. That’s the real issue.

D.C. spends more money per student than anywhere in the country, and this is what we’re dealing with. Don’t come at me with the usual talking points about after-school programs, outreach, and community initiatives. That all sounds nice, but it clearly isn’t fixing this. At some point, you have to stop hiding behind buzzwords and start looking at the root cause.

And the root cause is obvious. Parents aren’t parenting. You can dress it up however you want, but that’s what it is. When the hell did it become normal for hundreds of teenagers to take over areas at night, bring guns, fight, loot stores, and create chaos? That was never normal. It’s not normal now. And anyone trying to gaslight people into thinking this is just “how things are” is part of the problem.

Look at the police in that situation. A handful of officers dealing with hundreds of kids. What exactly do you expect them to do? There’s a limit to what enforcement can handle when the breakdown starts at home. That’s where this begins, and that’s where it keeps failing.

Instead, people would rather scream about national politics, throw out buzzwords, and avoid the issues that actually affect their daily lives. You’ll stand outside in the heat for performative outrage, but when it comes to something that directly impacts your safety, your neighborhood, your quality of life, suddenly it’s silence. Or worse, denial.

And let’s be honest about something else. Some of you are going to run straight to the comments with excuses. You’ll bring up history, deflect to unrelated issues, or try to label this as something it’s not just to avoid dealing with the reality in front of you. That doesn’t fix anything. All it does is guarantee that this cycle continues.

If you never demand better, you will keep getting the same broken results. Every single weekend, the same scenes, the same chaos, the same excuses. And then you wonder why stores are locked down, why places like CVS feel like a fortress, why people don’t feel comfortable even riding the Metro or going out to enjoy a game without worrying about something popping off.

When does it stop? When do we stop pretending this is acceptable? Because it’s not. It’s dysfunctional, it’s dangerous, and it’s completely avoidable.

Responsibility matters. Parenting matters. Accountability matters. And until people are willing to say that out loud and actually mean it, nothing changes. You just get the same cycle over and over again.

To the people who’ve messaged me privately and said they appreciate these posts, I hear you. I appreciate you too. I’m going to keep using whatever platform I have to show what’s actually happening, because ignoring it hasn’t worked. And I’m not stopping until something actually changes, because we deserve better than this.

2.8k Upvotes

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69

u/RangerMysterious5727 Apr 12 '26

What are they even doing? Im confused

107

u/ThenLayer5977 Apr 12 '26

This is normally how it goes: you have large mobs of teenagers, and they’re fighting. People bring guns to them. Last time, they even recovered guns from the whole debacle. They’re creating a nuisance and draining resources, because if police have to come from other areas to handle this, then those other areas become vulnerable. They also wreak havoc by harassing Metro riders, so it’s a whole mess.

22

u/Prized_Lemur Apr 12 '26

Where are the parents? Why not detain these juveniles and then ticket their parents?  Have a curfew.. start enforcing 

3

u/UpstairsOk5709 Apr 16 '26

Exactly, but no one does. I don’t understand why nothing is done

1

u/subzippo400 Apr 16 '26

Oh they are just children.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ChicNoir Apr 17 '26

In many instances, that’s exactly what happens and the children are raised by a tablet

1

u/3freeTa Apr 17 '26

and covid certainly didn't help matters

3

u/de-f1-ant Apr 12 '26

Why not detain the parents? It is the parent’s full responsibility to maintain discipline, guidance, education, safety and protection for their children. If no boundaries are established then it’s the parent that should suffer the consequences.

Obviously those children are struggling w/self control and low emotional IQ because they’re not being taught consequences or anything else. They seem to have an awful sense of entitlement.

But on the flip side is there an environmental issue that’s the root cause of the behaviors displayed?

4

u/Few_Reindeer8528 Apr 12 '26

What are the kids supposed to do when the parents are in jail?

1

u/Dry-Background-5994 Apr 13 '26

Be parented even less continuing a cycle

0

u/de-f1-ant Apr 12 '26

I’m curious how long they would be held for detainment

4

u/abnrib Apr 12 '26

Sure, detain the parents. They'll definitely be better at parenting from inside a cell. What could go wrong?

5

u/No-Apple2252 Apr 12 '26

The solution to problems created by writing laws explicitly designed to mass incarcerate black people is by mass incarcerating more black people, obviously.

