Editorial: Casualties together
One bullet can have many victims, which is why a new campaign to reduce gun violence in metro Milwaukee will attempt to engage everyone in the cause.
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: April 9, 2008
It starts with angry words and shoves exchanged on a city sidewalk between two teenage boys. Suddenly, one takes out a handgun and pulls the trigger. The boy who has been shot falls backward to the ground in slow motion and, one by one, other people fall as well - a waitress, an office worker, a woman in her kitchen, a priest.
"If we call ourselves a community, maybe it's time we realized gun violence isn't someone else's problem," a woman's voice says. "Eventually, we all feel the impact."
The 30-second public service TV announcement is powerful. Given the gravity of the problem, it had to be. It's part of a larger campaign, to be launched at 1 p.m. Thursday at Discovery World, to motivate everyone in the greater Milwaukee area to get behind efforts to reduce gun violence.
Then, the goal is to educate the community about local programs that already have shown success in reducing firearm violence and to motivate business, community leaders and others to fight this insidious problem by helping to provide jobs, funding and willingness to mentor kids at risk for being victims or perpetrators of violence.
Serve, a nonprofit advertising firm, helped put the One Milwaukee Gun Violence Campaign together with the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, the mayor's office and the Milwaukee Police Department. Impressive coalition. Compelling message. We hope it sinks in.
