Pleas for peace over Labor Day weekend
By Nelson A. King
In the wake of a surge in
gun violence across New York
City, community, anti-violence
leaders and elected officials are
fervently pleading for a peaceful
Labor Day weekend.
Last Sunday, elected officials
joined community groups and
legislators in a march and vigil
through the streets of Flatbush
and East Flatbush.
Among those participating
were Congresswoman Yvette
D. Clarke, Assemblymembers
Diana Richardson and Jo’anne
Simon, Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Neighborhood Association,
Save Our Streets and East
Flatbush Village.
Representatives from the
Office of Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie,
who represents the 20th Senatorial
District in Brooklyn, also
participated.
The legislators and community
groups, as well as antiviolence
leaders from 60 organizations
that comprise the New
York Crisis Management System
(CMS) are also calling for more
resources and a push for peace
ahead of expected violence over
the Labor Day weekend.
“We see people demanded for
structural change in the light of
the many George Floyds and the
many men and women of color
that we see abused by police,”
said K. Bain, chief executive
officer of Community Capacity
Development and founder of the
696 Queensbridge CMS site.
“It comes to accumulation
boiling point, and there has to
be transformational change,”
he added. “There must be a redirection
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of resources, and people
won’t accept less than that.”
The annual West Indian Day
Parade will be celebrated in a
series of small performances in
an online Zoom event, where up
to 3,000 people will be able to
watch, according to ABC Eyewitness
News.
“We would love to have 3,000
viewers), definitely,” organizer
Cecille Ford said. “The groups
that are performing will be
actually in their homes and
their backyards, and with their
families.”
Community leaders and
activists are pleading with residents
to stay off the streets
this weekend and to celebrate
Caribbean heritage in their
own homes and backyards.
“We all want to be at barbecues
this weekend,” City Council
Member Laurie Cumbo said.
“We all want to be at parties,
we want to be at celebrations,
we want to do the nightlife. We
want to do the club. But this is
not the weekend.
“This is the weekend to stay
home with family,” she added.
“This is not that weekend.”
CMS is a network of 24
community sites working in
collaboration with community
based organizations and 10
city agencies to co-produce
public safety in New York City,
according to ABC News.
It reported that there were
10 shootings with 11 victims
on Monday, compared to four
shootings with four victims on
the same day in 2019.
Meantime, New York City
Council Member Ritchie
Torres and Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams are calling
for an investigation into
reported New York Police
Department (NYPD) work
stoppage or slowdown and to
what extent crime has risen as
a consequence.
The allegations of a widespread
slowdown have been
borne out by a nearly doubling
of shootings over the summer
and news reports of an upward
trend in NYPD response times
for crimes in progress, they
said, according to ABC News.
“There is a perception
among members of the public,
as well as elected officials, that
rising violence in the city can
be attributed to a work slowdown,
but the reality matters
more than the perception,”
Torres told reporters.
“The NYPD is making fewer
gun arrests, is solving fewer
gun cases and responding
more slowly to gun crimes in
progress,” he added.
Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene (center), Assembly
Member Jo’anne Simon (far left) and Assembly Member
Richardson (purple mask) discuss the need for the city to
provide resources to combat gun violence. Offi ce of
Assemblywoman Diana Richardson
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