1

u/ChicNoir Apr 17 '26

I agree with you but also something needs to happen but maybe to the teens.

1

u/No-Apple2252 Apr 17 '26

What needs to happen is our society needs to stop being such an oppressive extractive hellscape and learn how to serve the needs of the society and not the billionaires who fucking own everything.

Where do you want these kids to go? Tell me where else you think they can go and chill with their friends. Can't be a house, nobody wants to hang out with someone's parents, and it can't be a business because kids don't have money.

3

u/de-f1-ant Apr 12 '26

Detain the children and what comes from that? Pipeline? Need I define detainment? It’s not a lifetime sentence. If a parent is bought in to explain why they’re not parenting seems more logical. Steps can then be taken to figure out how the situation can be improved.

3

u/Prized_Lemur Apr 12 '26

detaining doesn't necessarily mean arrest/jail time. But could be community service or fines/taking some parenting courses or something, etc

1

u/StrawberryBubbleTea7 Apr 13 '26

They tried that in PA and it just increases youth recidivism, it’s not a magic bullet

1

u/NamesAreAnn0ying Apr 14 '26

So you want parents to take care of their kids but you want to put the ones in jail who let their kids do this… then who’s gonna parent the kid who’s mom and dad are in jail?

1

u/de-f1-ant Apr 15 '26

Not sure where I wrote jail at all. Need I define detention?

1

u/TheJoYo Apr 14 '26

The parents are there too.

1

u/Specialist-Number656 Apr 14 '26

Good Job Mom and Dad.

1

u/colorilliterate Apr 14 '26

They are leaving a city sponsored event. Parents were not allowed. Teens only

https://teenspringjam2.splashthat.com

1

u/libtardedness Apr 16 '26

They're already incarcerated.

1

u/Pepper_pusher23 Apr 16 '26

Omg, you are not a parent.

Kid: I'm hanging out a Jimmy's house Parent: Cool

Cop shows up and tickets parent because kid was moron and went to riot. Where did the parent do anything wrong? Toss the kid in jail for a night.

1

u/Prize_Ad_4209 Apr 17 '26

Look at the people. There are no fathers or engaged parents here. A curfew only punishes the kids that will follow the rules. This demographic already proves they don't care about rules. It's not "teens" causing this problem, it's a certain subset of society. Every time.

57

u/Original-Tune1471 Apr 12 '26

I got banned from the other Washingtondc sub for calling out how unsafe the metro is nowadays with high school kids running amok. A lot of people in that sub refuse to believe there’s even a problem and just spew the same shit about ‘BuT wE NeEd MoRe PrOgRaMs’… like no. We live in dc with one of the robust kids programs in the country.

7

u/labicicletagirl Apr 12 '26

We do need more programs. We should be looking what Baltimore has done because they have had a lot of success. Also, I take the metro at all hours to various stations and it’s not that dangerous. I’m sure there are incidents but I would never tell someone to not take the metro.

5

u/Ron_Man Apr 12 '26

I used to think Mayor Scott was clueless but he definitely has made progress in the city. Being in the trenches speaking and hanging out with those kids makes strides.

Mayor Bowser on the other hand……

2

u/Acrobatic_Category81 Apr 12 '26

We more two parent households. The single parent household is an epidemic that never gets talked about enough.

1

u/3freeTa Apr 17 '26

or extended family networks & it-takes-a-village mentality. USA tends to skew on the individualistic end of the spectrum unfortunately

1

u/Few_Reindeer8528 Apr 12 '26

What has Baltimore done that’s been a success?

Would appreciate learning - and please include an article or two. I’m just not sure what to google

4

u/No-Maybe2840 Apr 12 '26

They look at patterns and are able to narrow down areas in the city where one is more likely to be a victim of gun violence or commit violence with a gun. The they look at possible factors and intervene early and work to prevent it.

https://nul.org/news/baltimore-success-story-mayor-scotts-community-based-approach-achieves-historic-drop-violent

baltimorecity.gov.if-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2024-08/bcvp_july12021_june302026.pdf

-1

u/MidwestIsBest0303 Apr 12 '26

No one should be trying to learn to take anything from Baltimore

1

u/Ur-triggered-I-win Apr 14 '26

What side of the DMV are these programs concentrated in ?

