CLEVELAND — A group of Cleveland pastors gathered Tuesday morning to address the recent spike of violent incidents in the city of Cleveland.
“For us, there are too many guns on the street," said Rev. Dr. Larry Macon Sr. of the Mount Zion Church of Oakwood Village. "There are too many people with criminal records, also, that are on the street. There is a shortage of values about what is right, what is wrong, what is acceptable and what should be condoned and what is condemned. Violence, for us, is at an epidemic level like COVID-19 has been in our city – and we must call on our local, state and national leaders to call it, if you will, a national health crisis when it comes down to this thing called violence.”
Rev. Dr. Tony Minor, manager of faith community outreach at MetroHealth, outlined a possible plan in combatting and responding to violence. At the press conference, he said the response has to be comprehensive and holistic, involving response from the entire community, and not just the mayor's office, for example. He also noted that any response needs to be evidence based.
"Number one is getting the skills of violence interruption into the hands of everyday people," he said. "Secondly, we can work through the churches to make sure every church has access to a community health worker."
Third, Minor said churches can equip people, especially young people, with crisis response tools. Additionally, he said local faith leaders can also get out into the communities more to reach people in-person.
"They're not going to just hear from us, but they're going to see us," he said. "It's not so much what we say, it's what we do. The best words are words that they hear directly and that they see."
Macon Sr. also urged unity, and said it will take everyone to address the issue of violence.
"The message today was stop what you're doing, talk to someone, pray with someone, and make a change," he said.
We streamed their entire press conference, which you can watch in full below...
Prior to the press conference, the Greater Cleveland United Pastors in Mission (UPM) issued the following statement:
UPM wants to address the city’s spike in shootings and especially the one that recently occurred in the Downtown’s Warehouse District. There is also a spike in shootings, and many challenges in preventing violence during the summer months. The pastors have a plan to create awareness and are requesting that all community leaders hold summits across the city to address the issue.
The city of Cleveland is becoming and recently had one of the most violent weekends in several years. More than 24 people were shot, and 4 killed as Cleveland experienced another violent weekend. There are too many guns on the streets, and too many people with criminal records on the streets. There is also a shortage of values about what is right, what is wrong, what is acceptable, what should be condoned, and what is condemned. We want the Mayor & City Council to re-engage.