BY ALEX MITCHELL
Bronx politicians and community
organizations have
launched a locally driven initiative
aimed at curing gun
and street violence in the
wake of both the borough and
city’s most violent weeks in recent
memory.
Called “Save Our Sons
and Sisters,” or SOS for short,
the initiative is a continuous
series of anti-gun marches
paired with community-held
violence interruption meetings
and outreach which aims
to not only on reduce Bronx
crime but also raise awareness
to how severe the situation
has become uptown.
Operation Save Our Sons
& Sisters is to begin Thursday
in the Bronx pic.twitter.com/
FeGMBiprgA
— Alex V. Mitchell (@AMitchReporting)
July 20, 2020
Alongside local groups that
specialize in violence interruption,
south Bronx Councilwoman
Vanessa Gibson and
Bronx District Attorney Darcel
Clark introduced SOS this
morning near the scene of a
recent fatal shooting of a father
with his young daughter
on E. 170th and Sheridan Avenue,
each calling for meaningful
change in the Bronx.
SOS is going to begin with
a march down Morris Avenue
beginning at Mott Playground
down to Claremont Park at 5
p.m. this Thursday, passing
through “right in the heart
of it all,” according to Clark,
meaning the epicenter Bronx’s
recent gun violence peak.
A youth summit organized
by Jacobi Hospital’s “Stand
Up To Violence” program will
take place on Friday while
more “out on the block” styles
of outreach are also expect to
come in the near future for the
Bronx.
Eve Hendricks, the mother
of fatally shot 17-year-old
Brandon Hendricks spoke to a
charged crowd this morning,
calling on more safe havens
and proper community space
for the city’s youth — something
that the mother of slain
15-year-old Lesandro “Junior”
Guzman-Feliz had also advocated
for.
“Staying inside won’t bring
my son back,” she told the
Bronx Times after the rally,
adding that “being out here
will and can make a difference
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in someone’s life.”
The distraught mother
said the most surreal of losing
Brandon has been not waking
him up or asking him what he
wanted for dinner each day,
though Hendricks says that
she can not hide behind her
grief.
“A lot of parents, mothers,
fathers, are going the same
thing I’m going through, we
have to speak out,” Hendricks
said.
District Attorney Clark
blamed the recent spike in
criminal violence on coronavirus
in part, saying that people
who have been in confi nement
are now out “settling score
new and old,” adding that job
loss and a lack of recreational
activities for youth are other
culprits in the crime wave.
She also said most importantly
it’s been a “no snitch
culture” that has factored to
so many shootings and other
assaults in recent weeks.
“It’s not snitching it’s caring,
that’s what we need people
Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson and Bronx DA Darcel Clark announce
‘Save Our Sons & Sisters’ a community driven anti-gun violence initiative.
(Alex Mitchell) Photos by Alex Mitchell
to do,” Clark told press following
the SOS announcement.
This newly formed community
pushback against violence
is one that will need the
intervention of law enforcement,
the DA believes.
“We need the police to help
us do this work,” the Clack
said, adding, “there are good
cops out there, the bad ones,
we’ve got things for them.”
Clark continued, expressing
a necessity for the “good
cops: that go after violent
criminals to be able to so in an
effi cient manner.
“We need the police to be
able to do their job…we’re
talking about shootings and
murders, the police are going
after those kind of people, you
think they’re going to go willingly?”
she said.
While much of the supporting
delegation was unable
to attend, SOS was also
supported by Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr., Congressman
Jose. E Serrano,
Senators Jose M. Serrano and
Luis Sepulveda along with Assemblywoman
Latoya Joyner
in addition to Bronx and Manhattan
councilwoman Diana
Ayala.
‘Save Our Sons and Sisters’
Bronx delegation launches anti-gun violence initiative
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718-931-4335
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