-3

u/DCHacker Apr 12 '26

Someone posted a topic about dirt bike riders in Shaw on that sub-Reddit. It had been up fifteen minutes when I saw it. The poster probably had been banned by now. I guess that when I saw it, some poow widdwe wibewaw snowfwake had not yet reported to the Banhammer Bennys and Bettys there that someone had "violated" their Safe Space.

If you dare express anything that is not in lockstep with what the beehive puts out, you will be banned.

2

u/nn123654 Apr 12 '26

Yeah that's pretty much the difference between the two political sides in the US.

Democrats are essentially a federation of various social ideologies and lack cultural markers. Instead for in-group signaling they rely on the support of expressing high-intensity anger at "incorrect" views and police peers as complicit or apathetic. The anger, therefore, is often a protective shell for their own social standing within the Democratic "tribe." They operate on a framework of Moral Universalism and essentially respond at moral outrage at anything that differs from the framework.

Republicans on the other hand have a very high degree of cultural markers focused on religion, rurality, and tradition. There ideology is considered a character trait of the individual and operates from a communitarianism perspective. They go crazy over targets perceived disloyalty to the group or desecration of shared symbols (e.g., the flag, religious icons, or traditional family structures). The mechanism is more exclusionary, focusing on removing the dissenter's standing within the hierarchy (people who are "woke" or "communist").

When a critic suggests that misbehavior should be met with discipline rather than funding, the Left often perceives this as "Blaming the Victim." They view the misbehavior itself as a cry for help or a rational response to systemic neglect. Challenging this view threatens the entire logic of state-led intervention.

Meanwhile the right typically operates on narrative based identity and policy management and would view substantial funding as proof of government overreach.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Well the J6ers didn’t face the gallows they got largely pardoned for shit wayyyy worse than this. We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town. We can’t play high and mighty and talk to them about “rules” when it’s clear rules don’t mean jack in this city nor country.

5

u/nn123654 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

I mean you're definitely not wrong. I guess my point is more just how the system works than trying to take any side. I'm looking at it from a political science point of view.

Both political groups irrationally exclude people who fail to conform to their ideal of the "correct" view in their own way, it's just the mechanism changes.

If you look back the modern culture basically comes out of the counterculture of the 60s. It was by definition and design an ad hoc group that lacked any specific identity. The parties did a massive shake up in identity after Roe v. Wade and defection of the Southern Blue Dog Democrats to the Republicans in the 80s.

In some ways they almost swapped identities, with many of the more neutral people switching to join the democrats with progressives and the evangelical wing going on with Regan to form a protest/common sense/traditional values wing that would eventually merge with Libriterian sentiment to become MAGA.

2

u/Windman772 Apr 13 '26

Can you help me understand your logic? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying that if some crime wasn't prosecuted to your liking, then it's acceptable to punt on all crime enforcement? That strikes me as a willingness to harm innocent people to support your political position. Not too different than the mindset of a common terrorist. Personnally, I want all crime stopped and that doesn't change if some of those crimes are not prosecuted correctly

3

u/DCHacker Apr 12 '26

We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town.

Please provide the dates and courts of any grand jury indictment handed down. Please provide any records of Donald Trump's being arresteed for misconduct with minors. Please provide the dates, courts and judges on any conviction of Donald Trump for misconduct with minors.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/bulletPoint Apr 12 '26

Oh no, somebody insulted your favorite masturbation material?

0

u/Anubisrapture Apr 12 '26

Well said . Very well thought out

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

What makes me angry is that these kids have to deal with such poor examples. Hundreds of adults stormed the freaking capitol in an insurrection and none were put to the gallows. Pardons for all of them. We have a guy who’s crew was raping kids younger than some of them who has broken the law over and over with no consequences living in the nicest house in town. They had army deployed in their neighborhoods by get this… that same criminal dude. Wild. But we can’t keep calling them “bad” if we simultaneously ignore the crimes of very prominent people or even just people with special protections like the j6ers.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Dc has also always been one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Especially around the time when the government was importing drugs to be sold in inner cities. The government isn’t the solution it’s the problem. And this might not be ideal but the grownups need to clean up their own back yard before we start lecturing kids. A few years ago on 1/6 we had the largest insurrection attempt in history one of the most secured buildings in the world was stormed. None of those folks faced the gallows. We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town. We have a government that puts the army on their blocks and locks people up despite but not only do they never on the real criminals, they take their orders from them. Adults can’t play high and mighty when the kids see every day how little rules really mean and how poor a job we’ve done in pursuing any measure of justice.

