Oakland, CA, 7 March 2020 – Bucking a trend, Oakland has actually seen its gun crime go down, and on the 7th a Peace Walk was held in celebration.
A coalition of gun control organizations, Black Lives Matter and others have been working on improving the situation in Oakland, a city that has been one of the most dangerous in the US for gun violence for years until recently.
The Guardian Newspaper reported that before the peace walk members of the Golden State Warriors – including Kerr and the players Steph Curry and Klay Thompson – joined the former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot during a 2011 assassination attempt in Arizona, as well as Pastor Michael McBride, the national director of the Live Free Campaign, and Oakland officials and gun violence prevention organizers for a private meeting to review Oakland’s successes in violence reduction.
Reflecting on the work that the community has done, Pastor McBride told reporters that getting local financial support for things like counseling and job training has been a key piece of Oakland’s success. Now, he hopes that this investment will come from the federal level so that other cities who are struggling with gun violence will follow suit.
For this action – all you have to do is read and hopefully share this article, and if you can, please post to tell us at One Pulse if your town/area/state have any such initiatives going on – we may lobby to repeat the success Oakland’s having.
ACTION
Why is it important to share this article? Many people think that the NRA (and Russia) have a stranglehold over America when it comes to guns, and that we just have to accept things the way they are. This coalition is making a difference in a really tough area – and just by trying, they are showing that things can change. Spread a little hope: share this article.
Read the article here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/07/oakland-peace-march-gun-violence-warriors-gabby-giffords
Share the article if you would; you may want to post along the lines of : people working together have lowered gun crimes in Oakland – we can all learn from them https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/07/oakland-peace-march-gun-violence-warriors-gabby-giffords
And then if you would – please post back on the Action Alert thread if you know of any similar initiatives near you, or anyone trying to set any up that you’ve heard of.
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