DC Attorney General Karl Racine held the fourth annual Right Direction Award Ceremony this moth to honor District youth who have overcome difficult challenges are are continuing on the path to success. (Photo courtesy of the DC Office of the Attorney General)

‘We will be the change,’ Zion Kelly tells other winners of AG’s Right Direction Awards

By Andria Moore On Aug 29, 2018

Zion Kelly stood in the same spot his twin brother, Zaire, had stood to receive his Right Direction Award one year earlier. One month after winning the award, Zaire Kelly was shot and killed only 300 feet from his home.

Zion, who graduated this year from Thurgood Marshall Academy, was the keynote speaker at the DC Attorney General’s Right Direction Award Ceremony on Aug. 9 in the Old Council Chambers at One Judiciary Square. The awards, now in their fourth year, honor District youth who have overcome difficult challenges and are continuing on the path to success.

“You can’t control what will happen, but you can control how you react,” Zion Kelly said in his keynote address at the DC Attorney General’s Right Direction Award Ceremony on Aug. 9. (Photo courtesy of the DC Office of the Attorney General)

DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton paid her respects at the beginning of the ceremony, specifically thanking Kelly for the work he is doing to advocate for stricter gun laws and safe neighborhoods for children in DC.

“Congress tries every single session to eliminate our gun laws in DC,” Norton said. “I’m having to devote a lot of attention to just keeping the laws we have now intact.”

Zaire was killed at age 16 while walking home from a college-mentorship program. When a thief attempted to rob him of his cellphone, Zaire fought back with a knife and was shot to death.

Since his twin’s death, Zion has been active in the March for Our Lives movement, speaking at numerous events across the country, including the student-led rally on March 24 in DC in support of tighter gun control held. Along with promoting stricter gun-law enforcement, Zion is working to ensure that children have a safe walk to and from school.

“You can’t control what will happen, but you can control how you react,” Zion said in his remarks accepting his Right Direction Award. “We will be the change. I decided to make this my reaction.”

Attorney General Karl Racine presented the awards to this year’s recipients with the help of WKYS’s DJ Flava. Chante Coleman, who recently earned a college degree after having given birth to her daughter during her freshman year of high school, said she never imagined she’d end up winning an award. Coleman wants to open a nonprofit one day to help young mothers.

“I want to show my daughter that when you do good, good comes back to you,” Coleman said.

Racine said these kids “deserve our recognition and praise” because they are going through difficult times yet still doing “extraordinary things.”

Zion plans to continue making extraordinary moves and will be attending the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University this fall. In an interview, he said he isn’t yet sure of his major but is leaning toward business. When asked about the one thing he wishes he could tell his brother now, he said, “I want him to know he didn’t die in vain. The world knows who he is, and he is impacting lives.”