Christmas violence makes residents question safety of N.O.
2nd January 2019 · 0 Comments
Multiple shootings in eastern New Orleans and Algiers on Dec. 24 and 25 have prompted some residents to question how safe they are in the city and how much progress has been made in efforts to curb violent crime.
The incidents, which included at least two murders and a 15-year-old who was shot in the neck while sitting in the window of his Algiers home, came on the heels of NOPD reports the said the City would end the year with the lowest murder total sine 1971.
“It’s too much, dealing with this kind of senseless violence on Christmas day,” eastern New Orleans resident Nia James told The Louisiana Weekly. “There is nothing about this that is normal.”
James said she hopes that the children who witness the bloodshed don’t see it as normal.
“We have to teach them that what is happening here should not be happening and needs to end,” she said.
Much of the violence in New Orleans seems to be heavily concentrated in certain neighborhoods in eastern New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward, Central City and Algiers.
“I’s almost like these neighborhoods have replaced the housing projects that were torn down after Katrina,” Ramessu Merriamen Aha, a New Orleans businessman and former congressional candidate, told The Louisiana Weekly. “You see heavily concentrated acts of crime and violence in these areas while other parts of the city have become less dangerous.”
While that may be true, areas like Lakeview and the Garden District are not immune to the kind of crime and violence that compel many residents to rush home before the sun sets and lock the doors until the sun comes up.
“The reason you still see this kind of crime and violence is because not enough is being done to address the chronic poverty, despair, anger and hopelessness that define the live of too many residents,” community activist Al Mims told The Louisiana Weekly. “We can’t sop the violence without addressing the poverty, hopelessness and despair that destabilize our families and communities.”
Mims said leaders need to consider how laws, policies and practices impact those most vulnerable and find ways to reach young people before they lose hope.
At this year’s Night Out Against Crime, Mayor LaToya Cantrell remembered the story of Chance Smith, a teenager in Algiers who was shot and killed in August. Smith’s story is one reason among many for an anti-crime initiative Cantrell is calling “Cure Violence.”
“Cure Violence will build upon the work of Ceasefire, but this is not about a slogan. It’s about embracing the fact we need to cure violence across the board. The Cure Violence is focused on creating social and behavioral campaigns to reduce violence and attack the problem at its core,” said Cantrell.
The Ceasefire program uses violence interrupters and outreach workers with street credibility to interrupt or prevent violent situations. Cure Violence intends to stop the spread of violence by viewing it as disease. NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison reminded people that it takes an entire community to change a criminal culture.
“Exchanging information where we can talk about crime, and solutions to come and teach members to be more proactive with members of their own solutions,” said Harrison.
According to the mayor’s office, Cure Violence will also put outreach workers in hospitals to be with families and friends when a young person is shot, to start the healing cycle and hopefully put a stop to potential retaliation.
This article originally published in the December 31, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
