KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Tuesday, the Northside Ministerial Alliance held a rally at Mt. Zion Baptist Church to address increasing neighborhood violence.
The rally was held due to an uptick of gun-related violence, with the most recent one taking place last weekend. During that incident, a 14-year-old victim was shot while holding an infant.
“Over the past few months, even this past Friday night, a young man was shot, 14 years old, holding a baby in his arms,” Alliance President and Mt. Zion Pastor Addis Moore said at the rally. “I asked the police, when’s the last time a white person killed a black person, and they’re still checking to find out when that happened. But black people kill black people almost weekly. It seems as though that’s become normal now, it’s not even news. And so we’re together as churches, we have been praying.”
The rally was meant to draw anywhere between 200 to 1,000 participants in a community-led effort to curb violence and crime in the area.
A crowd gathers for an anti-violence rally at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, MI on 6/8/21. (Photo via Mt. Zion Facebook stream).
Moore said that the Alliance has been meeting with community individuals, organizations and police representatives to have conversations on the subject, as well as to raise awareness on the matter.
“I believe there is an unawareness in our community, wherein a lot of our residents are not aware of the danger among our streets, are not aware that most of the shootings are young black folks shooting at each other, speeding down streets shooting at fleeing cars, shooting at houses, and folks are getting shot,” Moore said.
Representatives also pointed out that there are ongoing instances of vandalism and reckless driving.
“I don’t think most folks are aware that the citizens are afraid to come out of their houses, and children are not able to play in their neighborhoods safely,” Moore said. “We want to be visible, and we want to be mobile. And one thing we want is to leave here today, everybody talking, and everybody to say the violence must stop. We must put the guns down and we need to say loud enough, and in great enough numbers, that the folks that are carrying them will hear us.”
Later during the presentation, Moore talked about how this effort needs to be a community-involved one. After a round of prayer, those in attendance participated in a march around the Northside neighborhood.
“Today is about the voice of the community, voices that have not been heard and should be heard, to stand up and be heard,” Moore said. “This is what we want, and we will do what it takes to get what we want. We’re saying today, we want safe streets, we want the guns down, we want the crime to cease in our city. That’s what we’re saying.”
Public officials in attendance included Mayor David Anderson, who spoke on the rally during a virtual meeting Monday night.
Anderson, calling the uptick in violence a crisis, also said community-lead efforts would be crucial in helping to curb violence.
“I do see that a call went out from Mt. Zion, asking for volunteers to show up to participate on the community side of things,” Anderson said. “But I am asking, across the board, whether you are a nonprofit or a business in Kalamazoo, community organizers, that we come together to make sure that we bring that community effort to addressing all the various components of what is leading to this situation that we’re finding ourselves in.”
FURTHER VIEWING:
Livestreams of the event can be viewed at the Mt. Zion Facebook page and the Mt. Zion YouTube page.
Comments