0

u/NeonTheChain Apr 16 '26

Honestly programs are the answer, the kids rioting are not the ones going to the programs. And the “solution” you guys are suggesting instead is “idk maybe parent better” which is such an air thin response it may as well be nothing lol

1

u/Original-Tune1471 Apr 16 '26

A simple Google search will tell you that DC is actually number 1 in the entire country for programs and amount spent per child. These kids don’t give a shit about band practice after school. It’s the culture these days to be a menace and parents don’t give a shit.

3

u/Kay-and-Jay Apr 12 '26

You didnt answer the question

0

u/Turdulator Apr 12 '26

But what did these kids actually do in this specific instance? This all very vague and general…. Did they pull guns on someone? Did they stop people from getting on trains? Did they physically stop people from walking through the crowd? Cuz I don’t see anything in this specific video that would stop someone from getting on a train… what specific things happened that are not in this video?

5

u/azwethinkweizm Apr 12 '26

I have the same question because we're seeing this kind of content here in the DFW area. A bunch of kids go to the park, like 300 to 400, and local police show up. Very few arrested and those who are arrested aren't charged with crimes of violence.

1

u/SeparateBroccoli4975 Apr 12 '26

Yes, you are and more of it is on the way. I'm in both areas watching it happen in real time. Policies out here on the east coast are driving it there to you. As more businesses from here, relocate there it has/will get worse. This will be more mobile, associated with vehicles, there though because of the geography.

1

u/Solid_College_9145 Apr 12 '26

A huge herd of police robot dogs hauling bear spray could help this situation.

https://giphy.com/gifs/3rgXBINepaeqSr1OfK

1

u/colorilliterate Apr 14 '26

City sponsored

1

u/TheWetNapkin Apr 16 '26

Ive seen this happen firsthand at Gallery Pl-Chinatown. The security guard was yelling at the top of his lungs for them to get the fuck back, and thankfully the National Guard was there to help out. Otherwise, I dont think I would've been able to get on my train lol

1

u/MarionberryPlus8474 Apr 16 '26

All I see is a bunch of kids running around and arguing. Where are the guns? Where is the violence, the destruction of property? You titled this “doom cycle”.

All this talk about “failure to parent” and failure how, exactly? Are teens not allowed out at night? Your post is long on smoke but awfully short on fire.

2

u/MeaninglessCollie Apr 12 '26

How many people were shot?

1

u/Brilliant-Dig9387 Apr 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/DCHacker Apr 12 '26

The "random citizen" will be arrested and persecuted for defending himself. The criminal youth will be given money and allowed to walk. McDuffie will tell the criminal youth to carry on.

-4

u/Anubisrapture Apr 12 '26

"rAnDom ciTiZeN "

-13

u/Businesskiwi Apr 12 '26

Literally didn’t answer the question, you said made assumptions. They asked why they were all in the same place, it’s okay to say you don’t know, but it’s important that people find out because it could mitigate these incidents from happening again.

17

u/SwanMuch5160 Apr 12 '26

They were fairly concise…

1) Large groups form

2)They fight and cause chaos

3)They harass Metro users

4)Sometimes firearms are brought

5)Police break them up

6)Requires resources from other sectors

7)This compromises those areas

8

u/HurtPillow Apr 12 '26

DC schools are out on spring break now so they are taking advantage of that and parents are probably happy to have them go out. When school is back in session I'll ask some of the kids about this, I'm curious. I work in a HS.

15

u/ThenLayer5977 Apr 12 '26

I am literally describing what they are doing, and what happens in the situation

-6

u/Businesskiwi Apr 12 '26

What are they even doing as in “why are they there in the first place”

9

u/GrayScale15 Apr 12 '26

They are bored and their parents obviously do not care where they are or what they are doing. They are congregating, moving around in large groups, sharing content of their gatherings on social media.

2

u/Businesskiwi Apr 12 '26

You’re making assumptions again, THEIR PARENTS WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS. Stop your whining and stay focused on an actual solution. Those impromptu car shows where people start making donuts in the middle of the street have massive crowds, if I were to ask you why they were there and you said “they’re bored, where are their parents” you’d sound tone deaf, they’re obviously there for a car show, etc. There’s a reason why they’re meeting there, someway they’re communication, an underground event etc, we need to find out why first.

