KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo is still trying to cope with its own incidents of violence but the mass murder in February and biking tragedy last month are both quite different from the kind of violence the nation has experienced over the last few days.
In neither local case, did race seem to be a major factor.
Local police chiefs in West Michigan say they will continue on the courses they have set to progress toward more community policing, racial sensitivity training and models that not only attack the issue of crime and violence from a law enforcement perspective, but a socio-economic approach as well.
Grand Rapids Police Chief David Rahinski has decided his officers will be riding two per car this weekend, just to lend each other emotional support, but that is about the only immediate change that has been announced.
Events are planned this weekend in Kalamazoo to mark both the local tragedies and this latest national trauma.
The Northside Ministerial Alliance will host a community forum on racial justice at Galilee Baptist Church at 6 this evening. At 8 p.m. Sunday Kalamazoo’s chapter of Black Lives Matter will hold a candlelight vigil at the flagpoles on the WMU Campus.
There will be a moment of silence during today’s BTR Criterium bike races for the victims of last month’s biking tragedy. The event is held annually at the BTR Park on Parkview in Kalamazoo.
Tomorrow night’s final game of the season for the Kalamazoo FC soccer team will be a fundraiser for the Tyler Smith scholarship fund. Smith was a victim in February’s mass murder who played goalie on his team. The game begins at 6pm at Mayors Riverfront Park.
