Amid Uptick In Harlem Shootings, Leaders Rally Against Violence

HARLEM, NY — Community leaders took to the streets of East Harlem on Friday to march against gun violence, trying to stem an uptick in shootings across the city that has been felt in the neighborhood.

Chanting “Stop the silence, end gun violence” and “Guns down, life up,” the group — composed of clergy, elected officials and peace advocates — walked south from 122nd Street and First Avenue, winding through two public housing developments.

The rally came as New York City contends with a painful spike in gun violence during the early months of 2021. Through Sunday, 416 people had been injured or killed in shootings across the city, compared to just 242 in the same period last year — a nearly 72 percent increase.

That trend has not spared Harlem. In East Harlem's 25th Precinct, where Friday's rally was held, eight shootings have been reported this year compared to five during the same stretch of 2020, according to NYPD statistics.

The pattern holds in other parts of the neighborhood, like Central Harlem's 32nd Precinct, where shootings rose from eight last year to 12 thus far in 2021.

The rally aimed to end complacency when it comes to shootings, said Omar Jackson, director of East Harlem SAVE, which helped organize it.

“A lot of times people just sit by if it doesn’t affect them directly,” Jackson said. “We’re just so used to seeing things happening that it doesn’t even affect us.”

Chaplain Robert Rice, an NYPD clergy liaison who serves as Harlem Hospital chaplain and who led Friday's march, said that since January 2020 he has met with 486 shooting victims.

In 88 cases, he has had to inform families that their child did not survive.

"It's wearing and tearing on me," he told those gathered on Friday.

The march winded its way through busy neighborhood streets, drawing thumbs-up from passersby as attendees chanted messages of anti-violence. It concluded at the James Weldon Johnson Houses, a housing complex that has recently suffered "a lot of shootings," including incidents in broad daylight, Rice said.

Others in attendance included Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Street Corner Resources founder Iesha Sekou, mayoral candidate Ray McGuire and State Sen. Brad Hoylman.

Explanations for the rise in shootings since last year have included the economic instability and grief wrought by the pandemic, as well as boredom felt by people cooped up at home.

Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled out a new anti-gun violence program to deploy cops to violent areas and create a task force focused on potential perpetrators, ahead of what some fear will be a bloody summer.