Anti-violence event pushes for prevention, action among Charlotte’s Black youth

An alarming increase in violent crimes and homicides among Charlotte’s Black youth serve as the impetus for “an in-house conversation” with the community at the inaugural Stop the Violence Day on Saturday.

“These events are completely about messaging to the right demographic,” Greg Jackson, co-founder of Heal Charlotte, told the Observer on Friday. “We’re really trying to get the youth, I mean 18 to 24 are the ages of young Black men killing each other, so we wanted to do an event that speaks to them and isn’t just a boring awareness event.”

Stop the Violence Day will be held at Spirit Square, 345 N. College St., from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and will include musical performances, poetry, dancing, panel discussions and food.

Jackson began organizing a Stop the Violence Day in 2019 — when the city had 107 homicides — but the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to reevaluate. When 2020 ended with a near-record 121 homicides, Jackson said he was “a little taken back.”

With COVID restrictions easing statewide, Heal Charlotte organized the violence prevention event because there’s usually more crime during the summer, Jackson said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police anticipate an increase in homicides this summer because that’s what has happened in previous years, police Lt. Bryan Crum told the Observer earlier this month.

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Charlotte is at 49 homicides so far this year, with 44 Black victims, according to police data. Sixteen of the homicide victims were between 4 to 24 years old.

Jackson called Saturday’s event “an in-house conversation with Black people” because he’s fed up with people who don’t understand the plight of the Black community and use Black-on-Black crime to criticize nonviolent protests and demonstrations against police brutality and other inequalities in the U.S.

“My goal is to make sure they know that we care about this more than you do,” he said. “We know that it’s a problem and we’re going to address the problem before you can throw it in our faces. They can’t lean on that anymore.”

‘Innocent people losing their lives’

Jackson, who mentors youth, said much of the violence among young people begins with minor situations, arguments or fights that turn deadly. He said the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ruben Contreras, one of his mentees, last November, made him want to hold the event even more because “it hit so close to home.”

Contreras was shot and killed at Orchard Trace Condominiums near North Tryon Street, WCNC reported. He was walking home from Family Dollar when a couple friends got into a physical altercation with some other youths, Jackson said. Contreras didn’t fight, but he was shot in the head by a stray bullet as he walked away, Jackson said.

“Stories like that are really the example of how these things happen,” Jackson said. “They hang around in these crowds and then they end up getting caught in situations that they have no business being in. These are innocent people losing their lives just being in the wrong crowd.”

What to expect at the event

Saturday’s event will include a panel featuring CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings, who will speak to the youth directly, Jackson said.

Earlier in the year, Jennings said there’s “nothing more frustrating” for him than hearing about a homicide where a 15- or 16-year-old has been shot and killed, then finding out it was a 15- or 16-year-old who committed the crime.

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Police recruits also will be at the event to connect with the community they’ll be serving, Jackson said.

Moms Demand Action, a nationwide grassroots organization that advocates for enhanced public safety measures, will run a healing station at First Ward Park in conjunction with the Stop the Violence event. Information about the organization, gun locks and legislation on gun violence prevention will be available, Jackson said.

“If we can get 30 to 40 percent of the people who attend to actually get involved with an organization like Heal Charlotte, Moms Demand Action or another organization that emphasizes violence prevention then that’d be amazing,” he said.