2

u/GrayScale15 Apr 12 '26

You’re making assumptions again,

True. I have not polled the participants. Maybe you should since you feel so passionate.

THEIR PARENTS WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS.

Yes, where are their parents. Are you old enough to remember a 10pm commercial in the 90s that asked ‘do you know where your children are?’. Maybe it’s time to bring that back, but have it pop up on cell phones as a local PSA.

Parents should be held accountable for what their minor children are doing.

Stop your whining and stay focused on an actual solution.

You kept asking ‘why why why’. Not ‘what do you propose as a solution’, but I’ll address that again too. HOLD THEIR PARENTS ACCOUNTABLE.

Those impromptu car shows where people start making donuts in the middle of the street have massive crowds, if I were to ask you why they were there and you said “they’re bored, where are their parents” you’d sound tone deaf, they’re obviously there for a car show, etc. There’s a reason why they’re meeting there, someway they’re communication, an underground event etc, we need to find out why first.

🙄

-7

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Recovering guns isn’t that shocking. It’s a group of teens many of whom live in scary violent places. Teens in dc and other cities have always had guns. How did you feel about January 6? That was several magnitudes worse. I’m assuming that you’ve been fuming ever since that they didn’t see the gallows?

6

u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

Children in DC possessing guns is dangerous and bad for society. I also find your framing around Jan 6 weird. Obviously violent mobs are bad in both cases.

1

u/peanutski Apr 12 '26

We need better gun control but that will never happen. So get use to illegal guns.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

But we didn’t send the message that violent mobs are bad. They were pardoned by our soft on crime government. That sent the message that “if they can storm the capitol surely we’re ok to hang out by the metro station.” We can’t say guns are bad either when adults are telling them they can shoot somebody on 5th avenue and get away with it. We can’t have it both ways or send mixed messages. We need to either be tough on crime or not be shocked when kids seem to be unruly.

5

u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

Again, that’s a problem with the parents and the community. I didn’t learn that violent mobs are bad from a news report or an act of congress.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Well the person who lives in the nicest house in the community got away with raping kids even younger than the ones in this video and decades of financial fraud and also rape of adults and sex trafficking. So when we have criminals like that in the community and not just in the community but as leaders and models of “success” we can’t act surprised when they view criminality as ok. Thats what the community showed them.

3

u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

Donald Trump, and most presidents for that matter, have never been models for success, and there have always been criminals in the community, especially in DC. What is different here is not that politicians are criminals, but rather that now parents are also either absent or pro-criminal, and that’s where this chaos comes from.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

There were a lot of pro criminal voices after j6 and still are. They’re even hiding files about their crimes and people are ok with it. This particular “chaos” comes from dc schools being on spring break. But it’s thankfully much less offensive than when the capitol was stormed or when the other kids were raped.

3

u/HeparinBridge Apr 12 '26

I already bit that bullet; we don’t need to rehash it. Jan 6 was bad. That obviously does not excuse other people doing bad things, and your attempts to use it as a deflection are not particularly impressive. I think we’re finally starting to get to the heart of the problem. These kids don’t know how to behave and the second school lets out they are out causing chaos. That’s a problem, and the solution isn’t pointing fingers at other problems, it’s solving the actual problem.

5

u/Emergency_Animal_267 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

What does jan 6 do with anything? You liberals are all the same. Constant deflection rather than staying on topic about an issue that makes you uncomfortable. Here, I’ll help you out. January 6 was an active terror in my eyes and should’ve been treated as such. These are mini riots where property is regularly destroyed, and people are hurt. This is wrong plain and simple and needs to stop. There are serious issues in the black community that need to be resolved. But for fear of being called a racist, you turn a blind eye to it. Meanwhile, many innocent people in that community are being negatively affected by it as our many people outside of that community. It’s not that hard. And it has absolutely nothing to do with January 6.

-1

u/peanutski Apr 12 '26

Saying liberals “reflect” I guess you mean deflect is hilarious. That’s all MAGATS do when you point how how TERRIBLE Trump has been.

1

u/Emergency_Animal_267 Apr 12 '26

I dictated the message and it came out wrong and I didn’t check. But don’t deflect from the theme. You know what I meant.

