Chattanooga community members meeting today to address violence

A memorial for a person shot to death around 1 a.m. is seen on Carosel Road on Sunday, Apr. 24, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
A memorial for a person shot to death around 1 a.m. is seen on Carosel Road on Sunday, Apr. 24, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

If you go

What: Emergency Village MeetingWhen: 1 p.m. todayWhere: Eastdale Village Community United Methodist Church at 1403 Tunnel Blvd.

Pastors, community leaders and social organizations will host a discussion today about violence in the black community and how it can be alleviated.

"We're having a family meeting. It's going to be very candid and very open," said the Rev. Charlotte S.N.N. Williams, pastor of Eastdale Village Community United Methodist Church.

The Emergency Village Meeting starts at 1 p.m. at Eastdale Village Community UMC.

"We're going to have to unite or die," she said.

The meeting comes after more than a dozen shootings ripped through neighborhoods this month. Victims include a 17-year-old boy who was fatally shot and two pregnant women also hit by gunfire. Police reported that several of the shootings were gang related.

The community must go back to looking out for each other, Williams said.

Nation of Islam leader Kevin Muhammad, who plans to attend the meeting, added that it takes a village to raise a child.

"It's going to take all of us helping our children," he said.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke has proposed spending $1 million to put more surveillance cameras in the city for safety, but Williams and other members of the group oppose the cameras.

Williams said she's done research on surveillance cameras in other cities and the outcome has not been good.

"When they put up $1 million for surveillance cameras, the ones doing the violence are not the only ones they're watching. All of us will be under surveillance," Williams said.

She's concerned that seeing a suspect on a camera will lead to law enforcement coming into people's homes for suspects. And if law enforcement doesn't find the suspect, they could threaten the parent with eviction or taking other siblings in the household, said Williams.

Nation of Islam leader, Deonta Jackson, who also coordinated the meeting, said violence within the black community is a symptom of a deeper problem.

Young people lack knowledge of their history and they've been taught not to love themselves, Williams added.

Self-hatred keeps people from coming together, Jackson said.

"We're tired of all the stuff the media says about us and us proving the media right," the 23-year-old said. "We're trying to rebuild the community."

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or (423)757-6431.

Violent attacks since April 17

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