Community Comes Together to Battle Violence

With violence being at an all time high this year in Dallas many different groups are getting involved trying to let their voices be heard.

This week there was a conference held with the title, “Jesus and Justice”.

This conference called together pastors from all over to discuss social injustices from the sanctuary to the streets. Many of the pastors said that police brutality, health care, education, courts, housing and Covid 19 are the biggest reasons why clergy is forced to step in and fight for change. The number one topic that was touched on in this conference was voter suppression of people of color.

In a more hands on approach there have been city counsel approved full time positions called, “Violence interrupters”. These individuals work 24/7 and are placed in high crime areas and target places like apartment complexes and convenience stores.

Last month crime was down in these areas and so maybe having them on foot meeting people where they are has helped. Mar Butler and Debra Mendoza are two of the dozen hired and they both have previously led lives of crime but were able to find their way out of it. The thought of police Chief Eddie Garza is that these interrupters will, “Change the hearts of the people in the community”.

The conference and the people on foot all sounds nice and I’m sure that they have both made an impact but my thought is to reach the people at their need. Why commit a crime? It’s usually satisfy a need. Fill that need, eliminate the crime. To me it starts with education.

When people of color have access to the same education as the wealthy white population, they will then have better opportunities taking them out of an element where a need sometimes leads to a crime driven response. The issue runs deeper than surface.

While I’m happy efforts are being made I feel like other angles of attacking the problem is being missed.