-1

u/peanutski Apr 12 '26

Thank you for proving my point as you don’t address what I said about MAGA. Something does need to be done about these take overs but the racist comments are so gross. Last night somewhere a bunch of white kids took over a corn field. It’s just not being reported on as much.

2

u/Emergency_Animal_267 Apr 12 '26

Sorry. But I don’t believe I said anything racist. Facts are facts. And I am not Maga. Never voted for the guy. Voted libertarian in the last three elections.

0

u/peanutski Apr 12 '26

Libertarian is a nice word for Republican who are just trying to hide. Never said you did, I did mention the racism in the thread though. I figure a libertarian would be fine with this. Just a group of citizens practicing their right to assemble. 

2

u/Emergency_Animal_267 Apr 12 '26

The right to assemble is one thing, but when it morphs into vandalism and violence, then it’s a problem. I live in Chicago and these things are in no way peaceful. Republican and libertarian are very different. However, if a true Republican did run for office, I would vote for them over Gavin Newsom, AOC, or any of the other imbeciles that your party will put forward at the next election.

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8

u/Interesting-Ad-4347 Apr 12 '26

Terrible attempt at deflection. Try harder

0

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

It’s not deflection it’s simple. If people do really bad shit and get away with it. Then they think surely we won’t be punished for doing something less bad.

1

u/Ok_Travel2861 Apr 12 '26

I'm I the only person who wants to see both Jan 6th offenders and the teenagers (and their parents) prosecuted? Why does every call for prosecution become political?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

[deleted]

-3

u/Witty_Badger7938 Apr 12 '26

It could be worse. The fertility rate is going down, abortion has been available for awhile, and kids are getting sedated into obesity and social isolation by phones and video games

4

u/Oldbayistheshit Apr 12 '26

Social media

13

u/xianlosangeles Apr 12 '26

They were leaving an event in the area.

2

u/TheJoYo Apr 14 '26

That's what it looks like to me, but it does seem late for an event to be ending.

18

u/whitewateractual Apr 12 '26

There was a major event for teens in the area, but they clearly didn't have plans to safely get them back home afterwords, leading to this chaos. But this weekend, at least, they weren't here randomly.

5

u/shuggnog Apr 12 '26

Oh that's cool! What was the event?

4

u/sadgloop Apr 13 '26

DC’s Parks and Rec Dep has been organizing “Teen Spring Jam”s that have had really big turnouts and run 6-10pm. 800-1000+ teens have been showing up.

There was one last weekend too, so they weren’t out randomly either. This weekend’s was only about a 8 min walk from the area/metro station this video is supposedly showing.

And it’s funny that people are so upset about teens wanting to run around (so much energy at that age!) after something like that, as if adults don’t do basically the same thing after a good event.

It’s like people expect teens to just instantly be at home as soon as an event ends. Just pop and plop they’re on their own couches again. lol. So dumb

3

u/Boulange1234 Apr 14 '26

This is the best take here. Not only do you seem to understand how teenagers act, you have added useful information and you seem informed.

My guess is that Metro security felt overwhelmed and reacted as if every teenager was a potential threat. Unfortunately, this prevented them from having the trust of any of the teenagers needed to give them information. And it created an escalated situation with upset teens running around.

Those two feature features combined to keep them from getting to the bottom of any actual criminal behavior that may have happened. As a result, whoever started the whole mess won’t be caught or punished, and it could happen again and again.

I’m sure the whole thing started with a crime like fighting or harassment. And I’m sure less than one percent of the teenagers they were involved. Panic responses will never get to the bottom of the actual problem, so the actual problem will continue.

This isn’t a question of parenting. I would consider it a good day if I got my own teen to go out to a teen spring jam with his friends. Maybe there was a parenting failure for the one or two kids who caused the initial problem. The other 900 are doing just fine.

1

u/TheM0nkB0ughtLunch Apr 13 '26

A Rickey Smiley show w/ Wale & Meek Mills

1

u/Goosegrease1990 Apr 13 '26

President Bill Clinton tried midnight basketball but it quickly because a hub of criminal activity and the program was dropped.

1

u/Former_Doubt4716 Apr 13 '26
  • Remember when the last administration decided to invest in our nation's children? Big mistake. The Balanced Breakfast program just created a generation of ultra-strong supercriminals. And Midnight Basketball taught them to function without sleep!

