imported post
2a4all wrote:
It looks like Sen Mamie Locke (Newport News) will be introducing her anti-gun bills again this year. She apparently thinks that such legislation will stop youngblack on black murders. She complained on the local news tonight that her anti-gun bills just die in committee, because senators from rural areas see things differently than those from urban areas.
At the risk of sounding biased, with all the guns that are in the hands of non-blacks, why isn't there more non-black on non-black crime (white, asian, etc.)? Blacks only account for about 15% of the population, but seem tobe experiencing a disproportionate share ofviolence. Why?
It would appear that the rev Al Sharpton has an answer to my question, which, oddly enough, doesn't call for a gun ban!
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_dayofoutrage_1124nov24,0,4699240.story
HAMPTON — The
Rev. Al Sharpton wasn't the only one demonstrating his outrage Monday at the tide of gun violence engulfing America's cities.
In Hampton, about 100 people representing clergy, community leaders, police and citizens gathered at First Baptist Church on North King Street to call for a halt to the gun violence which is a leading cause of death for teenage black males.
The event coincided with National Day of Outrage rallies across the country led by Sharpton.
Hampton organizer Gaylene Kanoyton said the Peninsula event was the only one in Virginia.
"We are not going to stand for the violence. It has to stop," she said.
Kanoyton said the event should mark the beginning of the fight back against gun violence.
Dr. Richard Wills, pastor of First Baptist Church, said homicide is the second-leading cause of death among young African-American males.
He said churches on the Peninsula should play a more active role in curbing the violence.
"We can do much, much more ... my sense as a pastor is that the churches are not doing nearly enough," Wills said.
Councilman Paige V. Washington warned of the scale of gun violence in Hampton.
"You will be staggered by the numbers. We have to save our children and in doing that we need to come together as a family," said Washington who described gun violence as a "cancer" in the city.
Will Moffett, a former chairman of Hampton's neighborhood commission, warned that a lack of religion in schools and a breakdown in families were fueling a tide of violence.
"Enough is enough," he said. "It began when we allowed prayer to be taken out of our schools. It began when we lost our fathers out of our homes. We have neighborhoods without fathers. Many fathers are dead, in prison or on drugs. Our children have been left to their iPods with (rappers)
50 Cent and Lil Wayne to raise them."
Moffett said many parents were willing to turn TVs to a football game but were failing to attend parent/teacher conferences.
"We must encourage them to get involved," he said.
Moffett called for more programs to be set up for youths. "We must demand change and we must demand change in our community now. That change must come through accountability," he said.
Wills said he hoped Monday's meeting would be the first of many that would take the Rev
Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence out into the community.
He said an action plan will be drawn up and a symposium against violence will be held in 2010.
The meeting was also addressed by Edward Reed, a
Hampton University student who said HU has been no stranger to gun violence this year.
"This is our call for action," Reed said.
"This is where we take the initiative and train, educate and prepare our youth to stop the violence in our homes, at school and in our neighborhoods," Reed said. "This can only be done as a unified body."
In April, former HU student Odane Greg Maye shot a pizza delivery driver, a night dormitory watchman and himself on the campus. The victims recovered from their injuries. This month, Maye was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the shooting.
And in October, Hampton University basketball player Theo Smalling died as a result of an accidental gunshot wound he suffered.
National Day of Outrage The National Day of Outrage was sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network. Events were held in about 20 U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit and St. Louis.
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