Louisville: Yet Another American City with a Violent Black Population Necessitating a March Against Violence

Stuff Black People Don’t Like
January 8, 2016

How many American cities saw black people gather together and march against the violence their community was responsible for in 2015?

Baltimore? Check.

Indianapolis? Check.

Newark? Check.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh? Check, Check.

Washington D.C? Check.

Memphis? Yeah… check.

Chicago? Do you even have to ask?

New Orleans? Oh yeah, a definite check.

Google is your friend and you can easily find more cities where black individuals broke the law at such a high rate the black community decided to come together and march against it…

So how about Louisville? [Louisville residents march downtown to remember 81 homicide victims in Louisville this year, WDRB.com, 12-20-15]

There have been 81 homicides in 2015 in Louisville.

Some community members say that number is way too high. On Sunday, they marched the streets of west Louisville, hoping to build trust and relationships so no more lives have to be lost.

“81 homicides is 81 too many,” said Louisville Urban League President Sadiqa Reynolds.

Sunday afternoon, Reynolds held a community gathering outside of the Louisville Urban League. The front yard was still covered in crosses, each one representing a life lost.

“Murder is not normal,” Reynolds said.

Mothers, fathers and community leaders were all focused on finding a solution to end the violence.

“Jobs is a big part of this, education is another part, mental health is another part. So we want to say to everyone, if it’s about jobs, justice, education, health and housing, then it’s about the Urban League,” Reynolds said.

Family members of murder victims want the killing to stop, saying it hits too close to home and more loved ones do not need to be lost.

“(We) don’t want any other family or young black males to have to experience being taken away like that,” said one father, whose son was murdered.

Following a brief prayer, Louisville residents as well as state and city leaders walked down West Broadway.

For four blocks, they read the names of all 81 homicide victims.

“These are people that were loved by somebody,” Reynolds said. “They were important to someone.”

One of the names read during the walk was that of 33-year-old Michael Thomas Junior.

“My son was murdered on Bluegrass Avenue on July the 5th,” Michael Thomas Sr. said.

He thinks we need to improve the justice system, have more gun control and bring everyone in the community together from east to west, regardless of skin color.

“There are a lot of times we do these marches and later on it has died down,” Thomas said. “We gotta keep goin’, we can’t stop.”

“We are not mostly murderers. We are not mostly uneducated. We are not mostly built to go to jail, so we need to make sure we change the narrative,” Reynolds said.

So what are black people built to do? Provide hilarity for those who can see. [Anti-violence advocate wounded in shooting, Louisville Courier-Journal, 12-20-15]

A local anti-violence advocate and youth mentor, who himself turned from drug-dealing after he was nearly killed in 1996, was shot early Friday morning while on the way to his son’s school for a Christmas gathering.

Aubrey Williams Jr., 37, was shot just before 9 a.m. Friday near the West End School, 3628 Virginia Ave., said Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, where Williams formerly worked as a youth development specialist.

Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said a man was shot once near the school, sustaining non-fatal injuries, though she did not identify the man. The wounded man was picked up by a passer-by, who began to drive him to the hospital, though an ambulance met them and transported the man to the University of Louisville Hospital.

Smiley said there are no suspects as of Friday afternoon.

Now a case manager with the Kentucky Youth Career Center’s Right Turn 2.0 program, Williams mentors youth who have had contact with the juvenile justice system to help set them on a stable life path.

The Morehouse College graduate was named a “West Louisville Connector” earlier this year by the Louisville Leadership Center, as part of an initiative to recognize those working to effect positive change in West Louisville.

In his teens, Williams racked up a number of gun- and drug-related charges and was kicked out of school. In 1996, then 18, he was shot in the hip during a drug-related fistfight at Broadway and 34th Street.

The shooting made headlines because Williams’ father, attorney and former state House member Aubrey Williams Sr., fought for greater gun control during his time as a legislator.

Just last month, Williams Jr. and his son were among about 50 concerned residents at a Stop the Violence meeting at the Louisville Urban League.

Williams spoke at the event, describing how the 1996 shooting was a wake-up call to turn his life around.

Attendees discussed various ways to curb the increase in shootings and killings during the event, organized by Nation of Islam Minister Jerald Muhammad, with Brothers Helping Brothers.

You know the best way to curb the increase in shootings and killings in a city?

Want to take a guess?

Have as small a black population as possible.