Unity in the Community Walk
Tuesday, July 12th @ 6:00pm
Walk Starts at 77th Precinct, 127 Utica Ave (Btw St. Marks Ave and Bergen St), Brooklyn, NY
Walk Ends At Lincoln Terrace Park (Rochester Ave and Eastern Pkwy), Brooklyn, NY
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Friend,
After my son was killed due to gun violence in 2005, I started “Lay the Guns Down Foundation” in his memory to make sure that tragedies such as his would not happen again. Love conquers Hate. Let's take a walk tomorrow in Crown Heights!
Michael Tucker, Founder, Lay the Guns Down Foundation
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Message from Senator Hamilton:
Now is a moment for our common humanity to act as a salve for all the hurt that has emerged from a truly horrifying series of events over the past three days – the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights, and the deaths of five police officers and injury to more in Dallas. We have families, friends, and communities suffering from tremendous loss. Additions to a catalog of suffering that needs none, among whose number are men, women and children. People like Sean Bell, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Trayvon Martin, Shereese Francis, Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Yvette Smith, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tanisha Anderson, Tamir Rice, Officer Wenjian Liu, Officer Rafael Ramos, and Freddie Gray – a list that, with 500 additions so far this year alone, tragically goes on, and on, and on.
We mourn with you. We pray for you. You are in our thoughts. If our thoughts and prayers are even a feather's worth of comfort in this time weighted with grief, then our collective expression of sympathy is well worthwhile.
In the days to come, we must dedicate ourselves to the work ahead. Consoling the grieving, acting in unison to speak out against violence, rebuilding confidence in policing and our justice system, promoting positive police-community relations, and reflecting on what longer-term changes we ought to institute, those are among the tasks that require our urgent attention. What we must not do, what I demand we collectively reject: the temptation to give in to anger, desolation, and despair. Anger provides no answer to anguish. Yes, today we confront heart-rending injury and loss. But we must hold tight to the abiding belief that justice prevails. And what’s more, commit to putting in the work so justice will prevail.
We can face down these challenges with the same courage on display last night in Dallas, when police sworn to protect and serve did just that. We can face down these challenges with the same courage of our forebears who fought for civil rights in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. And we can face down these challenges with the same courage that, determined to replace grievous injustice with justice, resolutely sang “We Shall Overcome.”
Join me in paying tribute to that courage in a Peace and Unity walk with our 71st Precinct and 77th Precinct.
-Senator Jesse Hamilton