Call to Action meant to combat community violence in Chattanooga

photo Art Grisham, left, and Vincent Boozer bow their heads in prayer Saturday at the start of a Call to Action Conference held at Hope for the Inner City in Chattanooga. The conference featured workshops and discussions on police and community relations, education, fatherhood and other topics.

After a week of violence and protests rattled Chattanooga, Saturday's Call to Action conference seemed particularly timely.

"This week alone in Chattanooga, there have been countless shootings, countless arrests, countless anger, countless frustration," keynote speaker Dr. Lakweshia J. Ewing said. "Everybody is heated. We're standing between what can be and what was, and we're looking at the phone."

That phone, Ewing said, represents the call to action.

The conference, hosted by the city's Violence Reduction Initiative partner Hope for the Inner City, featured four panels and drew 125 registered guests. Local pastors, community leaders, concerned citizens and other stakeholders heard from speakers on "Hope for a Fatherless Generation," "Rebranding the Urban Pastor" and "Education Matters: Equity, Access and Advocacy."

But a fourth panel, called "Police and Community Relations: an Antidote to Racial Violence" drew a crowd and some controversy.

An early invitation listed both Chief Fred Fletcher and Ash-Lee Henderson of Concerned Citizens for Justice on the panel. Organizers later said that Fletcher, who gave the opening remarks at the conference, was never on the panel because he had planned to attend another conference out of town that afternoon.

On Thursday, Henderson and three others were charged with inciting to riot and obstructing a highway during a protest at Main and Market streets. The group was protesting what members called police brutality. After her arrest, Henderson was disinvited from the panel by Facebook message, she said.

Hope for the Inner City communications director Dennis Clark said the organization supports Henderson, and was just afraid that including her on the panel would be distracting.

"We support Ash-Lee Henderson and her activism against police brutality. However, we refuse to allow an individual person or an individual issue to take away from the discussion," Clark said.

Henderson arrived near the end of the panel discussion she was originally slated to be a part of.

"My perception is that the people who actually represent the community from the grassroots level that are working class were not represented," Henderson said in an interview after the event.

She said she was told that members of the police department would not be on the panel either. Lt. Eddy Chamberlain pulled out of the panel Friday morning because of his involvement in the week's events, Clark said.

But Capt. Edward McPherson was added to the panel early Saturday, Clark said.

"You can't have a conversation about community and police relations without the police," Clark said.

In the end, the panel featured Dr. Ervelina Holmes, Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw, Valerie Radu of the Mayor's Family Justice Center and McPherson.

Perhaps the most heartfelt moment of the panel came when Paul Smith, the city's public safety coordinator and VRI coordinator, asked anyone who had recently "received redemption" from the street life to come up. Kenneth Trammell, 22, walked to the front and spontaneously took the microphone from Clark to thank those gathered at the conference.

Trammell was recently released after eight months in jail, and is nearly finished with an eight-week program through Father to the Fatherless, a VRI partner. He's trying to turn his life around and wants to convince his friends to do the same. Father to the Fatherless helped him find a job that he hopes to start soon, but Trammell said he's still worried he might be turned down because of his record.

"I don't want anybody to just be looking at me just to be looking at my background," Trammell said.

The crowd gave Trammell a standing ovation.

Many who attended said they learned, gained ideas and appreciated the open dialogue. But the next step, they said, was most important.

"There were some great conversations, there were some great ideas," Samevelyn Rock, 63, said. "I just want us to start acting on them."

Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at 423-757-6347 or cwiseman@timesfreepress. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.

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