Arva Rice, of the NY Urban League says, "I really hope that this is an opportunity for community members to take action."
From the head of the Urban League, to the leader of the NAACP.
"I'm here to say to the mayor, I'm willing to work, I'm willing to work with you," says Hazel Dukes of the NAACP. To the mayor of New York City who brought them to Gracie Mansion. A single pledge today, to work together to stop the shootings.
Moises Perez of Alianza Dominicana says, "He was listening, he was learning himself from what people were saying, and he was also contributing his own thoughts about it, so it was a really healthy dialogue." After the shooting of Vada Vasquez, the arrests of five young men in that case, and the gunfire that wounded an elderly Harlem woman, there is a growing sense of crisis.
Police officers handed out anti-violence fliers outside Bronx schools today.
As Mayor Bloomberg met with 15 ministers, civil rights leaders, and outreach workers, all were determined to brainstorm a strategy.
The Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network says, "The question is, when does the next stray bullet hit me, or somebody I love?"
The Reverend Al Sharpton blamed artists and entertainers for glamorizing violence in videos and music.
Mayor Bloomberg was urged Friday to expand community programs, to give kids an alternative to the culture of the street.
Richard Greene of the Crown Heights Youth Collective says, "We can't ask them to put the weapons down without putting something else in their hands, and that's what I think he has walked away from this realizing."
