On Monday, Aug. 24, NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced that, going forward, additional police officers would be rostered at the weekends in an effort to curb the increased rates of gun violence seen across the Bronx, and across the City in recent months. The NYPD reported that 44 percent of shootings in the last month occurred on Saturdays and Sundays.

For the week ending Aug. 23, murder in the Bronx, rose by 400 percent compared to the same period last year. In the 52 precinct alone, two murders were reported in July within six days of each other. Suspects in both cases have since been arrested.

As part of a broader plan to stem the tide of gun violence in the Bronx, on Thursday, July 23, “A March to End Gun Violence,” was held in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, organized by Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark in conjunction with law enforcement, the clergy, community groups, youth leaders, and other elected officials, including City Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, City Councilman Andy King, Public Advocate Jumanne Williams, recently appointed Chief of Community Affairs at the NYPD, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, and others.

The event kicked off in Mott Playground on Morris Avenue where a group of about 200 people gathered, despite the extreme, early evening temperatures. Many wore T-shirts representing different anti-gun violence groups, including Operation Save Our Sons and Sisters, Guns Down Life Up, Save Our Streets (SOS), Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence (BRAG), Release The Grip (RTG), The Arc of Justice, NYC Health and Hospitals, Bronx Connect, Stand up to Violence,  and National Action Network.

Police and youth community leaders were seen playing basketball with teenagers and kids in the Mott Playground, before Clark spoke briefly to explain why the event was taking place. After some prayers were said, and amid a jovial atmosphere, the march got underway. For the duration of the route, marchers were flanked by NYPD officers and vehicles, as well as a gaggle of press teams.

Clark, Gibson, King and others defiantly led the marchers through the local blocks, sending their message loud and clear, with chants of, “SOS – Save our Streets!”, “Guns Down, Life Up!” and “Who’s Streets? Our Streets!”.

Members of the public, including many younger people, stopped what they were doing to watch and listen to the chants of those marching by. Some took out cell phones to record the march, while others raised their fists in solidarity or shouted out words of encouragement and support. Most, if not all wore masks.

At 170th Street and Sheridan Avenue, there was a brief pause for some additional prayers at the location where Anthony Robinson was shot in early July while crossing the street, as he held the hand of his six-year-old daughter, Khloe.

A number of speeches were given at the end of the march. Clark, sweat droplets pouring down her face as they had been throughout the route, thanked everyone for coming out on such a hot evening, and encouraged people to socially distance while listening to the speeches. “We did it!” she said, her voice growing hoarse. “A march to end gun violence! You’re out here because you care about your community, and that we love each other. That’s what this is all about!”

She said the marchers had come out to spread the word that residents were taking back their communities. “We cannot stand for this carnage, and this devastation,” she said. “We need your help. We cannot do this without you.” She said by showing up, the community was letting everyone know that they were there to help each other. “But we also need the help of those people who are not here as well, so you got to spread the word, okay?” she said. “Let everybody know that it’s their responsibility to help us take back our community. These small number of people who are causing these shootings, and these murderers should not be running our communities. It’s our community!”

Clark said they would also be reaching out to those other people in the days that followed. “My message this evening is unity,” she said. “And we see unity right here with all of you standing here, young and old, from all walks of life. You are all here, and for us to be unified, for us to solve this violence, we need the cooperation. We need to help the police get to these people who are killing our kids, who are killing our elders, who are killing ourselves.”

While Clark acknowledged that there was a lot of protesting taking place (referring to the Black Lives Matter protests), she said action was needed to protest the violence that was occurring within communities, against those who were killing that same community. “We need the courage, we need that courage from God,” she said.

“We need our cure violence and crisis management teams. You are here. You are the credible messengers. You stand right next to those who are thinking about picking up that gun. You’re the ones that could say, ‘Brother, put the gun down. Release the grip’.”

Clark brought additional context to the event when she said that there had been over 50 homicides in the borough since the beginning of the year, and 175 non-fatal shootings. “In the 44^th [precinct] alone, there’s been nine homicides,” she said, referring to the precinct in which the march took place.

Clark said that people marched for the many survivors of gun violence. She decried retaliatory killings, including the retaliatory killing for Anthony Robinson’s murder which took place just a few hours after he was shot. “Guess what happened today?” Clark said. “Anthony Robinson’s brother was arrested for the murder of those two men, so that’s retaliation. That’s shooting upon shooting. We have got to stop this.”

For her part, Gibson said, “It is important that you are here. It is important that you stand with us in solidarity with one voice, for one purpose, in unison to save our children, to give our young people a future, to make sure that they are success stories, and not statistics.”

“We are calling those out that use violence and weapons in our own community,” she said. “Enough is enough – we have got to do better. This is our community. These are our streets. These are our blocks, These are our children. These are our babies, These are our young kids – our young. These are our young queens, but most of all, this is our future. So, whether we walk, we jog, we stride, no matter what it is, we will always stand together on behalf of our children.”

Eve Hendricks, mother of 17-year-old Brandon Hendricks, who was shot in late June, also addressed the crowd. “I still refuse to believe that my boy was taken from me like that – prematurely,” she said. “Someone who’s headed somewhere, so if you’re such gangsters, come out! Face us! Face me! Let’s have a one-to-one. Tell me why you have people killed. If you want to kill someone – kill yourself. You walk with guns? Walk with a pen, walk with a book. Give kids books, give kids pens, give kids hope.”

Hendricks added, “And we’re all accountable, we are responsible. We are all responsible for each and every death, because we are not protecting these kids properly. We’re not finding things for them to do. We’re not. So, government, you got work to do. We’re not just talking – action! And like I said, until the day I die, I’m going to hold you accountable.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.