Dreams Of Peace Endure In Newark Amid Wave Of Gun Violence

NEWARK, NJ — Hopefully, dreams of peace can ultimately trump tragedy. But so far, it’s been a heartbreaking week in Newark when it comes to gun violence.

A recent wave of fatal shootings in the city has inspired a public outcry condemning the violence and mourning the victims. Two of the deaths – an 8-year-old boy who died of a “self-inflicted” gunshot wound on Sunday, and a teen found shot near a local high school on Monday – came as Newark celebrates its first-ever “Peace Week,” a series of events meant to spotlight positive choices and alternatives to violence.

“We cannot tolerate arbitrary violence and wanton crime in our community,” Mayor Ras Baraka said at a Tuesday news conference, during which he also announced the construction of a new public safety training facility in the city’s South Ward.

“We will not allow this city, as we have come such a long way, to deteriorate into a city of lawlessness,” Baraka said.

Crime has decreased significantly over the past few years, officials have maintained. The Newark Police Department reported a 30 percent drop in the number of shooting victims citywide between 2017 and 2018. In 2019, the number of shooting victims and shooting incidents declined another 39 percent.

After a spate of deadly shootings in October 2020, police noted that overall crime in the city was down 8 percent, and homicides were at the lowest rate in 60 years. Read More: Crime Is Dropping Big Time In Newark, Officials Say

But that doesn’t lessen the pain that the latest fatalities have wrought on the city, advocates say.

The most recent violence includes an 8-year-old boy who died of a “self-inflicted” gunshot wound on Sunday, and a teen found shot near a local high school on Monday, authorities said.

• Newark Child's Gunshot Death Was 'Self-Inflicted,' Police Say
• Newark Teen Fatally Shot Near High School; No Arrests Made

Other recent shootings have included:

• Aug. 2 - Members of the Newark Police Department responded to a multiple shooting at the Grace West Manor Complex on Irvine Turner Boulevard, where they located two victims with gunshot wounds. Surveillance video recorded a man waving members of a crowd, including small children, out of his way before firing a handgun towards the two victims. (Read Full Article)
• Aug. 15 - A 36-year-old man was found in a vehicle on the 400-block of Avon Avenue with fatal injuries. Another male victim was also shot, but sustained non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said. (Read Full Article)
• Aug. 16 - Newark police responded to a report of shots fired in the area of Central Avenue and South 9th Street. Officers found a 27-year-old Newark man in the street with a fatal gunshot wound. (Read Full Article)
• Aug. 23 - A fatal shooting claimed the life of a 34-year-old victim in the area of Spruce Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. (Read Full Article)

Public Safety Director Brian O’Hara said that local police are “working extremely hard” to address gun violence in Newark, including an ongoing push to seize illegal firearms.

“So far this year, more than 500 illegal guns have been removed from the streets of Newark,” O’Hara said.

• See related article: Trade Guns For Cash At Newark Police Buyback, 'No Questions Asked'

Meanwhile, the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery is working to get to the root cause of the issues surrounding gun violence, according to its director, Lakeesha Eure.

And yes, the city’s Peace Week will continue.

Eure said that one of the events, “24 Hours of Peace,” will kick off at Broad and West Market Streets beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, and will continue until 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4. The event will feature performances by KRS One, Freeway, Beanie Sigel and Jadakiss.

Eure added the city is working directly with 16 community-based organizations to “address the trauma that produces violence,” including the Newark Community Street Team, the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, Newark Community Solutions, the Brick City Peace Collective, the Newark Public School District and The Hubb.

One of those groups, the Newark AntiViolence Coalition (NAVC), said the struggle for peace is even more vital amid the recent spike in violence.

Earlier this week, the coalition said the recent shootings have “jarred the community” and placed a “traumatically pained cloud” over the beginning of the city’s first Peace Week.

“We are proud of the work that so many are doing to reduce this gun violence pandemic, but it when it happens like this, it still unnerves so many in our community – even though we have reduced the overall violence,” said longtime activists and NAVC media advocate Zayid Muhammad.

“Let us remember that COVID-19 is not the only public health crisis that our community is facing,” Muhammad said. “COVID and the enormous anxieties it has created compounds a community already grappling tooth and nail with a gun violence pandemic. And that doesn’t even touch the other challenges that stalk a community sharpened by the pandemic, such as joblessness, a housing crisis and food insecurity.”

And it’s time for the state and federal government to put their money where their mouths are, the NAVC says.

The coalition stated:

“The NAVC insists is that what should immediately happen is that cities like Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Trenton, Camden and others where a new generation of what many in social services are fondly describing as ‘Violence Interrupters,’ are properly and immediately given the resources that they need to stabilize and grow their work through those monies recently earmarked for community-based violence reduction strategies by the Biden Administration nationally and the Murphy administration locally.”

“Let’s cut the red tape, Muhammad said. “Let’s stop the politics of bureaucracy and politic favor and give these young men and women the resources they need to match the courage and competence that they’ve already exhibited, and which has allowed them to make the difference they’ve shown that they can truly make.”

• See related article: Healing From Violence: Newark Youth Find Refuge At 'The Hubb'
• See related article: Huge Anti-Violence Rally In Newark Includes Gang Truce Talks
• See related article: Newark Joins National Violence Prevention Alliance

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