UPCOMING EVENTS* Concerned Citzens for Justice: Organizing the South Against Mass Incarceration at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Center, 200 West 38th St. with the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, founder of the Ordinary People’s Society, as keynote speaker.* We Are The Ones Coalition sponsors “A Call to Action: Solutions to Drugs, Gangs, and Violence” on May 31 at 2 p.m. at Eastdale Village Community Church, 1403 Tunnel Blvd. with Minister Abdul Sharrieff Muhammad, Southern Regional representative of Louis Farrakhan as keynote speaker. A youth talent show is scheduled at 1 p.m.* The Chattanooga Hamilton County NAACP sponsors a criminal justice seminar on June 14 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Call 423-267-5637 or email atkinse3@hotmail.com to register.
A grass-roots plan to reduce violence and promote economic equality for all emerged from several community organizations whose members were motivated by the recent appearance of a hate group in Chattanooga.
Before the National Socialist Movement had left Chattanooga after marking its 40th anniversary at a meeting here in April, the Unity Group proposed harnessing the energy generated from NSM’s visit to help disadvantaged people in the city.
“The Unity Group started out in politics but we have always had a socioeconomic, community-based agenda,” said Quenston Coleman, the group’s community liaison. The Unity Group focuses on social justice issues.
Crime and economic equality are issues too large for one group to tackle alone, said local Nation of Islam leader Kevin Muhammad. But if organizations unite for a common cause, they can spur progress.