KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Just 24 hours after a shooting inside Austin-East Magnet High School, Simeon Jones — then 12 years old — felt the need to speak up.
Five teenagers had been shot and killed in just three months.
"People my age and lower are dying. My age!" he said in a prayer circle outside the school. "This is not okay at all."
A year later, he said things have changed for the better.
"I just wanted to speak up, because that's the best I could do," Jones said. "So many people have lost so many friends, family."
He's now able to focus on his grades instead of having to spend so much time focusing on his own safety.
"There's not really that much violence in the main schools," he said. "I just wish that it doesn't really happen at all."
Denzel Grant, from Men on a Mission, couldn't be silent either. He spoke out at protests across the city.
"That's a major role as far as giving people a platform and a way to express and let their voices be heard," Grant said. "You also have a lot of work being done behind the scenes."
He said community leaders have worked with people from the city like LaKenya Middlebrook to see if they can implement policy changes.
He said groups like UNNIK Academy, SEEED and Safe Haven are working together to make a difference. Denzel also wants to see a focus on mental health.
"I want people to understand how much that affected our community," he said. "Anthony Thompson is us. I look like him. We all look like him, and so I want people on the outside looking in to understand that."
He's also still pushing for answers.
"It's just looking for some sense of accountability to prevent that from happening again," Denzel said. "I hope [Anthony's family] knows that they're not alone. The community definitely stands behind them."