CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Community activists vowed to begin citizen patrols in some of the Charlotte neighborhoods hit hardest by crime.
Advocates with Brothers Helping Brothers, the West Boulevard Ministry, and Stop the Killing Crusade gathered in the Westerly Hills neighborhood in West Charlotte Saturday afternoon to announce a new initiative to combat crime.
“Nobody can save us from us but us,” said Rev. James Barnett, the founder of the Stop the Killing Crusade. We’ve gotta stop reaching out saying 'Black lives matter', and then when Blacks kill each other we don’t say anything."
Barnett said concerned citizens will soon begin going door to door and doing night walk in some of the neighborhoods that have higher violent crime rates.
According to Barnett, they chose the Westerly Hills community after a resident called saying she was afraid inside her own home.
“Every night or just about every night they have to hit the floor,” Barnett said. “They’re afraid of the gunshots being fired and they want something done.”
The recent crime statistics report from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department showed that violent crime increased 5% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same time period in 2020. Aggravated assaults increased by 13%. Homicides decreased by 2%. Police also seized 1,481 guns, an increase of 35%.
Reginald Drakeford, the president of Brothers Helping Brothers, a youth self-help agency, said he believes in order to make a meaningful change in the community, it will take years of commitment.
“You educate them on how to not get in those situations,” Drakeford said, referring to the situations that often escalate to violence. “Providing resources for them, avenues, placing them in the best position to be successful.”
Barnett said it would make a bigger impact if some of the leaders of the city came out and met with the youth.
“Our leaders who have made it never come back. They speak for us but never to us,” Barnett said. “We’ve got to be able to break that silence.”
In addition to neighborhood patrols, the organizers of the crimefighting campaign plan on holding a large, community event in September.
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