BHM's Community Night Out Forum Points To Ways To Stop Violence
The Giant Steps, ministry program at Brown-Hutcherson Ministries works with teens and adults, ages 15 to 24, some of whom are at - risk. Giant Steps convened a Community Night Out, Thursday at the church located at 618 Jefferson in Southeast Grand Rapids. The purpose of the forum was for the community to give their input and for them to listen to speakers address stopping the violence that continues to plague the city of Grand Rapids.
The Community Night Out aimed to touch on issues such as Building a stronger community, healing our community, improvement in our community and helping to stop the violence within our community.
"I want to make sure that we understand that we have to step up our game, and we have to be honest about what it is that we can change to curve the violence," said Pastor Nathaniel Moody. "A lot of this violence is with children who are rebelling. What I mean by that is that many of them are adults with child - like mentalities and we have got to change that."
Reggie Howard of Giant Steps shared a video with the audience of a fourteen - year old African American girl whose father had died as a result of gun violence. She was a contestant on American Idol and rapped about putting the guns down.
"I get choked up when I think about this fourteen - year - old girl who has to not only deal with the death of her father due to violence, but she also raps about having to deal with her grandmother being on cocaine," said Howard.
He continued, "There is a lot of suffering and hurt that goes on and we need to understand that. This story is near and dear to my heart because she is trying to get the same message of putting the guns down that I am."
Eric Foster of Banks & Company spoke about his grandfather teaching him about the importance of having a leader family on each block who set the tone for others who lived on the block.
"Two or three leader families on every block who basically write the rule book for how everyone operates and functions within that neighborhood," said Foster. "Keeping up your house, taking care of your kids, having discipline; but once it is time to update the play book there has to be more leader families educating everyone on the rules and how to conduct themselves on that block. There is no overnight cure, it is a slow process."
Sgt. James Butler and Sgt. Timothy Hoornstra of the Grand Rapids Police Depart addressed the audience about the importance of the police and community working together to curb the violence and making Grand Rapids an overall safe city for everyone.
The final speaker was Elijah Libbett of Moms On A Mission who spoke to the audience about his involvement with trying to prevent people who are in the streets from committing crimes before they happen.
"A lot of the time when someone's loved one gets shot and killed, the first thing they holler is 'we need someone to come forward and tell what they saw'. No. We need someone to stop it before it starts because then it doesn't get to that point,' said Elijah.
"One of the root problems of this violence in our community is that there is nothing for our kids to do. The city is closing down all the swimming pools; our kids have to be privileged to get into the Boys and Girls Clubs, so it is a real problem for a lot of our kids."
Libbett went on to say, "At Mothers On A Mission we are about prevention. We are trying to stop the violence before it starts. Our kids are misunderstood, and they have nothing to do in the city of Grand Rapids. The seed is the city of Grand Rapids, and until they start investing in our families and our kids, then we are going to have this problem."
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