Statement on violence in our community

The Community of Curtis Bay Association stands for peace and is shaken to the core by the violence that has taken the lives of far too many this year. Waking up to the news of an officer shot just steps from our community recreation center – now hanging on to her life – brings us to the very depths of despair. Every life lost and threatened by violence pulls at the fabric that binds us all.  

Bernard Knotts
, Jacques McFadden
, Timothy Orem
, Tameshia Robeson
, Jayvon Montgomery
, Delante Laboo
, Tayshawn David

These are the names of lives lost this year alone in our small community in far South Baltimore. So many other names you will never read are forever scarred by the violence threatening to rip us apart. We have reached this point together though and please let us all see that the only way forward is together – across all forces that would divide us – as human beings that all come into this world with a basic right to live a life of dignity.

It is the mission of our community association to foster and cultivate the necessary relations between law enforcement, community residents, business owners, workers and government entities to promote and advance a practice of public safety that is forward thinking and people-focused. Moreover, now is the time to redouble the existing community-led efforts to develop the heart of our community where far too much violence, including this morning’s incident, took place.

The growing solidarity across Curtis Bay, Brooklyn, Cherry Hill, Lakeland, Mt. Winans and Westport gives us hope that we truly can be stronger together as we work to realize a proactive vision for equitable community redevelopment. Together, we are ready to create housing where we now see blighted vacant homes, jobs where we see acres of empty brownfield sites, and opportunities for youth where we now see an underfunded recreation center. If our stated commitment to rebuild our communities as we rebuild trust is to mean anything then let us demonstrate it right now with our collective actions.
 
We stand with the officer, with her family, with the families of all those who have been struck by violence. We call upon love to guide the way forward. The love that calls us to care for one another. The love that calls us to protect. The love that calls us to develop and nurture something that has been forgotten, neglected and subject to so much violence.

1 thought on “Statement on violence in our community”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *