Stop The Killing


Saturday I attended a “Stop the Killing” Black History Rally hosted by the Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives (F.F.U.N.), Mr. Stevie Moore founder and president.

The well attended rally was an effort to motivate the community into taking action against crime in Memphis. It was appropriate that this was held at the Mitchell Community Center because only last week there was a shooting at Mitchell High School. Mr. Moore, whose son was murdered, spoke of the need for more community involvement. In an earlier interview with the Commercial Appeal Mr. Moore spoke of the need for people, especially in the black community, to become more involved in stopping this senseless violence.

“Some may describe the attitude in the black community as apathetic. Some will say there is a feeling of hopelessness and despair among black people. But have we forgotten our history? Have we forgotten what it took to make other changes in our communities -- the blood, sweat, tears and loss of lives it took to get where we are today? Shame on us for merely asking "Why?" and not doing more ourselves to seek solutions to the problem of violent crime. We too, as black people, can create our own initiatives. As a unified body, we can stop the escalating crime that is eating away at the very essence of our communities. We must unite as neighbors, families, friends and co-workers. We must use our voting power and spending power to demand a change from our government.

I exhort churches to adopt neighborhoods where you have established your ministries. I encourage organizations involved with youths to unite so that the services provided are long-term and consistent. It is imperative that we create "out of the box" alternatives to improve the quality of life in our city. Let us not wait for one individual to save us, but instead gather together as a collective force to save our own future.

Let's not ask: What should happen? Let's demand change. It took one horrendous crime in Chickasaw Gardens to prompt residents there to respond without question or pause.”

In the coming weeks I will discuss how we came to find ourselves in this situation.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

BET THERE WERE NO PRESS. ONLY WHEN SOMEBODY GETS KILLED DO THEY COME OUT. IF IT BLEEDS IT LEADS.

Anonymous said...

You're going to hear a lot of talk from the politicians about making schools safer. If they could have made it safer then why didn't they do it sooner? That's because they won't do what they know they need to do to make it safer. Oh yea, they can put the medal detectors up but bottom line they need to take these bad children and send them to a separate school and let the children who want to learn get an education.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Moore is doing a good job. more people need to stop hiding in their houses and start calling the police on these criminals. It ain't snitching it protecting your community.

When people stop crying about crime and start doing something about it the community will get better.

Reginald Milton said...

To 1:22 P.M.

The Tri-State Defender was present at the rally, but I saw no other media.

Anonymous said...

And Mr. Mayor keep saying we need to consolidate. There is no way the county is going for this as long as you have these shootings occurring in Memphis schools.

Memphis you need to clean up your on house before you ask us to move in together!

A concerned citizen from Cordova.

Anonymous said...

mr. milton this is the first time to your site. its very nice. my two children have been out of school for over twenty years now. i am glad because it would make me a nervous wreck. the children today are not like they were in 1970. there is no parental concern. we need to invest more money in helping the community work its way out of this.

Anonymous said...

I'm still laughing at your SMILE! for Valentine. That is so funny.

The work Mr. Moore is doing is being done by a lot of groups out here, but they don't get any attention. The press doesn't care about good deeds. I remember something Mayor Herenton said. He said that a reporter was trying to find out how many days he had taken off because the Mayor stated that he hadn't taken a day off in some years. The reporter dug through payroll documents and other forms desperate to prove the Mayor had lied. When he found out the Mayor was telling the truth he dropped the story.

If there was a robbery and the robber was caught, why is that Breaking News?