Trending

Neighborhood group takes to Chicago streets to quell violence

CHICAGO — A group of activists have banded together to patrol neighborhood streets and reclaim them from violence with a message of peace.

“The Original Men in Black” walked the streets Friday night with a message of peaceful persistence, hoping to set a tone for weekends, which have been rocked by gun violence recently, WLS reported.

“We’ve lost so many of our children, so many of our babies,” Pastor Victoria Brady, ABJ Community Services, told WLS. “We’re here this evening to say what we as a people will do for ourselves. We will reclaim the love in our own community.”

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown welcomes the support. The department deployed its summer patrol unit, increasing officer presence in areas that have been at the epicenter of violent outbreaks, WBBM reported.

"So we will be deploying our resources around historical data, where violence has occurred the last few weekends and historically over the last couple years, but we also will be partnering with the community," Brown said.

The community-led effort is trying to quell the gun violence that included 90 victims last weekend, WBBM reported.

“Bullets do not belong in the bodies of babies. We have lost so many of our children, so many of our babies, and we are saying not so,” Brady told WBBM. “If anybody is going to make a change it will be us. We need to lead our own cause.”