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Latest News
A plea for peace through prayer
by Terri Sanginiti, Delaware News Journal
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Councilmen turn to religious organizations for anti-violence rally |
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Through the years, city officials have tried a variety of methods to keep violence down in the streets of Wilmington. This spring they\’re trying something new.
Some councilmen have aligned themselves with a variety of faith-based organizations and turned to these religious crowds, hoping that prayer-based events will mend relationships among ethnic and religious groups and keep shootings and homicides down this summer.
Their first effort kicks off today with a 1 p.m. non-violence rally at Judy Johnson Park at Third and Clayton streets.
"We hope to do one rally a month in different sections of Hilltop to keep tempers from flaring and homicides down," said City Councilman Kevin Kelley.
Kelley, along with Councilman Sam Prado and Paul Ignudo, have joined forces with various religious communities, including St. Paul\’s Roman Catholic Church, the Interfaith Building Blocks for Wilmington, West Side Crime Group, and Clubs of the 70s to pray for a stop to the violence plaguing Wilmington.
The effort is a response to a bloody 2008 in Wilmington streets: 26 people were killed and 125 shot, figures which broke a record for the city.
This year, the violence seems to have tapered off with just three homicides in the first quarter of the year but it hasn\’t stopped others from feeling jaded about the violence to come. Their hope is to help those who may be prone to crime to find peace in their hearts and learn about others whom they may see as the enemy.
"We realize that we have to get everyone working together," Kelley said. "People have given up hope. People do not have faith anymore."
That\’s why, organizers said, they are turning to spirituality as a tool. "What we\’re attempting to do is form a connection between Catholics, Christians, Muslims, and Jews and come together as brothers to strike a blow for righteousness against crime in our community," said Brother Lamotte X. Chandler, a member of the Clubs of the 70s.
Chandler said his group, made up of men who were gang members in the1970s and now have turned their lives around, blames lack of faith for the violence. His group has set a goal of signing up 1,000 men to join a June 27 march for peace.
They worry about the upcoming months and the patterns of violence they say occur in the summer.
"We know the warmer it gets, that\’s when it starts to happen," he said of the rise in crime." We have to get to the heart of the community and get to these young men. A lot of us have been there, done that."
Anyone who wants to join them is welcome, they said,
"We\’re calling on those people to talk to the young men on the corners who are causing the problems in the community," he said. "The police cannot do it themselves."
Ed Klinge, of the Interfaith Building Blocks of Wilmington, said the interfaith coalition is going block by block to talk to youth, families and neighborhoods.
"We try to do it systematically," Klinge said. "We\’re going to try to create relationships with youth on the street as an alternative to getting into the drug culture."
It is essential to engage the voice of the youth and give them creative options to pursue in their lives, Klinge said. |
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Nextwork.