Newark Peace Activists Plan Vigil Near Site Of Fatal Shootings

NEWARK, NJ — Last month, police found 25-year-old Juan Sharonda Fonrose on the 400-block of Central Avenue in Newark with fatal gunshot wounds. Five years earlier, Deborah Burton – a 62-year-old grandmother from Maplewood – died in a shooting near 3rd and Dickerson streets … not far from where Fonrose was found.

And sadly, they’re not the only ones who have lost their lives to violence in the neighborhood, advocates say.

On Wednesday, peace activists will hold an anti-violence vigil in the names of Fonrose, Burton and other victims of violence across the city. The rally will take place at 5 p.m. at the intersection of 4th Street and Central Avenue – an area that has seen multiple shootings and murders over the past several years.

Now, residents and community leaders in Newark are saying “enough is enough,” according to Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele.

Akinyele – a high school history and African studies teacher in the city – said that Wednesday’s anti-violence vigil will connect the community to resources and organizations in place to stop all forms of violence in the city, particularly in Black and Brown communities.

Akinyele said he believes that one of the factors behind the recent “senseless violence” in Newark’s Black community is the “lack of the knowledge of self” – which the vigil will hopefully help build. Read More: Newark Teacher: Here's Why I Greet My Students With 'Hotep'

Akinyele isn’t the only local community leader who has been calling for peace and unity as deadly shootings continue to happen in New Jersey’s largest city.

“We’ve got the right one to make this call to unite the community in this critical moment in order to isolate and check this violence and get our community the help it needs now,” said Keesha Eure, the former chair of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition (NAVC), who now serves as the director of Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery.

Other members of that city office – which was launched by Mayor Ras Baraka – include Sharif Amenhotep, whose teenage daughter, Sanaa, was abducted and shot to death in South Carolina in 2021. Read More: Newark Mourns For Slain Daughter Of Anti-Violence Activist

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