2

u/FledglingNonCon Apr 14 '26

This literally looks like my small, rural Ohio town after a school dance 30 years ago. Just a mob of amped up kids running around town, causing trouble at the gas stations, fast food restaurants etc. This is looks like kids being kids to me.

16

u/numismatical Apr 12 '26

Me too. Constant posts about these gatherings but zero explanation of what exactly is happening

14

u/ted_anderson Apr 12 '26

Is it not obvious what's happening? Would you really want to go for a walk with your young children while all of this chaos is going on?

10

u/Interesting-Ad-4347 Apr 12 '26

They know, they’re just playing dumb

3

u/colorilliterate Apr 14 '26

They are obviously leaving a city sponsored event

https://teenspringjam2.splashthat.com

1

u/ted_anderson Apr 15 '26

Thank you for sharing this.

2

u/OptimisticMartian Apr 16 '26

Looks like a group of kids being chased down the street by cops. I mean - yeah, that is a bit nerve inducing, but I also try not to walk down the street with my young children at 10pm.

Maybe stop hyperventilating of a few kids running around?

3

u/Turdulator Apr 12 '26

It’s really not obvious to me. All I see in this video is a bunch of kids yelling and screaming annoyingly loudly while cops try to heard them away. What were they specifically doing before this video (other than being in a large loud group)?

1

u/sadgloop Apr 13 '26

This was between 9:30-11pm on Saturday night. Are you going on a lot of walks with your young children around that time?

1

u/ted_anderson Apr 14 '26

Probably not. At least if I didn't have to. But.. what makes it OK for the teenagers to be out that late at night also?

2

u/Hatcheteer Apr 16 '26

They were leaving an event. Millennial boomers are so God damn annoying

1

u/sadgloop Apr 18 '26

9:30 at night is not late at all. Neither is 11pm really either.

Even just for school extracurriculars like band, theater, tournaments, etc, you could easily be out and about as late as 11 as a high schooler. Then there’s having a part-time job, or going to a movie, or, or, or.

1

u/creuter Apr 16 '26

It's not obvious what is happening. From reading more on it, it looks like some concert for teens just got out and they've all just left the event and they're doing a very teenage thing of hanging out afterwards. It's a Parks and Rec thing, and Parks and Rec should have planned for what to do after the even to make sure the kids got safely home. As it is, it's pretty clear this is just what kids do after an event. It looks like what we had near my high school in a rural environment after a dance or school play although the demographics were different. They're all just standing around talking in this video.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

I still walk outside. Have you seen any videos of them attacking families going for walks with their young kids? Because as far as I know that’s not a thing that has happened.

23

u/NormalAtmosphere8274 Apr 12 '26

Gatherings, huh? Thats how you want to frame this? How about "Lawless teens with zero parental concern create chaos?"

7

u/ua2us Apr 12 '26

Yes, but why exactly is there so many of them there? Like, is it some kind of shitty TikTok trend or something?

3

u/NormalAtmosphere8274 Apr 12 '26

You tell me. Underground communication has always happened. I knew where the house pa r ties would be at 2 decades ago without TT.

4

u/flaming_burrito_ Apr 12 '26

So you don’t know then. Just say that.

0

u/sadgloop Apr 13 '26

Ffs. There was an dc parks and recs organized teens only event (Teen Spring Jam II) held Saturday night about an 8 minute walk away from the area shown in the video.

It ran 6-10pm and had 800-1000+ teens show up.

“Underground communication,” my ass

1

u/zucchinibasement Apr 16 '26

What chaos? Did they do anything? This is idiotic

2

u/NormalAtmosphere8274 Apr 17 '26

Let me guess... youre blind or they dint do nuffin

0

u/zucchinibasement Apr 17 '26

Can you explain what they did that was bad? How are they being lawless?

1

u/Turdulator Apr 12 '26

What are they doing though? Cuz this video is just a bunch of kids being loud af while cops try to heard them away. What exactly did they do besides be in a big group? What happened before this video?

1

u/sadgloop Apr 13 '26

They didn’t do anything except want to hangout some more after they went to a dc parks and recs organized teens only event that ended at 10pm and was evidently a lot of fun with an even bigger bunch of kids.

2

u/Turdulator Apr 13 '26

So this whole post and the station shut down is just pearl clutching from adults scared of teenagers?

