Jhamel Robinson, an entertainer from the city of Oakland reaches out to Oakland’s urban youth through music and media art.

The Urban Peace Movement commissioned Robinson, commonly known as J-Milli-on, to make posters for Silence the Violence, a national call to end violence in urban cities.

The young musician said that Urban Peace Movement provides a safe haven for children and young adults, and that his posters represented people who had been affected by the violence in Oakland.

The posters were initially supposed to be used as advertisements, but were eventually transformed into billboards, said Robinson.

Silence the Violence is a movement in Oakland to help stop the violence, according to Robinson. Nicole Lee and Xiomara Castro started it at the Ella Baker Center.

The movement was expanded by Urban Peace Movement and is now being extended towards Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore and Nebraska.

As a young, activist leader and youth co-founder for Urban Peace Movement, an organization to help transform situations that lead to violence through youth leadership and events such as Silence the Violence, Robinson works closely with troubled youth in the Oakland community.

“I chose to become a leader because I am tired of the violence and the drugs that continuously kill our community every day,” said Robinson.

Robinson explains how a lot of his peers succumbed to various lures of the street; meanwhile, he chose music and entrepreneurship as his ticket out of poverty.

Robinson’s experience in the streets of Oakland allows him to understand these kids and closely identify with them. They are able to open up more to him because they see him as one of them.

Ashanti Jacobs, a senior at San Lorenzo High School, really enjoys singing. She met Robinson during the summer of 2011 at a non-profit youth center.

Robinson has been an assistant at the center, which focuses on media arts video production, photography and music.

Jacobs describes Robinson as an open minded, inspirational person someone she is comfortable with and looks up to, like a big brother.

“He did a lot for the youth. He taught some video and production classes,” said Jacobs,  “I’m very thankful to have met [him] and he has inspired me,”

The community activist says he has seen the effects of poverty on youth as well as adults. He explains how children are a reflection of their parents. Children on the streets become addicts or get incarcerated because their parents give up on them.

“Kids think no one loves them so they adapt these same ideals,” said Robinson.

Forty-three percent of juvenile probationers in Alameda County live in Oakland and 14 percent live in Hayward, according to the Ella Baker Center website.

He goes into dangerous neighborhoods in Oakland to work with youth at schools and to engage students in non-violent activities. He explains his innovative method.

“I use music as an outlet to talk to youth and get them engaged in something outside of the streets by offering free studio time and graphic design tutoring,” Robinson said.

Robinson grew up in Oakland, where he fell in love with music and dreamt of becoming a rapper. R&B musicians, such as R. Kelly, influenced him. He started writing R&B music and rock songs at the age of 10. At 12-years-old he recorded with Galen Peterson, a colleague.

At age 13, Peterson became Robinson’s boss at a community music-based organization called United Roots. Peterson also became Robinson’s mentor and says Robinson is an enthusicestic and ambitious young person to work with.

“Jhamel has a passion for doing community work and being a youth educator,” said Peterson.“[He] enjoys teaching young people new skills and helping them develop their creative talents.”

Robinson, majoring in African-American Studies at Laney College, says he wants to prepare these kids for life by teaching them basic skills. He motivates them to follow their dreams, helps train them for job interviews and teaches them how to register for colleges.

Along with Silence the Violence, Robinson has worked on other activist movements such as United Roots, S.O.S Juice, United Playaz, Determination Men’s Group, We-Make-ASP at Oakland Tech and The Real Oakland.

Robinson’s own movement, The Real Oakland, started last August as just a song. The song was uploaded on YouTube, which received over 50,000 views. T-shirts were used to promote the music video.

“People really liked the message and the images that were provided through the video,” said Robinson.

Recently, Robinson decided to shift the movement’s focus  to a community standpoint. Robinson has planned to do the first annual feed the homeless drive in April. The goal is to feed 500 people in Oakland.

He explains that his movement is about “peace, togetherness’ and moving forward as a community.”

After the food drive there will be an event for battered and abused women that will take place this summer.

“A lot of youth don’t have mentors in their age bracket they can identify and look up to,” said Robinson. “I am of the community and I want to be a vessel for the next generation.”