Central City marches against violence
Marchers rail against violence
Crowd is thin, but passion is strong
Sunday, July 01, 2007
By Daniel Monteverde
Staff writer
About 30 community and religious leaders and citizens gathered in a circle and clasped hands Saturday morning on the steps of New Orleans City Hall to protest violence against the city’s youth.
In January, thousands of concerned citizens had gathered at the same site to demand city leaders take action to quell a rise in violent crime. This time, the much smaller group was on hand to begin a march through Central City to Taylor Playground.
The Central City Youth Against Violence march drew only a small crowd, but organizers said they are concerned about the number of lives saved on the streets.
“Jesus started with one,” City Councilman Oliver Thomas said. “It’s like we have a million spirits here acting for the protection of our youth.”
“We’ve come to let the devil know he doesn’t have a foothold,” said the Rev. Chante Sutton of God Who Cares Tabernacle.
“In saving the city, we have to save lives,” said Barbara Lacen Keller, director of constituent services for Councilwoman Stacy Head, whose office organized the 2-mile march.
Keller said the only way the city can make a positive turnaround is if everyday citizens work to build the momentum needed for change and vow no longer to remain silent about crime.
Albert Mims Jr. and his son, Cameron, 12, led the march, carrying a hand-painted canvas sign depicting three graves: two occupied, with children’s faces above them, and one empty with a question mark above it.
“No child should be next,” the sign said.
Mims, whose father was shot and killed 19 years ago, has the scars from a bullet wound on his own arm. He agreed with Keller that citizens need to overcome their fear of coming forward with information about crimes.
“Five people saw my father get shot. But no one knows anything,” he said.
Mims, a state Parole Board member and lifelong Central City resident, said he was marching for his son.
“Without him and without me, we have no future,” he said. “Today we’re marching to get your attention. This ain’t no Saints game where we’re on the sidelines.”
Mixed in with the marchers were several off-duty New Orleans police officers.
Sixth District Capt. Bob Bardy said that while it’s important for citizens to come together, it was just as important to have police at the march. He said his officers have a close relationship with those who live around the district station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near South Rampart Street.
“You’ll never find an area more community-oriented than the 6th District station,” he said.
Bardy said his officers work to build relationships with those in the neighborhood, adding that the station often is used for community functions. “You’ve got to break that barrier” that separates police and the community, he said.
As the marchers made their way through Central City, shouts of “Hallelujah” and “Walk with me, Lord” echoed through surrounding neighborhoods.
The shouts came from 13 member of the Nehemiah Restoration Program to assist recovering drug and alcohol addicts, sponsored by the Living Witness Church of God in Christ on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.
Decked out in a black T-shirt emblazoned with a fist clenching a cross, Nehemiah member Bryan Baugh, 25, said he was proud to be a part of something positive. “It was just beautiful,” he said.
Harry Carter and his twin brother, Harrison, both 18, were among the marchers. The two Central City residents said they’ve marched before to protest violence that sometimes is mere steps from their front door, and they won’t stop until the violence does.
“There needs to be a big revival,” Harry Carter said. “We’re losing too many people.”
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Daniel Monteverde can be reached at dmonteverde@timespicayune.com.
Several off-duty New Orleans police officers were part of a crowd of about 30 that gathered on the steps of City Hall and marched through Central City as a statement against violence.
