Detroit residents, elected officials turn out for march against gun violence

Community safety stood at the forefront as state and local officials joined residents Saturday at a church on Detroit’s east side for a rally and march against gun violence.

Hundreds flocked to the Church of the Messiah for its 17th annual Silence the Violence event, one of the largest anti-gun violence marches in the country. A packed audience listened as leaders —including U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing; Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist; Detroit Police Chief James White and Detroit City Councilman James Tate —spoke to attendees before the crowd took their call for peace to the city’s streets.

Officials spoke of the need to combat gun violence through community unity and legislative actions.

“The issue of gun violence is all of our responsibility, every single one of us, and no one’s role is more important than the other,” said Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield. “Elected officials, clergy, organizations, nonprofits, businesses, block club members, everyone has a role to reduce gun violence.”

It’s time to put an end to the cycle of gun violence through action, said Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.

“There are too many parents who bury children to gun violence, there are too many brothers who bury sisters to gun violence, there are too many children who bury their own parents to gun violence,” Gilchrist said. “This is something that we don’t have to accept.

“It’s our responsibility that we use the tools at our disposal to do everything we can in our power to make sure that people can get to tomorrow, to make sure that families can be whole as they get to next week, to make sure that everyone can have full access to that dream of health and wealth that gun violence has cut short for too many people in this city, this state, and in this country.”

Slotkin told the crowd that gun ownership must be safe and responsible as she recalled learning to hunt with guns as a child and carrying guns in war overseas.

“Michigan is the place where we’re going to break the idea that either you’re a gun owner or you care about the safety of our children,” Slotkin said.

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A key issue behind gun violence is unsecured firearms, said Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington. He encouraged gun owners to keep their weapons safely secured, especially when children are home alone this summer. The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office has free gun locks available to community members.

The event got its start in 2007 with Detroit residents marching in their neighborhood to honor loved ones killed by gun violence, according to organizers. It’s grown over the years to a thousand-person event, including a marching band and community resource fair.

Janice Nash, a retired educator from Detroit, said the event represents an initiative to come together and protect the community — “saving lives, not only children, but everybody,” she said.

Following the speeches, a large, diverse crowd of all ages took to the neighborhood streets, carrying signs and chanting. Led by a marching band, attendees made their way along East Lafayette Street to Van Dyke, then down Kercheval Avenue to East Grand Boulevard before ending back at the church. The procession was flanked by Detroit police on foot, on bicycles, on horseback and in police cars and vans, securing the route and blocking off roads to vehicular traffic.

Residents watched from their windows, front porches and sidewalks as the marching band played, dancers and twirlers performed and marchers shouted chants like “silence the violence” and “this is our city, keep it safe.”

The marching band, Church of the Messiah’s band, is a literacy program that helps lead area high school students to college, said Pastor Barry Randolph. Daron Maravin, a recent graduate of Oak Park High School, played the drums and cymbals in the marching band and enjoyed the opportunity to meet new friends, he said.

“I get to play with people that I never met before. I’ve been playing the drums since middle school, so that got me encouraged to play with them,” Maravin said.

Bringing more voices into the local gun violence prevention movement is key, Nash said, adding:

“The more people that can come aboard to support the cause and get the message across, the better.”