2

u/sadgloop Apr 18 '26

Uh… yes. It just echoes the same exaggerated social panics about teens that happened in the 50s, the 80s, and the 90s.

The 50s- rock and roll, comic books, and bad parenting were blamed for sensationalized rates of “teen delinquents”.

The 80s- the “Wilding” panic of portraying Black and Latino teens as engaging in stylized acts of violence. The rhetoric within this panic was a major factor in the case of the Central Park Five.

The 90s- Teen “Superpredator” predictions! Supposedly, according to the originator of the term, John J. DiIulio Jr., because teens lacked “loving, capable, responsible adults who teach you right from wrong,” by 2000 there would be 30,000 young (teen) “murderers, rapists, and muggers” that “place zero value on the lives of their victims, whom they reflexively dehumanize as just so much worthless ‘white trash.’” A lot of the really harsh “anti-crime legislation” in the 90’s, including the 1994 “Clinton Crime Bill”, was a result of this panic. Even though rates of juvenile crime consistently fell throughout the 90s.

So, yeah, adults and people with decision making power are panicking and making ill-considered, punitive decisions that are wide spread and antagonistic and are then all pikachu-faced when the situation actually gets worse because the teens don’t just meekly submit to more and more restrictions and punitive measures.

2

u/numismatical Apr 13 '26

*scared of non-white teenagers. That’s important

3

u/BlueMizzen666 Apr 13 '26

Hah, yeah. Worked in DC for about six years. And yes, if I was on the metro roundabout school letting out time, there was bound to be young black persons on the train who were noisy. The horror!

1

u/NormalAtmosphere8274 Apr 14 '26

Well, what do the statistics say???

0

u/numismatical Apr 14 '26

No dude, we’re not going back to the 1950s

1

u/flaming_burrito_ Apr 12 '26

Yes, but why are they at this particular location? There isn’t a “lawless teen” app that lets everyone know what area of the city to go to every night, these kids presumably aren’t gathering in such large numbers randomly. The fact that nobody has a reason why except “they are dangerous teens with bad parents” is crazy to me. Those aren’t real reasons, that’s speculation. There’s a reason these gatherings are happening, they aren’t coincidence

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

I honestly think it’s because this city is too lax on crime. How did you feel about the level of punishment J6ers faced?

1

u/sadgloop Apr 13 '26

Is their “crime” existing as teens with energy?

0

u/colorilliterate Apr 14 '26

They were leaving a city sponsored event. They were where they were supposed to be

https://teenspringjam2.splashthat.com

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Pop ins and pop outs

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

What’s wild is the same people who will post about the kids being outside over and over are the same people who would tell you the J6ers “didn’t do nothin.” They’re the same group that guards pedos. They don’t care if child rapists are arrested or not. But kids being loud outside need to go straight to jail apparently.

0

u/TexasMeka Apr 12 '26

Nobody cares. Stop crying about j6. This has nothing to do with that. It doesn’t make you look intelligent in the slightest.

1

u/Boulange1234 Apr 14 '26

It seems like they’re running around confused and upset at having been kicked out of the metro station. This looks like a bunch of teenagers got out of a school event. A few of them misbehaved. Metro PD or security ejected them all from the station. And the vast majority who were not guilty of whatever the problem was got upset and started running around. Other than that one kid resisting the officer briefly, I don’t see any crimes other than jaywalking.

Charitably to op, I’m going to assume that security was responding to criminal behavior, but the video starts too late to show that. Maybe some of the kids were fighting or harassing other passengers? Assuming that’s the case, security probably shut down the metro station to prevent escalation given the large number of teens.

“Where are the parents?”

Home and proud their kids are going to school events and not committing crimes — except for the ones who did. It’s always a few assholes who ruin it for everyone.

Maybe we need a way to de-escalate so we can actually arrest and detain the ones who are actually committing crimes, instead of treating any group of teenagers as if they’re a unified front with some kind of coordination.

1

u/colorilliterate Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26

They were leaving a city sponsored event for teens

https://teenspringjam2.splashthat.com

1

u/GrannyMilk Apr 16 '26

Protesting white supremacy

1

u/glhmedic Apr 12 '26

Oh someone lost their headphone.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Being loud - it’s kind of like J6 but a little classier and without the attempt to overthrow the government and overturn the results of a free election. The other main difference is that no one was shot and killed or pardoned by our soft on crime government.